6 days Ago
From May 14, two-wheeler taxis will go off the road here as State Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy directed the department to enforce the Karnataka High Court order banning bike taxis. The high court had, on April 2, asked the government to stop the two-wheelers plying as taxis within six weeks, because the vehicle registration and traffic aggregator guidelines did not cover the private two-wheelers to be used as public transport vehicles, and as such, plying them was illegal. Advertisement Banning the two-wheeler taxis, the court advised the state to frame guidelines for bike taxis so that they can be regularised.
Advertisement Accordingly, the transport minister directed his department to enforce the ban as ordered by the High Court. Perturbed by the sudden ban, over 100 bike taxi drivers, associated with various transport aggregators like Ola, Uber, and Namma Yatri, called on the transport minister on Monday and urged him to protect their livelihood. While directing the government to frame guidelines to regulate the bike taxis, the court had asked the state to stop the services within six weeks, and the same can only be started once the state came out with proper guidelines on the use of two-wheelers as public transport vehicles.
According to the transport department, the plying of two-wheeler taxis would come to a halt from May 14. Some 100 bike taxi drivers called on the minister and urged him to protect their livelihood and frame regulations and guidelines for their operations as in the absence of any such rules and regulations they were at the mercy of the traffic corps on the road and faced harassment regularly. They also informed the minister that they had to often pay hefty fines too.
The main demand of the Bike Taxi Drivers association was that the trade be recognised as a legal mode of transport and guidelines be prescribed, as the High Court had directed. Incidentally, the Maharashtra government has just made bike taxis legal in the state only last week. If they are legal in Maharashtra and Delhi, then what is the problem in Karnataka the bike taxi drivers question and lament that they were being denied the right to their livelihood? Of late, many people who lost jobs in different sectors have turned to driving bike taxis to earn a living.
Although at the national level, the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 recognise bike taxis but the state of Karnataka is yet to frame guidelines. This is what the Karnataka High Court urged the government to frame the guidelines so that the plying of the two-wheeler taxis can become legal. The delegation of bike taxi drivers called on the minister after he had asked his department to ensure that Ola, Rapido, and Uber stop the bike taxi operations.
Incidentally, in Bangalore, the driver and auto rickshaw unions staged protests against bike taxis, sparking an action against bike taxi riders from the transport department. Advertisement.
