Karnataka HC puts the brakes on bike taxis in the state
The move, which is expected to kick in within six weeks, could affect ride-hailing companies including Rapido, Ola Consumer, and Uber
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday ordered bike taxi platforms to halt their operations in the state within the next six weeks, spelling trouble for players like Rapido, Ola and Uber, according to a report by Bar and Bench. The court order for the same is yet to be released.
According to the report, Justice B M Shyam Prasad passed the order, rejecting petitions filed by Rapido’s parent company Ropeen Transportation Services Private Ltd and US-based Uber and Ola.
This is not the first time bike taxi operators have been in legal tussles with the state government or other unions. Autorickshaw unions have long criticised bike taxis, often leading to public arguments that have been uploaded to social media platforms.
Amidst the same, the Bike Taxi Welfare Association moved the state to protect bike taxis drivers.
Additionally, one of the sticky points is that of onboarding two-wheelers with white number plates onto platforms to be used as commercial vehicles. For instance, cabs on ride-hailing platforms have to be registered as a commercial vehicle and run with yellow number plates.
In November last year, Rapido proposed to register two-wheelers as transport vehicles and to issue permits under the Motor Vehicles Act. However, the state noted that white-plate bikes violate regulations.
"The Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka has directed aggregators to cease operations of bike taxis after 6 weeks and accordingly directed the State Transport Department to not take any adverse action within such time. Karnataka born Rapido is concerned about the welfare of lakhs of bike taxi captains onboarded on the platform, and will evaluate and pursue appropriate legal remedies once the detailed order is made available,” a Rapido spokesperson said in a statement.
According to reports, Rapido has a fleet size of about 4 to 5 million bikes that are registered with the company. A recent Motilal Oswal note said that the company had a 56% market share in the bike taxi segment.
Edited by Jyoti Narayan