Page 2 - Taxi

Bengal allows luxury taxis to be painted in colours other than white, cream

Luxury taxis in West Bengal will be allowed to be painted in any colour other than white or cream for a fee of Rs 20,000 for each vehicle, a notification issued by the state transport department said. The authorities will grant permission for motor cabs (luxury taxis), rendering limousine service, to be painted in any colour other than white or cream, for which an amount of Rs 20,000 will be charged as an application fee from the interested service provider for each vehicle, said the notification, issued by Transport Department secretary Saumitra Mohan on September 19. Necessary amendments in the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, shall be made in due course, it said. According to the notification, the department has been receiving proposals for granting permission for all Bengal luxury taxi permits for vehicles to be painted in any colour other than white or cream. "As per Rule 270(2) of West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, the state transport department may, by order, all

SnapE cabs looking to double its fleet in FY'24, expand to smaller cities

Ride-hailing app SnapE, which operates EV cabs, is planning to more than double its current fleet by the end of FY'24, and venture into smaller cities, a company official said on Tuesday. The company also plans to induct more women drivers in its workforce, said Mayank Bindal, the managing director of EC Wheels, which operates under the SnapE brand. "Besides expanding in the greater Kolkata region, which is our base, we plan to venture into smaller cities such as Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Varanasi, Raipur, Indore, Bhopal, Jaipur and Ahmedabad over the next few years because of the potential of the untapped market," he told PTI in an interview. "We also want to provide affordable green vehicles to tourists, and are targeting the Varanasi-Ayodhya-Chitrakoot and Puri-Bhubaneswar-Konark-Chilika circuits initially," he said. The company plans to increase its fleet strength from 400 at present to 1,000 by the end of this financial year, Bindal said. "We intend to hire more women as drivers

2 rival robotaxi services gets approval to operate in US' San Francisco

California regulators on Thursday approved an expansion that will allow two rival robotaxi services to operate throughout San Francisco at all hours, despite safety worries spurred by recurring problems with unexpected stops and other erratic behaviour that resulted in unmanned vehicles blocking traffic, including emergency vehicles. The state's Public Utilities Commission voted to approve rival services from Cruise and Waymo to operate around-the-clock service. It will make San Francisco first major US city with two fleets of driverless vehicles competing for passengers against ride-hailing and taxi services dependent on humans to operate the cars. It is a distinction that San Francisco officials didn't want, largely because of the headaches that Cruise and Waymo have been causing in the city while testing their robotaxis on a restricted basis during the past year. But it ended in a major victory for Cruise a subsidiary of General Motors and Waymo a spinoff from a secret project

Delhi extends permit validity of taxis running on CNG, other clean fuels

All taxis running on CNG, other clean fuels to have permit validity of 15 years

40 bike taxi drivers approach Delhi minister seeking relief from ban

A group of 40 bike taxi drivers have sought Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot's intervention against any enforcement or action by the city government against them. The Delhi government launched a crackdown against bike taxis in February. In a memorandum submitted to Gahlot's office, the group said the Delhi government is adamant about banning their services. "We will face difficulties in meeting household expenses, getting our children educated and getting our parents treated," read the memorandum. The memorandum also said that while the delivery services continued unabated, the bike taxi drivers were being "targeted". The Supreme Court had on Monday stayed a Delhi High Court order that essentially allowed Rapido and Uber to operate in the national capital by asking the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against them till a new policy was formulated. A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal at the Supreme Court granted liberty to the two .

Everest Fleet raises $20 mn led by Uber, to expand operations, supply pool

Fleet management company Everest Fleet on Wednesday said it has closed a $20 million funding round led by Uber

Authorities to impound bike taxis if Uber, Ola do not comply with Delhi ban

India's top court on Monday backed the city government's ban on bike taxis in a setback for U.S. ride-hailing company Uber which had legally challenged authorities to continue offering the services

General Motors' Cruise recalls 300 robotaxis after crash involving bus

General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has recalled 300 robotaxis to update software after one of them rear-ended a municipal bus in San Francisco. Cruise says in government documents posted Friday that the robotaxi inaccurately predicted how the bus would move as it pulled out of a bus stop on March 23. The articulated two-section bus slowed as it was leaving the stop and was hit by the self-driving vehicle. Cruise characterised the crash as a fender-bender and said no one was hurt. The company says in documents sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it did the software update on March 25. Cruise determined that the collision was caused by an issue related to prediction of the unique movements of articulated vehicles in rare circumstances, the company said in documents. The company said no other crashes have happened due to the problem and that the same thing won't happen again after the update. Cruise said it did the recall to be transparent and

'What ban?' Uber, Ola bike riders clueless about Delhi govt order

Bike taxi services available as usual a day after transport department's clampdown

Goa govt set with taxi service for passengers at new airport from Jan 5

Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Sunday said enough taxis and other conveyance will be made available for passengers arriving at Manohar International Airport (MIA) in Mopa, where flight operations will begin on January 5. Talking to PTI, the minister said the issue of taxi operators will be solved by January 5 and there will be enough vehicles available for passengers. The state government has already started the process to allot spots for taxi operators at the new airport and preference is being given to those from Pernem taluka, where the airport is located. The state government also plans to operate buses of state-run Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited from the airport for people who don't want to take taxis, Khaunte said. He further said that the government has advertised and started getting taxi operators on board. A queue system in line with the ones followed at other airports will be introduced at MIA, he said. The state has also developed a dedicated Goa Taxi App

Mumbai taxi and auto drivers to go on an indefinite strike from Sep 15

Over 200,000 autorickshaw drivers and 48,000 taxi drivers are expected to join the indefinite strike

SpiceJet launches taxi service for its passengers at 28 airports

Passengers booking SpiceJet flights will receive an SMS with details of the SpiceJet taxi service, the airline said in a statement noted

Baidu bags first permits for fully driverless 'robotaxis' in China

Baidu has also secured a permit to run driverless cars on open roads in Beijing but here, the permit still requires a human operator in the front passenger seat.

Kerala govt to launch online cab service 'Kerala Savari' in August

Kerala government is all set to come up with an alternative to the popular corporate online cab service by launching its own e-taxi service, the first such initiative by any state government

Commuters in Delhi face hardships as auto, taxi unions go on strike

Commuters had a harrowing time as various auto-rickshaw, cab and taxi unions in capital went on a two-day strike on Monday to demand a CNG subsidy and fare revision in the wake of rising fuel prices

Auto, taxi unions on strike in Delhi to demand CNG subsidy, fare hike

Various auto-rickshaw, cab and taxi unions in the national capital went on a strike on Monday, demanding a CNG subsidy and a fare revision in the wake of rising fuel prices.

Elon Musk says Tesla will build vehicle designed to be a robotaxi

Musk didn't give details of the robotaxi other than to say it will look quite futuristic.

Uber to revive plan to onboard Mumbai's traditional 'kaali-peeli' on app

With only half the registered users active, it could still be a long haul

Car sharing platform Zoomcar elevates Nirmal NR as India CEO

Domestic car sharing marketplace Zoomcar on Friday announced to elevate Nirmal NR as the CEO for India market.

Uber to allow riders see ratings they receive from drivers

In a first, ride-hailing major Uber on Wednesday said the riders can now see how many five-star ratings -- including the shameful one-star reviews -- they've racked up from drivers.