Amid stiff opposition from private transport operators, ride-hailing firm Ola on Saturday resumed bike-taxi services in Bengaluru with a fleet of electric scooters.
Sharing the details on social media platform ‘X’, founder and CEO of Ola Bhavish Aggarwal said electric scooters (Ola S1 scooters) manufactured by the firm will be used to provide bike-taxi service. The fare for a 5km ride is INR 25 and it is INR 50 for 10km. Describing the e-bike taxi service as the “lowest cost, very comfortable and great for environment”, he stated there are plans to scale it across the country.
Aggarwal spoke about expanding the e-bike taxi services to a smaller town, with less than one lakh population, in the state next week and sought suggestions on the same.
The announcement comes as a relief for several Bengalureans who are at the mercy of unwilling auto drivers or ride-cancelling cab drivers. Ola’s launch of electric scooters, which is in sync with the government’s Electric Bike Taxi scheme, is expected to enhance the first and last-mile connectivity from Metro stations and bus stands. However the hitch is bike-taxi operations lack clarity and autorickshaw unions have been terming them ‘illegal’ while the issue is pending before the high court.
‘Only Bounce got licence’
L Hemantha Kumar, additional commissioner of transport department and secretary of Karnataka State Transport Authority (KSTA), said Ola had not obtained a licence under the Karnataka Electric Bike Taxi Scheme brought out in July 2021. “After the scheme was introduced by the state government, we had received only one application for providing e-bike taxi services and that was from Bounce. We have issued them the permit; however, they are yet to introduce the service. Other than that, no one else has obtained the licence.”
At present, the three aggregators—Ola, Uber and Rapido—are providing bike-taxi services in the city.
