Soon, SOS button in all private taxis

MUMBAI: A taxi aggregator, Meru Plus, has been the first in the state to provide a “panic switch” in five of its cabs on an experimental basis.
Private taxis operators have been instructed by transport commissioner Mahesh Zagade to instal the switches in vehicles. Pressing the SOS button next to the passenger’s seat will alert the police control room.
Zagade made the announcement about the new security feature at a meeting in Bandra on Friday and comes close on the heels of the Delhi rape horror. Zagade has directed all other taxi aggregators, including Uber, to have foolproof security for passengers or face a ban on their portals under the Information Technology Act. “If companies cannot comply with some of the key directives, then they should suspend operations. Otherwise, they will have to furnish an affidavit taking responsibility of passengers’ safety,” said an official.
On Friday, the cab operators and aggregators were asked to create a common mechanism to direct all SOS alerts to the police. “We will be having a meeting with senior police officers soon and devise a procedure under which all SOS alerts from taxis are directed to a common server in the police control room,” said Avinash Gupta from Bookmycab. “Trip tracking will be important for all aggregators and any major deviation from the route should ring an alarm bell,” said an official.