Bengaluru Commuters Ride As 'Parcels' After Bike Taxi Ban
Indian 'jugaad' - a Hindi word that loosely translates as 'unconventional and innovative' - is a wonderful example of creative problem-solving, and don't let anybody ever tell you different.
Remember the story of the Mumbai auto driver who earns as much as Rs 8 lakh a month without driving his vehicle? How? Well, think less auto rickshaw and more bag storage area.
Now there's a new story, from Bengaluru, where commuters hassled by endless traffic jams and crumbling road infrastructure, have cleverly replaced the banned 'bike taxi' service.
How? By booking themselves as a 'parcel' for intra-city couriers driving two-wheelers.
The improvisation was forced upon them after the Karnataka government acted on a High Court directive to suspend operations of two-wheeler taxi services operated by app-based aggregators like Ola, Uber, and Rapido. The court had ruled these 'bike taxis' to be illegal.
On Friday last, i.e., June 13, a division bench refused pleas from the companies behind the Uber, Ola, and Rapido apps to stay that ban, which is to remain in place till the state government notifies specific rules and guidelines for 'bike taxis' under the Motor Vehicles Act.
READ | Bike Taxis Come To Halt In Karnataka As High Court Ban Kicks In
The court said it might be inclined to grant a stay if progress had been made towards framing those rules, but the state government dashed commuters' hopes by saying it had taken a policy decision to not frame such regulations. The court then set the next hearing for June 24.
READ | How Legal Battle Over 'BIke Taxis' Began In Bengaluru
In response to all of this, Bengaluru commuters have flooded social media with photographs and pithy comments about traffic in the state capital, a perennial and worsening issue.
And then there are the 'bike parcel' ideas.
"The bike taxi ban starts today in Karnataka... can't book a ride? No worries - just parcel yourself to work... Call it: 'PaaS - Passenger as a Service'," an X user called Dhanvi said, with a screenshot of a 'bike parcel' booking - for Rs 45 - on what seemed to be the Uber app.
Another X user, Amutha Bharathi, had the same idea.
"Karnataka High Court has Banned Bike Taxis around the state from today... Uber Renamed 'Moto' to 'Moto Courier'... Rapido Renamed 'Bike' to "Bike Parcel' Intelligent move..."
Many also decried the court and government's move as a "bad decision", highlighting that a "permanently gridlocked Bengaluru needs all available public transport options, including bike taxis..."
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