Karnataka transport department deems bike taxis illegal

Ever rising congestion levels have encouraged cab aggregators to introduce two-wheeler taxis (popular in Goa since years). Recently, Uber and Ola launched their bike taxi services in Bangalore called uberMOTO and Ola bike respectively. However, a statement by the Karnataka transport department says that the two companies have not obtained a permit or licence to operate their app-based bike taxi services and have subsequently been deemed illegal.

Both companies now stand to face legal action as vehicles need a yellow board to certify them as transport vehicles - a prerequisite for taxi operations. The government added that no one using these services would be able to make an insurance claim for damages or injuries, as such a category does not exist in any prevailing claim procedure.

Though Uber and Ola are big players in the taxi space, they aren't the first to experiment with the concept of bike taxis. Last year, Baxi received the green flag from the Government of Haryana to operate its bike taxi service while in Bangalore itself, a group of IITians introduced the Rapido bike taxi app.