Pune RTO forms squads to take action against Rapido bike-taxis
As per information shared by the Pune RTO, the latter rejected Rapido’s application for license for its two-wheeler and three-wheeler bike-taxis earlier last week
As Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited aka Rapido is still running its illegal bike-taxi services in the city despite permission for the same having been refused by the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO), the latter has now formed four squads to take action against the company and the riders of its bike-taxis apart from confiscating 18 such bike-taxis belonging to Rapido.
As per information shared by the Pune RTO, the latter rejected Rapido’s application for license for its two-wheeler and three-wheeler bike-taxis earlier last week. The issue had been going on for the last several months and auto-rickshaw unions had called a strike against Rapido and other illegal bike-taxi service operators last week. As Rapido was found running its mobile application and bike-taxi services in the city even after this, the Pune RTO constituted four squads of RTO inspectors to take action against these services. Till now, 18 Rapido riders have been fined and their bikes have been seized by the RTO authorities.
“The company is running its services illegally even after permission to run bike-taxis has been rejected. Hence, we are continuing action against the riders. Four squads have been formed for the purpose, and they have seized 18 bikes till now,” said Ajit Shinde, Pune regional transport officer.
The clamour against these bike-taxis has been getting louder since the past one month with auto-rickshaw unions calling an indefinite strike in Pune. Even the Rapido company clarified its stand as it had freshly applied to the Pune RTO for a license to run its bike-taxi services in Pune. Meanwhile, the Bombay high court disposed of the writ petition filed by Rapido against the state transport department as there was continuous action taken against Rapido riders in Pune for the last few months for illegally running these services in the state. Whereas the HC instructed the state government to reconsider the application filed by the Rapido company for a license for its bike-taxi services.
