Bike taxis can operate in Karnataka until June 15: High Court

Bengaluru: Ride-hailing companies have one more month to operate bike taxi services in Karnataka. 

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday extended to June 15, 2025, the last date for halting bike taxi service operations. 

Justice B M Shyam Prasad passed this order after hearing the parties and considering the interlocutory application (IA) filed by Roppen Transformation Services Pvt Limited, a company which runs bike taxi services under the brand name Rapido.

On April 2 this year, the high court passed an order, directing bike taxi operators to stop their services within six weeks. The court also directed the state government to ensure that the petitioners stop their services within the time specified in the order. 

"Unless the state government notifies relevant guidelines under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act and the rules framed thereunder, the petitioners cannot operate bike taxi services and also no directions can be issued to the state government to consider their applications seeking for grant of aggregator permits/licences,” the court noted in its April 2 judgement. 

On April 28, 2025, Roppen Transformation Services Pvt Ltd filed the IA, seeking extension of time by another six weeks. It submitted that on January 22, 2024, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued the draft Motor Vehicles Aggregator Guidelines, 2024. It further informed the court that states such as Odisha, Gujarat, Punjab, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Goa have come up with guidelines in line with the guidelines issued by the central government. 

The applicant stated that in the meeting scheduled for April 23, 2025, a request was placed before the Karnataka government to come up with a similar policy in the state. 

The state government is presently exploring a comprehensive policy for bike taxis, the applicant said. 

The applicant added that bike taxi services come in response to growing demand for affordable and efficient urban transportation solutions. According to Roppen Transformation Services Pvt Ltd, it has six lakh registered bike taxis in Karnataka and that livelihood of these bike riders would be severely affected.