A much-awaited legal framework, styled Ridesharing Services Guidelines, is set to get cabinet approval soon with a provision binding the upstart ride-hailing services to fixed rates of fares, officials said.
The charges, in no way, can be higher than that of the taxis, says the draft on the rules that may get through in few weeks.
However, auto-rickshaws and taxicabs-most of which often go freewheeling--are set to be kept out of the purview of this set of road rules.
Officials of the Roads and Highways Division confirmed such developments under the move towards bringing the most modern modes of transport services-emerging across the globe under a few brand-names-within legal framework.
The minimum number of vehicles needed for an outfit to be enlisted as a ridesharing entity has been reduced from 200 to 100, authorities concerned informed, in order to ease the procedures of grooming these new-generation entrepreneurs.
"We sent the updated ridesharing guidelines to the Cabinet Division this past Thursday," Joint Secretary of RTHD Md. Kamrul Ahsan told the FE. "Hopefully, it will be placed in the cabinet meeting within few weeks."
The draft guidelines promulgated earlier had provided that the fares of such services would be deregulated for the time being and the government would only intervene in case of public grievances.
However, after several rounds of consultations with the relevant ministries and agencies, the Road Transport and Highways Division decided to include the provision of keeping the fares below that of the taxis, a high official of the RTHD told the FE.
Currently, the rates of fare for taxi services like Trust and Toma are Tk 85 for the first two kilometres while down to Tk 34 for subsequent per kilometre. In addition, the charge for waiting time is Tk 4.25 per minute.
The fare structure of ridesharing services like Uber and Pathao, on the other hand, is slightly different.
For example, the base fare of Pathao for its motorcycle services is Tk 25 while per-kilometre fare is Tk 12 and fare per minute is Tk 0.50. At the same time, the base fare of Pathao for its car services is Tk 50 while per-kilometre fare is Tk 20 and per-minute fare Tk 3.00.
Meanwhile, the base fare of Uber for its UberX service is Tk 40 while per-kilometre fare is Tk 18 and per-minute Tk 3.00. At the same time, the base fare of Uber premier services is Tk 80 while the per-kilometre fare is Tk 22 and per-minute Tk 3.00.
Uber recently launched its motorcycle service called uberMOTO, for which the base fare is Tk 30 while per-kilometre rate is Tk 12 and per-minute Tk 1.00 respectively.
First introduced in the western world in the early part of this decade, the concept of ridesharing has become increasingly popular in many of the world's major cities in recent years.
In Bangladesh, this concept of sharing transport ride was first popularized with the arrival of Uber and a number of similar local ridesharing entities last year.
Shortly afterwards, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) issued a notice saying that the ride-hailing service was in violation of the country's motor vehicles regulations.
Despite the ruling, Uber and a number of similar other ride-sharing services have gained increased popularity in the capital over the last one year because of a lack of decent transport services in this megacity, especially for middle-class people.
Consequently, the government took the initiative to develop this 'Ride Sharing Guideline' to effectively regulate this burgeoning sector-- a draft of which was first shared on the RTHD website on June 22.
Consequently, a series of consultations were held with the relevant ministries and agencies, based on which the guidelines were further updated.
Regarding the updated guidelines, RTHD officials also informed that auto-rickshaws and taxicabs are likely to be kept out of the purview of this legal binding.
"Auto-rickshaws and taxicabs have their own set of regulations and to keep them under the purview of this particular guideline will be a conflicting move," the RTHD high official said.
The decision to leave out auto-rickshaws is a significant one given that CNG-driven auto-rickshaws, which are facing tough times since the introduction of ride-hailing services, are reportedly looking to introduce their own app-based services.
The latest set of guidelines has also provisioned that to be enlisted as a ridesharing entity a service-provider needs to have a pool of at least100 vehicles. In the earlier draft of the guidelines, this number was pegged to 200.
