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Chandigarh will have to wait for bike taxis for now
Administration’s focus on registering autos, no policy on bike taxis for at least four months.
Chandigarh administration has shelved its plan to allow bike taxis in the city, at least for four months.
UT transport secretary KK Jindal said that for now, the administration wants to focus on the registration of autorickshaws plying in the city.
“At present, only 1,000 autos are registered in the city and we want to carry out police verification of all auto drivers in view of women’s safety,” he said.
The drive has assumed importance after a woman passenger was raped by an auto driver and his aides last month.
“As far as bike taxis are concerned, if needed, we will discuss the policy after three to four months,” said Jindal, adding that both app-based cab services Ola and Uber had shown little interest.
In a meeting held in September this year, senior UT officials refrained from taking any decision on bike taxis, expressing their concern over passenger safety. After that no meeting was held on the issue.
The concerns included potential health hazard as a single helmet would be used by different passengers, and installation of speed governors in two-wheelers. The State Transport Authority (STA) has already prepared a draft policy and submitted it to the UT administration, but nothing moved on.
Poor response in Mohali
Even though in July this year, the Punjab government launched its flagship ‘Apni Gaddi Apna Rozgar’ scheme by flagging off bike taxis in Mohali in partnership with Uber, the project has not got a good response.
Bike rider Malkit Singh said he had to give up as it was not financially viable and people prefer cars. Another biker said lack of permit to ply in Chandigarh affected business.
Meanwhile, an Uber spokesperson said: “We continue to engage with the Chandigarh administration towards securing all the necessary approvals to allow for the service to be scaled across the city.”
