Karnataka may end bike taxi services in Bengaluru on poor response from aggregators

Karnataka is getting ready to cease bike taxi companies owing to what the state authorities sees as an obvious lack of encouraging response from ride-hailing corporations to supply companies with electrical two-wheelers.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah is learnt to have verbally agreed to a proposal from the transport division to withdraw the Karnataka Electric Bike Taxi Scheme, notified on July 14, 2021.

The regulation sought to deal with city mobility points, together with first and final mile connectivity issues confronted by residents. The scheme has been open to license holders to register the EV as a bike within the transport class and use it as a public service automobile.
Bengaluru-based Wicked Ride, the dad or mum firm of EV producer Bounce, is the one agency that has utilized for a license underneath the bike taxi scheme, officers instructed ET, on situation of anonymity. Bounce, a maker of electrical two-wheelers, had plans to introduce bike taxi companies with its personal fleet, however is now going gradual on that.

Karnataka, officers added, is the primary state to have put out an unique coverage to advertise electrical bike taxis, however the authorities has not discovered the response from platforms encouraging sufficient. EV startups have been making statements, however they aren’t translating into functions searching for a license, they added.

Delhi ended the paradox in October final 12 months by developing with a coverage, permitting operation of motorcycle taxis, however solely with electrical bikes.

In Bengaluru, the transport division would take up an intensive examine on the mobility sector and reintroduce the scheme with modifications, officers stated. Transport minister Ramalinga Reddy, when contacted, stated the scheme has not had the specified impact. His division seen folks working petrol bikes as taxis, defeating the very function of the scheme.In September, Ola cofounder Bhavish Aggarwal had introduced that the ride-hailing firm was re-starting Ola Bike, the corporate’s two-wheeler taxi service, in Bengaluru. Ola Electric, based by him, makes electrical 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 firm, nonetheless, has not utilized for a license, transport officers stated.

Bengaluru has emerged as a tense marketplace for bike taxis with auto drivers incessantly clashing with them. Auto drivers had blocked a number of bike taxis throughout their strike final 12 months and manhandled the riders. Videos of the incidents went viral later. A ban on bike taxis is without doubt one of the calls for auto drivers have positioned earlier than the federal government.

A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court had on August 11, 2021, directed the transport authorities to not take any “coercive action” in opposition to Rapido’s bike taxi service. This allowed the corporate to supply its companies even with non-EV bikes, within the absence of any rules by the federal government.

Rapido, a Bengaluru-based startup backed by Westbridge Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, has been providing app-based bike taxi companies in Bengaluru since 2016.

Just a few states, together with Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Goa, have allowed bike taxis. Goa, actually, has had bike taxis, identified regionally as pilots, for many years.