Uber, Pathao, Shohoz get BRTA certificate
Three major ridesharing service providing companies -- Uber Bangladesh, Pathao and Shohoz -- have received enlistment certificates from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to operate their service in the country.
Pathao got the certificate on Tuesday, while Uber and Shohoz got it yesterday, said Lokman Hossain Mollah, director (engineering) of BRTA.
“We gave them approval earlier subject to submission of documents of at least 100 vehicles -- a mandatory clause. As they were able to do so, they received their enlistment certificates,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
With the three, nine companies have received the certificate so far.
The six other companies are: Pickme Limited, Computer Network System Limited, Obhai Solution Ltd, Chaldal Ltd, Akash Technology Ltd and Segesta Ltd.
Three other companies -- Ezzyr Technologies Ltd, Badi Limited and Akij Online Ltd -- got approval but could not print enlistment certificates as they are yet to submit necessary documents of at least 100 vehicles, a BRTA official said.
According to latest documents shared by four major companies with BRTA, 22,000 vehicles are running under Pathao; 32,475 under Shohoz; 20,637 under Uber and 27,271 under Obhai.
As per guideline, apart from the companies, each vehicle owner has to be enlisted with BRTA to operate under ridesharing services.
A BRTA official said currently they are giving “vehicle enlistment certificate” of 100 vehicles along with the “company enlistment certificate”. They will gradually provide certificates to other vehicles upon receiving applications online.
BRTA started registering ridesharing service providers on July 1, around 18 months after formulation of guidelines to regulate the growing sector.
However, the mandatory provision for getting the license -- the ability to dial 999, the national emergency helpline in-app -- was made optional, as police were not ready to deliver the service.
In a press statement, Hussain M Elius, CEO and co-founder of Pathao, said, “It is yet another step in our mission of transforming lives and our pursuit of a Digital Bangladesh.”
Ratul Ghosh, head of east India and Bangladesh of Uber, said, “We will continue to bring the benefits of ridesharing to transform the mobility landscape of the country.”
“Our license in Bangladesh is the first step in that direction…,” he added in a press release.
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