Bike taxi row: Rapido turns interim facilitator of two-wheeler mobility in Karnataka, won't earn profit

Rapido bike taxi

Roppen Transportation Services, which operates Rapido, has written to the Karnataka transport department clarifying that it is only a facilitator for bike taxi services in the state and will earn no profit from operations.

The letter, seen by Moneycontrol, comes as Rapido continues to offer bike taxi services in Karnataka despite a ban.

Also Read: Karnataka bike taxis: Rapido rolls out ‘Bike Direct’, Uber and Ola halt services again

In the letter, the company said it had taken “a conscious and voluntary decision to temporarily change its existing business model in Karnataka due to regulatory concerns and ongoing litigation before the high court”.

Moneycontrol reported that Rapido has rolled out a new feature, ‘Bike Direct’, to allow passengers to avail bike taxi services, while Uber and Ola are no longer offering the service. Uber has removed the ‘bike taxi’ option from its app, and Ola suspended the service again after briefly resuming it.

The Karnataka High Court had on August 22 clarified that it had not passed any order permitting bike-taxi aggregators to operate and that the state was free to act without harassing bike owners. State Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told Moneycontrol, “The High Court has given us a month to decide whether to frame a bike taxi policy. The court has not granted permission to operate bike taxi services.”

Rapido said it has adopted “an interim approach, strictly limited to lead generation for the two-wheeler mobility segment, without deriving any financial profit from operations on the Rapido app.”

The letter stated that the change in the operational model was undertaken “in response to legal proceedings and consistent appeals from stakeholders in the bike taxi rider community and the customer base who rely on accessible and affordable mobility solutions.”

Rapido described its role in the interim model as a “lead generator or facilitator, connecting independent riders with customers while neither operating, managing, nor controlling the provision of any transportation service”.

'No commission, no convenience charge'

Rapido said it will not levy any commission, platform usage fee, subscription, convenience charge, or any other monetary consideration from riders or customers in Karnataka. The company clarified that all connections made through the platform during this interim period would be non-commercial and revenue neutral.

The arrangement is voluntary, Rapido said, and stems from public interest, staying in force until the next hearing or further orders of the High Court in this matter.

The company highlighted the impact on riders and said it had received written and verbal representations from thousands of independent bike taxi riders across Bengaluru.

“Many of these riders, including daily wage earners, students, and individuals supporting families, expressed concern over disruptions to their livelihoods and mobility following the temporary suspension of services. They requested access to Rapido’s platform to continue operating their bike taxi services”, the app service said in its letter.

Also Read: Karnataka bike taxi ban: 'Give it a serious thought, there are lives at stake,' HC tells govt

Rapido added that it remains respectful of the court's direction, and shall the role of a facilitator only, for this period. “...while remaining mindful of the legal context and respectful of the directions of the High Court and the Karnataka government, it had decided to amend its role in the operational ecosystem to a purely facilitative one for the two-wheeler segment”, Rapido said.