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Ride-sharing cos start receiving BRTA registration certificates
SM Najmus Sakib | Thursday, 4 July 2019
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has started giving registration certificates to the fast-growing online-based ridesharing services in the country.
The authority has introduced a fully online registration system for the app-based ridesharing companies without going through any manual process, an official of BRTA told the FE.
Piickme, a local transportation network company, was first to receive the registration certificate to operate their service, the official added.
"A cent percent online approval process, first of its kind by BRTA, is also a breakthrough for the ridesharing companies in the country," BRTA Director (Engineering) Lokman Hossain Mollah told the FE on Wednesday.
Five to seven companies are in the pipeline for registration, and the BRTA hopes that the rest companies would also get the registration certificate, he added.
"After scrutinising all their papers submitted by Piickme, a ride sharing app-based company, we formally have started the registration process through a complete online system," he said.
Earlier, the manual registration process of 16 ridesharing companies in the country got stuck in BRTA due to some technical complexities in the registration policy, sources at the BRTA said.
Besides, BRTA asked the companies that sought registration earlier to file application online again.
Senior Manager (business operations) of Piickme Shariful Islam Tareq expressing satisfaction over getting the licence told the FE "We all need to cooperate to maintain discipline in the fast- growing sector and registration is a big progress in this respect."
He also emphasised launching an e-training institute for the riders in a combined effort with the government to enhance the skills of riders.
The e-training institute could strengthen the sector and contribute in creating skilled manpower, he added.
The mobile phone app-based ridesharing services came to the city back in 2015 and the government approved the 'Ridesharing Service Guideline 2017' in early 2018.