BRTA gives final go-ahead to nine ridesharing firms

Nine ridesharing companies have received the final approval from the transport regulator to operate in line with the rules in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority or BRTA gave final go-ahead to the companies after scrutinising their applications for registration.

The companies are Pickme, Computer Network System, Obhai Solutions, Chaldal, Pathao, Akash Technology, Segesta, Shohoz Ride and Uber.

“To be enlisted as a company, you must list at least 100 motor vehicles as per regulations. These companies have done that,” BRTA Director Md Lokman Hossain Mollah told bdnews24.com on Thursday.

The registration applications submitted by Buddy Limited, Akij Online Limited and Easier Technologies Limited are in the pipeline. Another company called Prabhaman Limited applied, but failed to get the initial approval.

The BRTA started accepting registration applications from the ridesharing service providers on Jul 1, 17 months after the formulation of the guidelines.

When some firms like Uber, SAM and Pathao launched ridesharing services in Bangladesh in 2016, the government had no guidelines for such companies.

As the services started becoming popular in the city infamous for traffic congestions and anarchy in the public transport sector, the government made the guidelines and approved those on Jan 15, 2018 after discussions at different levels.

The Ridesharing Service Guidelines 2017 was supposed to come into force on Mar 08, 2018, but none of the ridesharing service providers could fulfil the conditions.

The BRTA later relaxed some conditions and issued enlistment certificates for the companies from July.