The Ministry of Home Affairs has directed all the District Administrative Officers (DAO) to stop private vehicles providing ride-sharing service. The directive is going to affect private two-wheelers and four-wheelers and popular platforms such as Pathao, Sahara, InDrive, etc.
Issuing a circular on Wednesday, April 05, 2023, the ministry has told the DAO to take action to restrict the use of private vehicles as demanded by the National Federation of Trade & Commerce of Nepal (FNCCI)’s letter asking for the same.
In its letter, the federation submitted a petition to the ministry complaining that private vehicles are being used for ride-hailing services charging fares as they will ‘directly impact public transport service’.
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Addressing the concern in the letter, the Home Ministry has told all the DAOs to stop private vehicles from being used for ride-sharing services.
Federation President Vijay Bahadur Swar said that opposed to the provisions of the law, vehicles bought for private purposes have started carrying people and this has affected public transport operators. He added that as per the prevailing law, there is a provision that private vehicles cannot carry passengers on using fares.
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DAOs to stop private vehicles providing ride-sharing service
If implemented to full effect, the directive will adversely hurt ride-sharing apps such as Pathao, Sahara, InDrive, etc. which allow owners of private vehicles to join the platform and hail the ride charging a fare. Besides, lately, issues have surfaced after it emerged that riders are providing the service offline which put passengers’ property and lives at risk.
Swar states that both two-wheelers and four-wheelers registered with red number plates shouldn’t be used for ride-sharing services.
