Newly launched bike taxi services by Uber, Ola are unlawful until new regulations formulated

Uber and Ola’s ambitious plans to launch their respective bike-taxi services have come to a halt as the Karnataka government said there are no rules on how to govern them.

This doesn’t mean that the bike-taxi services have been banned. They have been halted till the time the Karnataka government formulates a set of regulations under the Motor Vehicles Act on how to govern them.

Till now, as per the transport department officials said the bike taxi services launched by Uber and Ola in Bengaluru last week, remain unlawful.

"Let them (Uber, Ola etc) first go before the Regional Transport Authority stating that they wish to run bike taxis. They will examine the request, and take things forward," transport commissioner Rame Gowda told ET, adding, "We cannot allow a white-board registration bike to offer taxi services. We will have to deal with many aspects including the security of users.”

Uber and Ola had taken advantage of no rules listed under the bike taxi services and launched the same in the IT hub.

In Karnataka, a bike is registered for personal use. If the owner of a bike wishes to use it for commercial purposes, then he or she cannot do that without first changing the vehicle to transport category.

However, in Goa, there is a provision for bike taxi services and they charge a minimum fare Rs 10 and a per kilometre fare of Rs 3.

Meanwhile, as per few reports, some Uber and Ola bike taxis were seized also for illegally running in Bengaluru.

(Image: Indiatimes)