Smooth drive: K-P adopts policy to regularise rental-car companies

Only one company issued licence; others do not fulfil requirements

PESHAWAR: The provincial government has adopted a policy to regularise rental car companies which are providing services across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This will ease the burden on commuters and the relevant departments.

The policy has been formulated by K-P’s transport department under Section 69 of the Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965. It will streamline make the process of issuing licences to companies, allotting parking places and route permits.

According to the policy, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, companies offering rental services should be registered with a security exchange company of Pakistan while their vehicles shall be registered commercially as motor cabs with excise and taxation department.

The initial licence fees for companies will be Rs20,000 while it will have to pay Rs10,000 each year as license renewal fee. Also, the initial fees for issuing permit for parking place will be Rs35,100 while its renewal fee will be Rs7,020.

The policy statement stated the engine capacity of the vehicle should not be less than 600cc and the company shall not own more than 10 vehicles, which shall not be more than five years old at the time of registration/issuance of route permits. The contract carriage route permits will be provided for the whole province by the concerned Regional Transport Authority (RTA).

According to the policy, Rs4,000 will be charged per vehicle with a capacity between 600cc and 1,000cc each year as route permit fee, while the amount will be Rs8,000 for vehicles with engine capacity between 1,001cc to 1,800cc.

According to the policy, the vehicles will be exempted from colour scheme and installation of the fare meters.

The policy terms and conditions stated every company will install proper air conditioning system in the vehicles to facilitate the passengers.

Talking to The Express Tribune, an official of the transport department said the policy has been implemented but so far only one company has been issued licence.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2016.