Are Rapido, Uber Circumventing The Karnataka High Court's Bike Taxi Ban?

First, some background

Bike Taxi services from cab aggregators like Uber, Ola, and Rapido are actually used by many people in metro cities. It is especially seen as an economical and faster mode of commuting by many, particularly during peak office hours.

However, the state of Karnataka has a different opinion. They had asked these bike taxi operators to stop the service in the state. Although the aggregators did move forward with an appeal, things didn’t work in their favour. The Karnataka High Court has upheld the original verdict of ceasing the bike taxi operations and has now ruled that the operators must cease their services from June 16.

Are these bike taxis going to stop operations in Karnataka? Well, we don’t think so, and here’s why.

Why Ban ?

We’ll start with why the Karnataka Court has decided to ban bike taxis in the state. The reason these cannot be operated is because the state government has refused to frame rules to regulate such services under the Motor Vehicles Act. Apart from this, the High Court also noted that the Transport Department has consistently highlighted that using privately registered two‑wheelers for commercial passenger transport is illegal under current motor vehicle laws.

The autorickshaw union opposed bike taxis, stating they are unfair competition, and the court also pointed to several traffic and safety issues that occur due to bike taxi operations.

Jugaad

With the new ruling, bike taxi operators are forced to stop operations as they are legally not allowed to transport people from one point to another. But it looks like Ola, Uber, and Rapido have already come up with a solution to this problem.

They have now decided to rebrand their service from “bike taxi” to something else. On Uber, the UberMoto service has been rebranded as “Moto Courier”, while Rapido has decided to rename their bike taxi service as “Bike Parcel.” While Uber and Rapido have decided to go with a rebranding strategy, Ola has not done anything like that yet.

What’s happening?

Well, Rapido and Uber have decided to continue with the services but, instead of identifying the passengers as individuals, they will now consider them as parcels. This way, they can continue to pick up and drop off people or the so-called parcels from point A to point B without technically breaking the law.

When you click on these courier or parcel services in the app or on the website, it redirects you to an option where it asks you to drop your friend to the location.

Is it legal?

It's not legal to operate a bike taxi in Karnataka anymore. As per the High Court ruling, these bike taxi operations must be ceased by June 16, 2025. By rebranding the services, they are trying to find a way around this issue.

However, we feel this isn’t going to be enough. They are blatantly flouting the ruling by the Karnataka High Court, and it is extremely risky. If the court notices this, it can actually take action against these operators and may even completely ban the courier services provided by them.

As of now, this ban is currently applicable only in Karnataka. In the rest of the places where Uber, Ola, and Rapido were offering these bike taxi operations, the services can continue as usual.