Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik conducted a spot check by attempting to book a bike taxi ride from outside Mantralaya.
Rapido rides
Bike taxis in Maharashtra are under fire once again, with the State’s Transport Department cracking down on their unauthorised operations across Mumbai. The push comes in the wake of concerns around safety, regulatory violations, and the lack of formal approvals for two-wheeler passenger services in urban areas.
Despite the state having finalised a draft policy for bike taxis, the legal framework is not yet in force, making such operations illegal in the interim. The government has made it clear: no operator has the green light to run bike taxis in Maharashtra. Yet, aggregators like Ola, Rapido and Uber appeared to be pushing ahead undeterred.
Last week, Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik conducted a spot check by attempting to book a bike taxi ride from outside Mantralaya - the state’s administrative HQ. In a matter of minutes, a Rapido bike arrived, exposing the blatant violation of rules. Sarnaik immediately called for enforcement action, stating that such services must be halted until the policy officially rolls out.
But even after this high-profile sting, Rapido continues to operate-more brazenly than ever. Unlike Uber and Ola, which have removed the bike taxi option from their apps silently in Mumbai, Rapido is allegedly running the feature selectively, avoiding high-visibility areas where regulators are likely to check.
An industry source in the know of the matter said: “Ola and Uber don’t have bike taxis available on the apps. Interestingly, Rapido is using a clever ploy - running the app selectively in some parts of the city. If you try booking a ride from Marine Drive to Mantralay, you don’t see the bike taxi option. But if you book from RTO office, New Link Road, to Marine Drive - the bike taxi reappears on top. Prima facie this is a clever arrangement to avoid regulatory scrutiny. This has started after the Transport Minister himself had tried booking a Rapido which was available despite being illegal.”
The state is expected to notify its formal bike taxi guidelines later this month. But until then, Rapido’s ‘now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t’ strategy has raised serious questions about enforcement, and whether some players are simply too fast for the rulebook.
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