By Nayak Paudel, Kathmandu, Mar 17: The government is moving in full swing to complete all the legal formalities and allow a passage for ride sharing companies to be registered legally and operate under certain set of regulations.

With the provision allowing private two- and four-wheelers to operate as ride sharing mentioned in the Bagmati State Vehicle and Transport Management Act, 2075, the State is now introducing a regulation for the ride sharing service.

As per the Sub-section (4) of Section 13 of Schedule-2 of the State’s Vehicle and Transport Management Act, two- and four-wheelers registered for private use can pick and drop individuals after completing the listed procedures.

The Sub-section (4) also states that the vehicles must complete other procedures such as pillion rider’s insurance and abide by government set fares.

But despite being mentioned in the Act, there are no clear regulations to clarify the registration process.

“The State’s Act allows us to be registered but the procedures we need to complete are not clear,” Asheem Basnyat, regional director of Pathao, one of the ride sharing companies operating in Nepal, told The Rising Nepal.

According to the ride sharing companies, they are awaiting regulations to clarify the process they need to complete in a bid to get registered.

“Since the Act does not clarify the process we need to follow for getting registered, we await regulations. Once the regulation arrives and clarifies the process, we will get registered legally,” said Basnyat.

The government had earlier directed the ride sharing services to stop operating citing the 27-year-old Vehicles and Transport Management Act, 2049, which disqualifies private vehicles to operate as transport service, but the new step of the government contradicts its previous activity.

Speaking at the weekly Gorkhapatra Sambad, a round-table discussion of The Rising Nepal and its sister publication Gorkhapatra, on Sunday, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basanta Kumar Nembang had said that the government was positive towards ride sharing service.

“Ride sharing is a global practice, so we need to take positive steps. We must not apply restrictive measures in this regard,” said Nembang.

Until some time ago, Tootle and Pathao were the only ride sharing companies operating in the Valley. But lately, other ride sharing services such as Sarara, Filili and SuperApp have also begun their services.

As per Nembang, Bagmati State would be forming necessary acts and regulations to allow ride sharing services to be registered under the concerned government authority.

As per the Bagmati State Transport Infrastructure Directorate, the regulation clarifying the registering procedure for the ride sharing companies was coming soon.

“The regulation has already been formulated and tabled at the State Assembly. A committee under the assembly is discussing it. We hope the regulation to be passed by the assembly within a month,” Software Development Engineer (SDE) Navin Kumar Singh, spokesperson of the directorate, told TRN.

Once the regulation comes into force, ride sharing services will have a clear route for registering legally.