Bike Taxis To Stop Plying On Karnataka Roads

Centre Clears The Path For Bike Taxi Operations

SUMMARY

A division bench of the Karnataka HC declined to stay the order banning bike taxi services until the state government releases a comprehensive policy

The HC bench said it would have considered staying the April 2 order if the state government had given any indications that it was formulating a regulatory framework

The Karnataka HC initially gave a time of six weeks to bike taxi service providers like Ola, Uber and Rapido to halt their services, but later extended the deadline till June 15

Over two months after the Karnataka High Court (HC) banned bike taxi services in the state, a division bench of the HC today declined to stay the order until the state government releases a comprehensive policy to regulate the services.

Ola and Uber had challenged the April 2 ruling, as per a report by Bar and Bench. During the court proceedings, the HC bench, comprising Chief Justice V Kameswara Rao and Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar, said it would have considered staying the April 2 order and let bike taxis continue operations if the state government had given any indications that it was formulating a regulatory framework.

It is pertinent to note that the HC, in its April ruling, gave six-week time to bike taxi service providers like Ola, Uber and Rapido to halt their services. Following this, Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy asked department officials to enforce the HC order to suspend bike taxi operations in the state.

However, on April 29, the HC allowed bike taxi aggregators to continue their operations in Karnataka till June 15. With the HC’s refusal to stay the April 2 ruling, bike taxis would have to stop plying in the state from July 16.

The Karnataka HC has scheduled the next hearing in the matter on June 24, after the state government files its response by June 20.

The HC order banning bike taxi services came due to the state government’s reluctance to regulate the services. Currently, there are no specific rules or guidelines under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to regulate bike taxis.

It is pertinent to mention that Karnataka regulated bike taxi services for about three years between 2021 and 2024. Its erstwhile scheme allowed individuals and companies to register electric two-wheelers as taxis.

However, the government withdrew the scheme in 2024. It cited reasons like private vehicle utilisation as taxis, clashes between auto drivers and bike taxi drivers, women safety concerns, among others, behind the decision.

Notably, Karnataka is not the only state where bike taxi services have faced opposition from the government. In the past, states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra also banned these services, before relaxing the rules later.