New Delhi: The odd-even traffic restrictions have had an interesting fall-out: it has prompted the Delhi government to look at the shuttle bus aggregating segment. On Monday, the Delhi Dialogue Commission submitted an "office memorandum" with a draft policy on bus aggregators to the transport department. Ashish Khaitan, vice-chairman of the commission, said, "Aggregation of contract carriage buses for public transport is an idea whose time has come."Since the odd-even road scheme began on January 1, companies offering app-based bus services have recorded higher ridership. For instance, Shuttl, which runs a service in the Delhi NCR, has seen a 45-50 percent increase in ridership, according to a company spokesman. The bus company offers services on 60 routes covered by 500 buses. Said Amit Singh, co-founder of Shuttl: "We will welcome any policy that helps solve the commuter's problem." Other app-based bus aggregators too have started operations, including Ola and ZipGo.The draft policy, according to Khaitan, looks at regulating this segment. The commission, which held several rounds of consultations with stakeholders as well as transport department officials before formulating the draft policy, said that app-based bus aggregation is "completely legal". "We feel that bus aggregation is permissible under the existing contract carriage regime, provided the transport department interprets the law correctly," said Khaitan.Bus aggregating services will be covered a section under the contract carriage permit system that considers vehicles that are "hired" to go from point A to B without dropping or picking up passengers on the way. An important condition is that the operators know the people being carried and have entered into a contract with them.The Delhi Dialogue Commission vice-chairman cited the increasing pollution levels and the Delhi government's experimentation with odd-even restrictions as the springboard for the move to regulate the bus aggregators. "Restricting the use of private cars to decrease pollution levels can be successful with alternative commuting options, such as shuttle services," said Khaitan, adding that the draft policy would lead to healthy competition among the companies engaged in the business."The ordinary commuter is the eventual beneficiary. Safety considerations have been factored in while drawing the policy," added Khaitan, pointing out that part of the permit conditions for the contract carriage required the buses to be CNG fuelled and equipped with GPS monitors.The move comes even as the transport department is struggling to regulate the app-based taxi services. Earlier bans on these taxis, many of which run on diesel or petrol, proved the department unable to rein them in. The high court stepped in last year, giving the app-based taxi services time till March 31 to comply with the Delhi government's regulations.