In the latest development, the Indore transport department has banned bike taxis in the city, and the reason for this has been cited as safety and regulatory concerns.
An official has confirmed this news recently.
1000 Bike Taxis In Indore Banned For Safety And Regulatory Concerns
This means that more than 1000 such vehicles have been banned in the city.
As per regional transport officer Jitendra Raghwanshi, “After an investigation into various complaints about bike-taxis, we found their operation is not safe. These services were provided through an App and private companies operating it were not providing proper details about their vehicles and drivers to the transport department, which was causing a lot of problems in regulating them.”
As per the officer, Ola, Rapido, and other app-based companies have been operating more than 1000 bike taxis in the city.
He has stated that if anyone in Indore is found to put up his vehicle as a bike taxi, it will be seized. Additionally, the registration of the bike will be canceled.
The Indore transport department discovered that vehicles registered in other states were being used as bike taxis. He claimed that private two-wheelers were also being used for commercial purposes as bike taxis.
According to the official, after discovering the irregularities, the transportation department fined the bike-taxi drivers and issued notices to the companies involved, but they continued to break the rules.
Karnataka Bans Bike Taxis As Well
Back in 2019, Ola Bike Taxis were declared illegal by the Karnataka Govt. In a major operation, several bike taxis were impounded and seized.
As reported earlier, 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 for the 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 as well.
Some of the reasons mentioned by traffic officials for banning Ola Bike Taxis are that the whole concept is illegal, safety issues, no clear regulations, and traffic hazards.