Patna: Bihar's Transport Department has warned app-based cab and ride aggregators that their operating licences will be cancelled if they do not comply with its directions by October 30, with Ola and Uber served show-cause notices after a compliance review meeting in Patna, MediaNama reported on Tuesday, October 27.
Source: MediaNama
Transport Secretary Raj Kumar chaired the compliance review meeting on October 23, attended by representatives of Ola, Uber, Rapido and Sawari Mithila. The department said it had held several earlier meetings and issued directions that the companies had failed to implement, and Ola and Uber must now submit a compliance report by October 30.
The directions centre on fare transparency: the companies must determine and publicly disclose the night charges applied to late-hour bookings and the charges levied when a ride is cancelled. Passengers must also be given a chatbot in Hindi — the apps' chatbot currently works only in English in Bihar — and the on-screen display and audio broadcast time of in-app messages must rise from two seconds to ten seconds so users can actually read and hear them.
Driver-facing measures are also mandated: a call-support facility for drivers, and a standard operating procedure for suspending driver IDs that follows the principles of natural justice. The platforms must use only commercial vehicles and open offices in Bihar so that complaints can be resolved locally, and complete memorandums of understanding with the Airports Authority of India for waiting and parking areas at airports.
The department has also invited the aggregator companies to participate in the state's ambulance services to improve access to emergency medical transport, and asked them to report on expanding ambulance booking through their platforms.
The state action sits under the Centre's Motor Vehicles Aggregator Guidelines 2025, issued on July 1, 2025, which permit fares ranging from 50 per cent below to twice the base fare, formalise cancellation charges and bike-taxi provisions, and require drivers to receive at least 80 per cent of the fare. States were advised to adopt the guidelines within three months and may add their own provisions.
What happens next is dated and concrete: the compliance reports are due on October 30, and the department has said any aggregator that misses the deadline faces cancellation of its licence.