Rapido, Ola, Uber Bike Taxi To Suspend Services In Delhi; Violation To Attract Hefty Fine

It is a major setback for cab aggregators Rapido, Ola and Uber as the Delhi government has mandated to halt their bike-taxi services immediately and violation will attract hefty fine.

Delhi: Delhites attention! Do you frequently book bike taxis from Rapido, Ola or Uber? Well, soon you will not be able to ride these bike taxis as the Delhi Transport Department has asked bike aggregators to halt their services in the national capital, reported Economic Times.

The transport department issued a notice on February 20, stating that these aggregators should stop the bike taxi services with immediate effect.

“It has been brought to the notice that two-wheelers having non-transport (private) registration mark/numbers are being used to carry passengers on hire which is purely commercial operation and a violation of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988,” the notice read.

In case of violation, Rs 5000 will be levied for first offense and therefore a fine of Rs 10000 and improsnment will be imposed.

“In addition, the driving license of the driver will be suspended for a minimum period of three years,” the notice said.

The notice also said that the digital platforms- Rapido, Ola, Uber applications- that are facilitating this operation will be charged with a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Rapido Issue In Maharashtra

This comes as a major blow to Rapido, as this moves comes days after the Supreme Court denied to grant any relief to the bike aggregator after Maharashtra government refused to provide license to the firm.

In January this year, the Bombay High Court had mandated the company to suspend its bike taxi services in the state due to certain complication pertaining to their license in operation.

Rapido had asked the Maharashtra government to grant it a license to operate two-wheeler bike taxis in the state, but its request was dismissed because the state hasn’t yet devised a policy to run operations of only bike taxis. While the company has agreed to shut its operations, the court has said that a ban will be placed on Rapido till January 20, according to Economic Times.

Ola, Uber had already stopped their bike taxi services in the state.