Kolkata, July 11 (IANS) To ensure the safety of the drivers and passengers travelling by app-bikes and to prevent accidents, the West Bengal Transport department, on Friday, fixed the upper limit of the weight and size of the bags that the passengers can carry along with them while travelling through the app-bikes.

As per a notification from the State transport department, therefore the bag that a passenger could carry while travelling on an app-bike should not exceed 10 kg.

At the same time, as per the notification, the width of the bag should not exceed 36 cm.

The state transport department has also made it mandatory that all app-bikes, henceforth, will have to mandatorily use number plates having the base colour of yellow.

The new rules will be applicable for app-bikes both in the state capital of Kolkata as well as in the districts across the state.

The state transport department has also cautioned about strict measures, including hefty financial penalties, in case of violation of the new rules regarding the upper limit of weight and size of bags and the colour of number plates are violated.

An official from the state transport department said that recently it had been brought to the notice of the department that often large sized heavyweight luggage are being carried by passengers travelling by app-bikes.

“Ideally, the drivers of the app-bikes should have refused such passengers. But often the drivers get lured by additional payments over bill offered by the passengers concerned and agree to carry that oversize and overweight luggage. This increased the chances of accidents and hence for quite some time, the state transport department was considering fixing the upper limit of both weight and size of luggage that the passengers travelling by app-bikes could carry. Finally, the limit has been fixed,” he added.

At the time, he said, there had been complaints that often private motorcycle or two-wheeler owners provided service to passengers on the road without getting them registered with any app-cab company.

“So the rule for mandatory use of number plates having the base colour of yellow has been introduced,” the state transport department official said.

–IANS

src/khz