BENGALURU: With the Karnataka High Court ban on bike taxi operations nearing on June 15, officials of the transport department said they will go ahead and implement the ban. There is no plan to frame a bike taxi policy, which will legalise their operations, they added.
Hundreds of bike taxi riders from Bengaluru and across the state have been meeting Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and senior officials of the state Transport Department, telling them that the ban will affect their livelihood.
They have been urging them to frame a bike taxi policy in the state and allow them to run bike taxis. However, senior officials of the Department said personal vehicles are only meant for personal use and they cannot be used as bike taxis.
Karnataka was the first state in the country to come out with an electric bike taxi policy- ‘Karnataka Electric Bike Taxi Scheme 2021’. The scheme allowed operation of electric bike taxis but the scheme was withdrawn in 2024.
While this made the operation of e-bike taxis illegal, there was no policy that legalised the operations of the regular petrol engine two-wheelers, said a senior transport official.
“The number plates for the vehicles are given for a purpose. The whiteboard two-wheelers are only for personal purposes. How can the vehicle be used for commercial operations?”, the official questioned.
While acknowledging that they have been getting requests from the bike taxi unions and the riders ever since the Karnataka High Court imposed a ban on their operations, to come up with a bike taxi policy, citing that other states like Delhi and Maharashtra have allowed bike taxis, the official said the state transport department is unlikely to come up with a policy.
He said that after the end of the time given by the HC to bike taxi aggregators to wind up their operations in the state, on June 15, the department will go ahead and implement it.