After Ola, Karnataka Transport Dept Looks To Stop Bike-Taxi Startup Rapido

After Ola, the Karnataka state transport department is now looking to stop the services of bike taxi company Rapido.

Citing official sources, an ET report said that it will soon be filing a police complaint against the company at the Koramangala Police station in Bengaluru.

According to Gnanendra Kumar, joint commissioner (Enforcement), about 170 Rapido bike-taxis have been seized by the department as of Friday (April 5). The transport department is also expected to levy a fine on Rapido as it did in the case of Ola.

Citing Narendra Holkar, additional commissioner of transport, the report added that notices have been issued to Rapido directing them to stop its bike taxi services immediately.

Unsatisfied with Rapido’s response to their directive, the department will be taking legal steps to make sure that the company suspends its bike services.

In February, the state transport department had written to both Ola and Rapido to stop its bike taxi services immediately.

Ola TaxiForSure Uber (OTU) Owners and Drivers Association has also requested the government to stop bike taxi services adding that the service is also violating the Motor Vehicle Act which mentions that vehicle with white plates cannot be used for commercial purposes.

In order to keep the companies from operating the bike taxi services, state transport department banned Ola from running cab operations in Karnataka and its license had been suspended for a period of six months on March 22.

However, the ban was lifted after a day after Ola paid a fine of INR 15 Lakh. However, the department is yet to give the cab aggregator the licence to operate two wheelers.

Due to this, Ola’s parent company ANI Technologies has filed a petition against the state transport department at the Karnataka high court for not providing the company with a licence to operate bike taxis in the state.

Citing increasing number of road accidents in Bengaluru, the Karnataka transport department had declared Uber and Ola’s bike sharing services as “illegal” in 2016. The services were banned from the state.

According to a July 2018 report, the city had lost 3,250 human lives in road accidents in four years. The report also added that motorcycle accidents were also increasing in the city.