Ola restarts bike-taxi service in Bengaluru
Ola is restarting its bike taxi service in Bengaluru even as ride-hailing companies and the Karnataka government is fighting it out in court over the legality of the service.
Ride-hailing company has restarted its bike taxi service, which will be all electric in Bengaluru, founder Bhavish Aggarwal said.
"Restarting Ola Bike in BLR (Bengaluru) today,” he said on microblogging platform X. “This time, all electric and our own S1 scooters!"
He said that customers would be charged Rs 25 for 5 kilometers and Rs 50 for 10 kilometers, adding that the service will be scaled across the country over the next few months.
Ola is restarting its bike taxi service in Bengaluru even as ride-hailing companies and the Karnataka government is fighting it out in court over the legality of the service.
Ola's latest service would not be facing any legal challenges though as the Karnataka government has framed a policy on bike taxis, which allows vehicles to ply as long as it is electric.
In recent months, the Delhi government started cracking down on bike taxis which are not electric. State governments across the country differ on their stance with regard to bike taxis, with some states like Telangana allowing bike taxis running on petrol to ply.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that two-wheeler taxis cannot operate in Delhi until a policy is put into place, causing a big blow to bike-taxi aggregators including Ola, Uber and Rapido.