Ola restarts its bike-taxi service in Bengaluru, to deploy its S1 scooters

Multinational ridesharing company Ola Cabs has restarted its bike taxi service in Bengaluru and will be going all electric, founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal posted on X on Saturday. "Restarting Ola Bike in BLR (Bengaluru) today,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “This time, all electric and our own S1 scooters!" 

Aggarwal 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 has earlier operated bike taxis in Bengaluru, but this is the first time for the cab aggregator will be operating electric bike taxis. Karnataka became the first state in the country to roll out an electric bike taxi policy in July 2021. But to date, no operator has been able to start bike-taxi operations in the state. 

In December 2022, the Karnataka transport department issued its first e-bike taxi licence to two-wheeler rental company Bounce, but it is yet to roll out its services and has instead shifted its focus to producing electric scooters. 

Currently, Rapido and Uber are operating non-electric bike taxis in Bengaluru. Earlier this week, Karnataka State Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that the state is working towards permanently banning Rapido bike taxis.

The Federation of Karnataka State Private Transport Association, representing 36 bus, taxi and goods vehicle unions, had demanded a ban on bike taxis in Karnataka, citing that it is affecting their livelihood. The Karnataka government said that it must seek a legal opinion on their bike taxi ban demand. 

The concept of bike taxis has faced hurdles in many states in the country. In February this year, the Delhi Transport Department issued a notification banning the bike taxi services provided by popular aggregators like Ola, Uber and Rapido. It also said that a fine of Rs 1 Lakh would be slapped on the aggregators flouting the norms.

In June, the Supreme Court stayed an order of the Delhi High Court allowing bike aggregators to continue their operations until the regulations were notified. The Delhi government in July told the apex court that it would formulate the new policy by July 31. 

Last month, the Supreme Court extended the time granted to the Delhi government to finalise the Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme, which would regulate the operations of bike taxis, till September 30. The Delhi government had moved the court seeking an extension of the deadline.

A similar ban was imposed in Maharashtra after Pune Regional Transport Office refused to give licence to Rapido for providing bike taxi services.

The order was challenged at the Bombay High Court, where it was dismissed. The court observed that the firm (Rapido) can’t be allowed to operate without having appropriate licence. The Supreme Court also refused to give relief to the company in the case. 

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