Now that Uber, Ola and Rapido bike taxi services have now been completely banned in Delhi the development might have come as a jolt to those who rely on the two-wheeler transport.

The Delhi Transport Department has issued a notice to these ride-sharing companies to stop the bike taxi services immediately. It said that the bike taxi service provided by Uber, Ola and Rapido have violated the transport rules. Hence, their services have been banned by the city’s Transport Department.

“It has been brought to the notice that two-wheelers having non-transport (private) registration mark/numbers are being used to carry passengers on hire which is purely commercial operation and a violation of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988,” read the Transport Department notice.

In the notice, the department has stated that the first offence would invite a fine of Rs 5,000, which would go up to Rs 10,000 for the second violation and up to one year jail term as penalty.

The fine for Ola, Uber and Rapido will be much higher. The notice highlighted that these digital platforms that are providing bike taxi rides to users will be charged with a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, if they facilitate the operation.

From now on, commuters in Delhi will no longer have the economical transport services of bike taxi which could give them the benefit of reaching last mile destination squeezing through traffic and narrow lanes and bylanes.

Barely a few weeks ago, the Maharashtrian government had issued a notice to stop the bike taxi services in state. Responding to the notice, Rapido had said this would adversely affect the livelihood of more than 200,000 captains, who were working with them. And citizens will also face lack of cheap and fast transportation facilities in urban infrastructure.

Transport commissioner Ashish Kundra said, “The decision has been taken from in view of the safety of passengers, especially women. In case of four-wheelers, the department gives passenger service vehicle badges to commercial drivers after checking the antecedents of the drivers. But bike taxis are not registered with us.”

In case of accident or crime, we will not have the antecedent of the drivers, he added.