Pune RTO officials seize 250 illegal bike taxis
PUNE After auto-rickshaw unions opposed motorbike taxi services operated by app-based aggregators in Pune, terming they are “illegal” and adversely affecting their business; the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) has seized over 250 two-wheelers of the private aggregators who are ferrying passengers illegally A special team of 16 RTO inspectors were divided into four squads and seized the vehicles from different parts of the city
PUNE After auto-rickshaw unions opposed motorbike taxi services operated by app-based aggregators in Pune, terming they are “illegal” and adversely affecting their business; the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) has seized over 250 two-wheelers of the private aggregators who are ferrying passengers illegally
A special team of 16 RTO inspectors were divided into four squads and seized the vehicles from different parts of the city. A protest by the auto-rickshaw unions was held on Thursday at the Pune RTO office against these illegal bike taxis and on February 14 a one-day strike will be held by the auto unions.
“RTO inspectors given the duty to identify, check and verify the illegal running bike taxis in the city. Accordingly, in the past five days over 250 such two-wheelers has been seized by these squads and action has been taken. Till now there is no legal permission given to the two-wheeler transportation of passengers, nor there is any permit given under the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Regulations for running a bike taxi,” said Pune regional transport officer Ajit Shinde.
This service is popular in the city as it is cheaper. Manoj Shinge a passenger said, “When I have to travel alone for some work, I book a bike taxi and till now I have travelled by it twice in the last one month. It is better to go on a bike and it is affordable for us.
A bike taxi driver, whose vehicle was seized, requesting anonymity said, “We attached our bike to an app-based service providing company and were working under them. Now suddenly we were told it is illegal and my bike has been taken away by the RTO inspector. I had bought the vehicle on loan and already struggling financially due to the pandemic, we hope to get my bike back as soon as possible,”
Avinash Dhakne, state transport commissioner said, “We are into a process to legalise the two-wheeler passenger transport also known as bike taxis in the state soon. A detailed study of cities where it can be allowed will be done as per the vehicle density and only after that, the bike taxis will be regularised. Till then no companies should offer such app-based services to passengers as action will be taken.”