While taxi and auto unions have been protesting against cab aggregators in the city of Mumbai, companies such as Ola and Uber have increased their reach by introducing bike taxis in the market in the city of Bengaluru. While Ola will call their service “Ola Taxi”, Uber cabs has named their service “Uber Moto”.
Uber Moto charges a base fare of Rs.15 apart from Rs. 3 per km and Rs.1 per minute of the trip whereas Ola, on the other hand, charges an introductory base fare of Rs.30 apart from Rs. 2 per km and Rs. per minute of the trip. This makes Ola affordable than Uber by Re. 1. Both companies offer additional features such as SOS and live tracking while Ola has additional options such as Ola money and mandatory helmets for the pillion rider.
The move seems to have received mixed reactions from the local players with some having a view that the bigger players might spoil the customers whereas some were of the view that the move would bring investors. Another player in the bike taxi market said that their market is very huge as compared to the car taxi market and hence there would be space for everyone to co-exist.
Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer at Ola said that they were excited to launch the pilot of Bike Taxis in Bangalore. He further added that the service would help users get to their destination within minutes, especially in a traffic prone city such as Bangalore.
Has the legal hazels cleared? I guess so far Goa and Haryana governments are the only one who had allowed this kind of business.