The Bike Taxi Welfare Association of Karnataka met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi Saturday, urging his intervention for a policy to regulate bike taxis in the state.
The delegation briefed the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha on their “livelihood crisis”. The association has about 12,000 members in Bengaluru, and over six lakh bike taxi riders across the state, said president Adi Narayan.
A press statement issued by the association stated, “Rahul Gandhi patiently heard the delegation and assured his support to bike taxi drivers, most of them young workers struggling to make ends meet. His assurance has ignited fresh hope for over six lakh drivers and their families, reeling under a severe livelihood crisis caused by the suspension of services.”
Members of the association also submitted a letter to Gandhi, outlining their demands: a policy and regulations for the operation of bike taxis in the state and resumption of operations without the risk of any punitive action against riders until the policy is established.
Although bike taxi services such as Ola, Uber, and Rapido resumed operation on August 21, they did so without prior permission from the Karnataka High Court. The transport department is currently considering legal action against the ride-aggregator platforms.
In April, the Karnataka High Court ruled that bike taxis are illegal, citing that the state government had failed to create a regulatory framework under the Motor Vehicles Act. The ban came into effect in June after the high court refused to stay the order that had directed that bike taxi services in Karnataka be stopped within six weeks.
Hearing a plea by ride-hailing platforms Rapido, Uber and Ola, the high court on August 20 asked the Karnataka government to decide whether to frame a bike taxi policy, citing that there are “lives at stake in this matter”. Though the bench refused to pass any interim order permitting aggregators to operate, bike taxi aggregators started their operations the next day in the state.