Mumbai, July 11 -- From Saturday, Uber Shuttle, the transport company's premium bus service will go off the city's roads after the state transport department found it operating illegally. The lack of Uber Shuttle buses will impact office goers travelling from eastern and western suburbs as far as Panvel, Kalyan, and Bhayandar, to their offices in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Worli, and south Mumbai. The service, running in the city from last year, was meant to be a 'pilot project' in Mumbai, but transport minister Pratap Sarnaik in the ongoing Maharashtra Assembly session noted that Uber had not obtained the necessary permissions to run the service. After Sarnaik directed the transport commissioner to investigate the matter and take necessary action, officials of the transport department said that Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) have been asked to conduct raids on unauthorised Uber Shuttle buses. On Thursday, an official from Uber confirmed the development and said, "Uber Shuttle will be available on Friday but won't be operational on Saturday." The official did not mention the reason or the duration of this ban. The official added that the bus operators providing these buses have been informed by Uber not to operate from this weekend. "These buses do not have a Stage Carriage permit," said a RTO officer. This type of permit is required for vehicles that operate as public transport, carrying passengers for various fares across a specific route or area. The officer added, "This permit is issued under section 72 of the Motor Vehicles Act and specifies the routes, timings, and other conditions for the operation." Uber operates more than 100 routes with nearly 450-500 buses whose fares vary from Rs.90-Rs.250 per seat depending on the destination and the time of the day. As per recent statistics from Uber, the shuttle service recorded 432,000 new users booking seats on the bus through their app. The Uber's white-coloured buses, often seen parked along the entrance to BKC, eating up a lane of the road, Ferry passengers from Mira-Bhayandar, Borivali, Kandivali, Powai, Kalyan, Thane, Panvel and Kharghar to BKC, Worli and Nariman Point. Each bus route has fixed stops for picking up passengers. On Tuesday, Prabhajeet Singh, president of Uber India and South Asia said that the Uber Shuttle was a licensed product in Delhi. "In Mumbai it is running on a pilot basis. Based on the customer feedback and how it compliments Mumbai's infrastructure we will take a further call," said Singh. Singh added that the service providers were in talks with the state government and had explained the services to the relevant authorities....