In its latest guidelines to cab aggregators, the government has allowed them to charge up to twice the base fare during peak hours, when they would earlier charge not more than 1.5 times the base fare.
For non-peak hours, the fare has to be a minimum of 50 per cent of the base fare.
The ‘Motor Vehicles Aggregator Guidelines 2025’ was released by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Tuesday and included changes to not only the base fare, but also rules of can cancellations for the driver and the passenger, as well as mandates on the driver’s license, health and vehicle insurance and vehicle registration.
“The aggregator shall be permitted to charge a minimum of 50 per cent lower than the base fare and a maximum dynamic pricing of two times the base fare specified under sub-clause (17.1),” says the guideline.
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States have been advised to adopt the revised guidelines within three months.
It adds that the base fare chargeable shall be for a minimum of three kilometres, including the distance travelled without a passenger and the distance travelled and fuel utilised for picking up the passenger(s). This is to compensate for the “dead mileage”, say the guidelines.
Additionally, the fare notified by the state government for the respective category or class of motor vehicles, shall be the base fare chargeable to passengers availing services from the aggregator.
In case of cancellations, there would be a penalty of 10 per cent of the fare not exceeding ₹ 100 imposed on the driver, and a similar penalty imposed on the passenger – in both cases if the cancellation is made without a valid reason.
It has also been decided that the Centre would design and designate a portal to enable single-window clearance of application for license as an aggregator in order to speed-up the process of more aggregators on the roads.
"The licence fee payable by the aggregator shall be ₹5 lakhs and the licence shall be valid for a period of five years from the date of its issue," said the guidelines.
Aggregators have also been mandated to ensure that drivers have health and term insurance of at least ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh respectively, and to only onboard vehicles that don’t exceed eight years in registration from the date of initial registration.
To address issues and grievances, a Grievance Officer has been mandated to be appointed by the aggregator.
"An aggregator shall not onboard vehicles which have been registered for more than a period of eight years from the date of initial registration of the vehicle and shall ensure that all vehicles onboarded by it should not have exceeded eight years since the date of initial registration of the vehicle," as per the guidelines.
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