No Ola, Uber during ‘odd-even’ scheme: Uber writes to Delhi govt, says ban akin to mobility lockdown

With residents of Delhi NCR gearing up for the ‘odd-even’ scheme which will come into effect between November 13 to November 20, a big chunk of commuters will depend upon cab hailing services such as Ola and Uber for their daily travel. However, the Delhi government has now announced that during the scheme duration, app-based cabs that are registered outside Delhi, like Noida, Ghaziabad and Haryana, will also not be allowed to enter the capital city.This would spell into chaos for residents of the NCR region who would require to travel to or through Delhi for work, airport and other necessities. Responding to the development, cab aggregator Uber, has now written to the Delhi government, stating that the add-on ban is akin to a mobility lockdown for commuters.

The letter written by Uber says,’The ban would be akin to a mobility lockdown for citizens of Delhi-NCR, who would be left in the lurch if they need to access critical infrastructure like the airport, railway stations and even major hospitals,” as per an IANS report. Ironically, majority of the cabs that will not be allowed to enter Delhi under the ban, run on CNG fuel. Having them out of circulation during ‘odd-even’ is bound to deplete the public transport fleet and spell chaos for citizens.

According to a TOI report, more than 1 lakh cabs operate in the Delhi NCR region daily and a ban on out-state registered cabs during odd-even would affect 60-70 percent of that cab pool. Uber added in its letter saying that, ‘an indiscriminate restriction on CNG vehicles which run on clean CNG fuel will force people to move to petrol or diesel vehicles.’ Most interestingly, a recent study conducted by the Delhi Technological University found that less than 2 percent of air-pollution in the capital city can be attributed to four-wheelers.
Meanwhile, the odd-even scheme and the cab ban will only come into effect if the Supreme Court gives a go-ahead after reviewing the proposal on November 10. What are your thoughts on the proposed pollution control methods? Let us know in the comments.