Karnataka blinks first, plans to allow bike taxis on roads

State plans to frame rules for governing aggregators that offer bike taxis as a service

Karnataka has backtracked on its earlier decision to ban motorcycle taxis from aggregator services, such as Uber and Ola, on Bengaluru’s roads, after citizen pressure to allow this.

The state says it has begun framing rules that will govern aggregators offering bike taxis as a service.

A draft policy will be issued for public consultation in the coming weeks, officials said.

“Since there is public demand, we thought we will frame the rules first. Let them submit their applications and get the necessary permissions from the transport authority. We will come out with the rules in the meantime.

When they are ready, we will also be,” said state transport commissioner Ramegowda.

Bengaluru is the playground for no less than four motorcycle taxi services -- Uber, Ola, Rapido and Hey Bob, all of which had been forced to suspend their services.

However, many people consider such taxis best suited for the city, which has the slowest national average speed for vehicles, due to its clogged roads.

Uber, the Silicon Valley taxi hailing app that launched its India service two years earlier from Bengaluru, bore the brunt of Karnataka’s move against bike taxis. Accused of operating its service illegally on city roads, it has had at least 100 vehicles of its driver-partners impounded in the past six weeks.

A day after the company launched its bike taxi service on March 4, the authorities cracked down, demanding Uber shut its service.

The state government has had a long-standing problem with taxi hailing services such as Uber and Ola.

Recently, the state published rules stating that these services will have to register with the local transport authority, cap fares which would end surge pricing, and install digital meters in cabs.

San Francisco-based Uber is now trying to build public consensus against the move; there’s no comment from local rival Ola.

While the Road Transport Authority has not yet given aggregators the required permits to operate bike taxis, the state government says it wants to be ready when that happens.

Currently the rules are being framed, following which Karnataka will submit a draft to gather consensus from the public and players.