Ola Bike Taxis Declared Illegal In Bengaluru, Cops Impound Bikes; Noida Police Fires FIR Against Uber

Ola Bike Taxis, the new service which was launched in Bengaluru few days back, has been declared as illegal by the Karnataka Govt. In a major operation, several bike taxis were impounded and seized.

Meanwhile, after the assault of a Uber passenger was reported in Noida, police have filed an FIR against the company.

It seems that both Ola and Uber are facing some rough weather in India.

Ola Bike Taxis Are Illegal, Stop Them Now- Karanataka Police

Few days back, Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber (OTU) Owners and Drivers Association from Bengaluru had written to the State Transport Authority in Bengaluru against Rapido, the bike taxi-hailing app operating since last few months.

However, after writing the letter, Ola themselves launched a bike taxi service, to test the waters.

Karnataka Traffic cops have clamped down on both Ola and Rapido, and have asked them to stop the services of bike hailing immediately. In fact, the cops in Bengaluru impounded several bikes taxis from Ola and Rapido a well.

Narendra Holkar, additional commissioner of transport and secretary of the state transport authority said, “We have issued a notice to Ola to immediately stop bike-taxi services from their platform and explain why the services were introduced without bringing it to our notice. I have directed the officials to seize such bike taxis and penalise them.”

Some of the reasons mentioned by traffic officials for banning Ola Bike Taxis are:

• The whole concept is illegal.
• Safety issues
• No clear regulations
• Traffic hazard.

Transport commissioner VP Ikkeri said that the service of using the bike as taxis is completely illegal in Karnataka. He said,  “We are still working on a policy and have sought the opinion from stakeholders on whether bike-taxi services should be allowed. Since a policy is not yet in place, action will be taken against those who continue to offer bike taxi services,”

No doubt, bike taxis are cheaper than cabs and take less time as well. Bike taxis are fairly popular in cities like Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur, where users of this service opt for bikes to navigate the traffic and save time.

However, as there are no regulations for the same in Karnataka, Ola and Rapido will have to stop this now. Hopefully, regulations will help them to relaunch the service, soon.

FIR Against Uber in Noida

On February 5th, a 25-year-old lady from Noida was assaulted in an Uber cab, which was driven by someone who was not assigned the ride. Someone else came in place of the original driver.

Noida police have taken a serious view of this lapse in protocols, and have filed FIR against Uber for the same.

The FIR has been lodged for:

• The absence of police verification of the driver, before assigning a ride
• An absence of real-time monitoring of the vehicle, as prescribed in the traffic laws.

The FIR was lodged at the Bisrakh police station in Greater Noida under Section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police spokesperson said, “Such negligence on the part of the company has endangered life and property of people. That is why a case under IPC Section 336 has been registered against the company for the above mentioned negligence.”

Uber is still awaiting the copy of the FIR.

Uber India said, “Subject to our review of the FIR, we would like to deny any allegation raised in the press release. Safety is paramount for all of us at Uber and we remain committed to trying to build the best possible safety standards for our riders. We have and will continue to extend our full support to investigating and other authorities,”

We will keep you updated, as more details come in.

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