After being out of action for almost six weeks, Uber has today marked a return to Indian Capital’s roads by applying for a license under Delhi Government’s freshly passed Radio Taxi Scheme.
Announcing the same via a blog post, Uber said,
Yesterday, Uber applied for a license under the Radio Taxi Scheme to reflect our commitment to providing riders with more options for safe and reliable transportation, including the ability to request a Radio Taxi on-demand.
Though it is commencing operations, Uber did mention that they are still in talks with the Delhi Government to work towards the Kolkata model, set by the Bidhannagar City Police, who have introduced new regulations for on-demand transportation technology aggregators.
Under Uber’s current re-commencement of operations, it is only allowing driver-partners who have undergone re-verification of their Police clearance in the last six weeks to get back on the platform. For an additional layer of screening, Uber is also implementing independent background checks on all driver partners, plus vehicle documentation reviews.
Among some of the safety features introduced by Uber include an in-app Emergency Button, a dedicated incident response team and re-verification of the full credentials of every driver-partner on the Uber platform in Delhi. These measures were expected since Uber has applied under the newly issued Radio Taxi Scheme which enlisted the aforementioned safety measures as mandatory guidelines.
Uber has been aggressive when it comes to its Asia expansion plans. The company had recently raised a $1.2 Billion round, to focus specifically on Asia, and more specifically on India. Uber currently operates in 12 Indian cities, and despite being involved in numerous controversies across the globe, it continues to remove favourable response from Indian customers.
