Over the last few weeks, Transport Department officials have been going undercover, posing as passengers to crack down on ride-sharing mobile apps that allow private cars to operate as taxis. Several cars have been impounded, including those registered outside the State. Such apps let anyone with a car, and who is undertaking a journey within the city, or even outside, a platform to connect with passengers.

Such services are in violation of existing rules, said officials who logged on to the apps as passengers and booked cars that were offering rides to Hyderabad, Chennai, and other destinations at fixed rates. The owners were booked at the point of pick-up and their cars impounded.