‘Shuttl’ under lens for illegal bus service

New Delhi: The Delhi government has started cracking down on app-based aggregator Shuttl for “illegally” plying buses in the city. Earlier this year, Shuttl landed former transport minister Gopal Rai in a controversy after it was alleged that Mr Rai was favouring the aggregator.

Following the December 2012 gangrape case, the plying of private buses in Delhi has been banned after many raised concerns. Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs had directed the Delhi government to ensure a shut down on ‘illegal’ private buses in the city, in order to ensure safety of women.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had also directed Delhi government’s transport department to impound the “illegally-run” private carriers. Following the lieutenant-governor’s order, the transport department’s enforcement team last week impounded ten buses by Gurgaon based Shuttl for alleged permit violations.

“After the L-G’s directions, we have impounded over 100 buses engaged by the app-based aggregator in the last six months. These buses are contract carriers and cannot act as stage carriers to pick up individual passengers as it leads to safety concerns, besides congestion and pollution,” a senior official was quoted as saying by DNA. He added that interstate buses cannot stage as carriers in Delhi, since most Shuttl’s buses are from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

“These buses would issue online tickets on their app while picking up passengers from various routes. The contract-carrier buses are not authorised to pick and drop individual passengers or even define their own routes. These buses would start from Rohini and would ply on set routes, which is a major violation of the Motor Vehicles Act,” the official added.