Mohali DTO issues 39 permits for bike taxis

Kulwinder Sangha

Mohali, July 3

As many as 39 permits have been issued till today for bike taxis by the office of the Mohali District Transport Officer. The work of registering bike taxis started here about 10 days ago and so far the DTO's office has registered about 50 vehicles.

Jasbir Singh, DTO, said the bike taxis were registered under the Apni Gaddi, Apna Rozgar Scheme of the government. He said such a scheme was being introduced in other districts of Punjab as well.

He said the scheme was only for single passengers as the vehicle had to be driven by a driver and it could not be given on rent to others.

He said Uber and Ola companies had applied for the new service. The road worthiness of the vehicle was first checked before registering it as a commercial vehicle. Later, permits for the work were issued by his office.

Yugvinder Mann, an official taking care of the marketing section of Uber, said about 40 vehicles were on the road so far though the registration of 100 motorcycles had been done. Permits for the remaining vehicles would be issued after all formalities were completed.

Mann said the service was started on Saturday and the response was good. He said at present college students and office-goers were availing themselves of the service.

When asked whether women were also interested in the bike taxi service, he said at present only men were using it.

He said five women drivers had also applied and after their case was cleared, women passengers, too, would avail themselves of this service.

He said that present the service was only for Chandigarh and Mohali and would be extended to Panchkula later. 

There was a plan to use about 300 motorcycles for this service. The number would be increased, depending on the demand.

Uber launches service without UT nod

While the UT Administration is yet to take a call on bike taxis, Uber has already started it without taking the approval of the State Transport Authority. Named as Uber Moto, the company started the service from Sunday after its launch in Mohali. Bookings for the app-based service have already started with 50 bike taxis plying on the road. Rajiv Tiwari, Additional Secretary, STA, said the department had started the process for framing rules for the services. These will be finalised after receiving feedback from all stakeholders. Sources said the Administration had received applications for the service from Uber, Ola and other companies but the permission was yet to be given. The service has already been launched in Jaipur, Gurugram and Faridabad.