The firm has fixed the pricing as Rs 25 for 5km, Rs 50 for 10km. The move comes despite several legal tussles with various state governments to run bike taxis.
Ride-sharing firm Ola Cabs, on September 16, announced restarting its bike taxi services and will only ply Ola Electric’s S1 scooters in Bengaluru.
“Restarting Ola Bike in Blr today…This time, all-electric and our own S1 scooters!, ” Wrote Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola on X, formerly Twitter.
The firm has fixed the pricing as Rs 25 for 5km, Rs 50 for 10km.
“Lowest cost, very comfortable and great for the environment! Will scale across India over next few months,” Aggarwal wrote.
This comes at a time when plying bike taxis has come under the government’s scanner. Several state governments including Karnataka are mulling banning bike taxis.
The Karnataka State Minister Ramalinga Reddy, on Tuesday this week, said that the state is working towards permanently banning Rapido bike taxis.
The bike taxi ban comes on the back of two issues pertaining to riders, especially women’s safety and going electric.
With Ola’s ‘all electric’ initiative, experts believe the firm is in a safe spot.
In fact, Karnataka became the first state in the country to roll out an electric bike taxi policy in July 2021. However, even after two years, not a single operator has begun offering e-bike taxi services in Bengaluru.
The bike taxi policy was aimed primarily at enhancing first- and last-mile connectivity, particularly from metro, bus and railway stations, and creating employment opportunities. It was also expected to put an end to the hassle of bargaining with autorickshaw drivers who either refuse distance trips or demand exorbitant fares.
