No surcharge in aggregator autos, Karnataka transport department caps commission at 5%

In a big relief to passengers travelling in auto rickshaws aggregated by Ola, Uber and Rapido, the Karnataka Transport Department on Friday issued an order doing away with the surcharge and limited the platform fee (commission) collected by the companies to 5 per cent.

As per the order, applicable to all the companies that aggregate auto rickshaws, passengers cannot be charged more than the fare fixed by the government except for the commission allowed by the department and the goods and service tax.

"As per the directions of the court, we held meetings with both the companies and the passengers. We took into consideration all the views placed before us before deciding on the platform fee of 5 per cent," Transport Commissioner S N Siddaramappa said.

As per the revised fares notified in November 2021, passengers will pay Rs 30 base (up to the first 1.9 km) and Rs 16 per every subsequent kilometre. However, the aggregators had charged over 300 per cent more, which led to the department banning them from providing auto rickshaw services.

The Karnataka High Court, hearing a petition by the aggregators, had allowed them to collect a 10 per cent commission in the interim while directing the government to come up with a rule on fare. Aggregators have sought to charge a higher commission, which came to the fore during their discussion with the department.

The passengers, however, had demanded that all aggregators should adhere to fares fixed by the government. They had also demanded that the department introduce its own app, which was dismissed by the authorities.