Bike taxis will start operating in Mumbai soon: Transport officials todayheadline

Mumbaikars may soon be able to book bike taxis in Mumbai which will help them cut down on both time and costs. A senior official from the state transport commissioner’s office told TOI that the bike taxis will probably become functional in a few weeks as the transport department has received applications from aggregator firms and groups that meet the criteria laid down by them.

The department is currently planning to set up a “ complaint mechanism” concerning passenger safety, carpooling, licensing, and traffic violations related to aggregator vehicles in an expedited manner as reported by the Times of India.

Transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar told TOI that compliance and scrutiny of the application is still pending.

TOI sources have said that once the scrutiny of applications is over, bike taxis will be available across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in the coming weeks.

Bike taxis are reportedly the cheapest form of transport costing as low as Rs 3 per kilometre and they are currently plying in multiple cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

A meeting had been held at the transport ministry to bring bike taxis under government regulation. Bike taxis can carry one passenger who rides pillion behind the bike operator. The government plans to introduce a small partition between female bike operators and their pillion and wants to encourage women operators.The state government has come out with a gazette notification which lays down the guidelines for bike taxi operations. A Bike operator would need a commercial driving license and also a Public Service Badge just like an auto rickshaw driver. They also need to have sufficient knowledge about the route of operation. Drivers who are aged between 20-50 years need to undergo police verification and possess the commercial license. The operators should have no criminal record and the police verification will be done at the time of induction. The aggregator’s five year licenses necessitates them to maintain a fleet of minimum 50 electric bike taxis. Unlike the cab aggregators the bike taxi operator will be required to maintain a call centre or operate as an aggregator through an organised call centre or a web portal.The bike taxi operator will need to provide an emergency contact number or an urgent helpline facility so that the rider can send a distress signal to police authorities, local administration, personal emergency contact of the rider and the firm, according to the gazette guidelines.

The companies also need to set up a system for customer feedback and grievance handling.

(With inputs from TOI)