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Two days before the Delhi transport department decides the fate of Uber’s operations here, the US-based taxi aggregator has sought the support of its registered users. It has also promised various additional levels of security such as re-verifying the details of all its drivers and putting in place a team of safety experts for verification, as well as an incident-response team.
On Monday, the transport department is scheduled to determine whether or not Uber can run services in the national capital again. Currently, the mobile app-based cab service is banned in the National Capital Region (NCR), following the alleged rape of a women executive by one of its drivers on December 5.
On Saturday, the company asked its users to sign a petition (#BringUberBack) to bring its cabs back in the NCR. The petition is aimed at showing the transport department the company’s users continue to support it. As part of its attempts to get bans by various state governments lifted, the company shared the statement on its blog, too, promising safer services and stating it would go “above and beyond the required government verification” on background checks for drivers.
“At Uber, the safety of our riders and drivers is our highest priority. We understand best-in-class safety must be a constant endeavour and our commitment to our community means we work tirelessly to set the standards around the world. Since the recent tragic event in India, we have received a lot of feedback and suggestions. We are rolling out the first new safety features and initiatives designed specifically for India, with many more to come. We are ready to show you we have heard our community and are back stronger and better to get India moving again safely,” Allen Penn, head of the company’s Asia operations, said in a separate statement.
In its statement to registered users, Uber said it planned to introduce five new steps for verification of drivers. It said it had been working round the clock to make its services better, adding “we wanted to take this opportunity to clarify how Uber works and to update you on our progress.”
It said it would re-check and ensure the details of all Uber Delhi driver-partners were authentic, through police verification. It would also have a local team of “specially-trained safety experts to detect fraud, verify and authenticate driver and vehicle documents and test the validity of our screening”, it added.
“We’re engaging local and global experts to evaluate the most effective background-screening solution across India; pilot programmes are already running in select cities, including Delhi,” it said.
The company has already started re-verification of its driver-partners in Delhi. Yashpal Sharma, who drives Audi and Mercedes cars for a city-based car-rental firm that offered its cars to Uber, said a week after the December 5 rape, the company had informed all drivers there would be a re-verification drive. “About a week ago, Uber started collecting documents again, for re-verification. For genuine individuals, it will not matter how many times they re-check our authenticity and the validity of the documents. If this helps ensure safety and bring back Uber, let there be another round of cross-checks,” said Sharma, for whom Uber accounted for about 80 per cent of daily trips. He added taxi companies and private car rental firms should install cameras inside vehicles and these should be tracked on a real-time basis to ensure safety.
Uber will also have a local and dedicated customer support centre in India, which would “specialise on resolving critical issues” for its riders and drivers in the country, the company said.
It will come out with an in-app feature called 'ShareMyETA', which will allow users of its service to send the location (live GPS tracking), the driver's photograph and name and vehicle licence number to their "loved ones".
"ShareMyETA is the first of a whole set of new integrated Uber safety features coming to India," it said.
Meanwhile, the government is reportedly working on amending existing transport rules to clarify regulations relating to web-based taxi services such as Uber, Olacabs and TaxiForSure, currently banned across many states.
FOR A SAFER RIDE
- Uber will recheck all Uber Delhi drivers’ authentication and conduct valid police verification
- A local team of safety experts will detect fraud and verify driver/vehicle documents
- Firm will engage experts to evaluate the most effective background-screening solution across India
- A local and dedicated customer support centre will resolve critical issues for Uber riders and drivers
- An enhanced ‘ShareMyETA’ feature in the Uber App will allow users to send via live GPS-tracking a driver’s photo, name and vehicle licence number to ‘loved ones’
