‘No more comfort rides’: Sindh decides to ban online cab services

KARACHI: The Government of Sindh has decided to stop online cab services from operations across the province, said Provincial Minister for Transport Awais Shah.

In a meeting with transport department officials, Mr Shah said such online cab services had not taken permission from the Sindh government. “We are going to write a letter to cab services to cease their operations forthwith, the minister was quoted as saying during the meeting.”

He said the provincial government had a meeting with cab service representatives about route permits and had signed a memorandum of understanding three years ago.

Mr Awais Shah said: “We are contemplating to ban bike riding service [the subsidiary of online cab service].”

The minister told the meeting that online cab service operators were not giving heed to the government orders and they’re operating on their own.

He referred to an incident occurred two days ago at Karachi’s Shahrah-e-Faisal where a girl jumped out a speeding cab citing harassment by the driver. ‘Was any action taken against the cab service,” the minister asked.

The meeting also decided to take strict action against school vans using CNG cylinders in their vehicles. Such vehicles pose serious threat to the lives of children, the minister added.

In an incident on Oct 20, a girl jumped out of a speeding cab at Shahrah-e-Faisal, complaining that the driver was misbehaving with her. It was reported that the cab was being run under one of the popular ride-hailing apps.

According to details, incident occurred near Karachi’s Gora Kabrastan, where a girl jumped out of the car and sustained injuries.

People on the road caught the driver seconds after the incident, while the girl alleged that the driver of the cab was misbehaving with her.

The driver was arrested and a day later he was released on bail due to want of proofs.