Uber should be able to operate in Bangladesh if it is integrated within ‘our system’, road transport minister Obaidul Quader has said.
The app-based taxi system that recently launched its services in Dhaka was declared illegal by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
“This is new technology, latest technology, but it has to be brought within our system,” said minister Quader. “I told BRTA to not refuse Uber but to think of a system that will help eradicate our transport crisis.”
“The BRTA already had one meeting over this. There will be a rational and practical solution. That is what I want.”
He was speaking at a programme organised by the campaign ‘We Demand Safe Roads’.
Uber’s system is designed around drivers who use their personal cars to provide services to users who order taxis on their smartphones.
Individuals owning cars can register to become Uber drivers and earn fares by picking up passengers near their locations.
But the BRTA warned the owners of the San Francisco-based firm and its drivers in Dhaka to refrain from continuing the service, saying vehicles that run on fares have registration plates and body colour different from other vehicles.
Then it said it will not stop Uber from operating if only it assures that no privately-owned vehicles would be used.
Source: Bd news24