Karnataka has notified a ban on bike taxi services owing to what the Congress regime sees as an apparent lack of encouraging response from ride-hailing services to offer services with electric two-wheelers and gross misuse of the present policy by sections of app-based aggregators.
Transport department has withdrawn the Karnataka Electric Bike Taxi Scheme, notified on July 14, 2021. ET had on February 9 reported the government planned to end the bike taxi scheme in the state.
Ride-hailing service Rapido, however, said the bike taxi scheme, which was in vogue, pertained to the operation of electric bike taxis and, therefore, would not affect its operations. “Rapido will continue to operate and serve both its customers and captains in the State of Karnataka without any disruptions,” the company, which operates bike taxi services in Bengaluru, said in a statement. The company had applied for a general aggregator license to offer bike taxi services, and not under the electric bike taxi scheme.
The 2021 regulation had sought to address urban mobility issues, including first and last mile connectivity problems faced by citizens. The scheme had been open to license holders to register the EV as a motorcycle in the transport category and use it as a public service vehicle. The latest notification from the Transport department said its officials noticed non-transport bikes being operated as bike taxis leading to clashes with auto and cab drivers. They also noticed certain risks to women’s safety due to the operation of bike taxis.
Bengaluru-based Wicked Ride, the parent company of EV manufacturer
Bounce, was the only firm that has applied for a license under the bike taxi
scheme, officials told ET, not wishing to be identified. Bounce, a maker of
electric two-wheelers, had plans to introduce bike taxi services with its own
fleet, but went slow on that.
Karnataka, officials said, was the first state to have put out an exclusive policy
to promote electric bike taxis, but the government did not find the response
from platforms encouraging enough. EV startups had been making
statements, but they were not translating into applications seeking a license,
they added.
Delhi ended the ambiguity in October last year by coming up with a policy,
allowing operation of bike taxis, but only with electric bikes.
In Bengaluru, the Transport department, officials said, would take up an
extensive study on the mobility sector and reintroduce the scheme with
modifications. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy had told ET recently that
the scheme had not had the desired effect. His department noticed people
operating petrol bikes as taxis, defeating the very purpose of the scheme.
In September, Ola cofounder Bhavish Aggarwal had announced that the ride-
hailing company was re-starting Ola Bike, the company’s two-wheeler taxi
service, in Bengaluru. Ola Electric, founded by him, makes electric scooters.
“This time, all electric and our own S1 scooters! ₹25 for 5km, ₹50 for 10km.
Lowest cost, very comfortable and great for the environment! Will scale across
India over next few months,” Aggarwal had posted on X. The company,
however, has not applied for a license, transport officials said.
Bengaluru has emerged as a tense market for bike taxis with auto drivers
frequently clashing with them. The auto drivers blocked a few bike taxis
during their strike last year and manhandled the riders. Videos of the
incidents went viral later. A ban on bike taxis is one of the demands auto
drivers have placed before the government.
A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court had on August 11, 2021,
directed the transport authorities not to take any “coercive action” against
Rapido’s bike taxi service. This allowed the company to offer its services even
with non-EV bikes, in the absence of any regulations by the government. The
High Court has posted the case for a further hearing on March 20, extending
the validity of the interim order.
Rapido, a Bengaluru-based startup backed by Westbridge Capital and Nexus
Venture Partners, has been offering app-based bike taxi services in Bengaluru
since 2016. “Rapido remains committed to upholding legal standards and
ensuring the highest level of service quality and safety for its users. We will
continue to cooperate with the legal process and remain transparent in our
operations,” the company said in its statement.
A few states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Goa, have allowed bike
taxis. Goa, in fact, has had bike taxis, known locally as pilots, for decades.
