In a recent development, the Delhi transport department has ordered bike aggregators like
Ola, Uber, and Rapido to stop offering taxi services in the capital. The department has asked
these companies to comply with the order and stop their operations with immediate effect.
Earlier, the transport department had issued a warning against the use of bike taxis on Delhi’s roads, noting that doing so would violate the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 and subject
aggregators to a punishment of Rs 1 lakh.
The Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 is broken when two-wheelers are used for business reasons.
In these cases, the motorist will additionally suffer a three-month license suspension.
According to the notification, some app-based businesses are misrepresenting themselves as aggregators in defiance of the 1988 statute. A fine of Rs. 1 lakh will be imposed as
punishment for this.
The Supreme Court turned down Rapido’s request for relief from the Maharashtra
government’s rejection to provide it a license earlier this month.
This decision comes after the Delhi High Court’s ruling that bike aggregators cannot provide
taxi services in the city as they do not have the required license for the same. The court had
also directed the Delhi government to take strict action against these companies for violating the rules.
The transport department has stated that these bike aggregators can only provide ride-hailing services for point-to-point travel and not as a taxi service. They have also warned that strict action will be taken against those who violate the order.
The bike aggregators have been given a deadline of two days to comply with the order failing which they will have to face legal action. However, the companies are expected to challenge this decision in court.
This move by the Delhi government is likely to affect the daily commuters who rely on these
services for their daily commute. It remains to be seen how the bike aggregators will respond
to this order and whether they will be able to resume their services in the capital.
Keywords – Delhi government, capital, transport department, taxi service, bike, license, Rapido, OLA, Uber, High court, fine, Motor Vehicles Act of 1988, operations, government, licence suspension, taxi.