Now hail a bike cab to wriggle out of Bengaluru’s traffic

Bengaluru: Tired of being stuck in traffic jams while travelling in your four-wheeler or in a taxi or on your  bike?

If the answer’s yes, then just hop on to the pillion of a bike and beat the traffic snarls, thanks to Heytaxi, a bike taxi service that hit the Garden City on Tuesday. Structured along the same lines as Uber and Ola, it provides bike riders with two-wheelers for commuting. The operator has come up with an interesting inaugural offer for Bengaluru. Till 5 km, it is a free trip, beyond 5 km, it is just Rs 7 per km.  The first 20 minutes of the ride is free and after 20 minutes, users will have to shell Rs 1 per minute.

Started by entrepreneurs Manoj Maheshwari and Vikram Lakhotia in early 2015, the bike taxi was first launched in Mumbai and took over the rideshare market with its Android and IOS app-based services. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Manoj Maheshwari said, “Currently, we are offering the service only to male commuters but as and when we are able to get female riders in our network, we will extend the service to female commuters as well. After all, we cannot neglect 50 percent of the important population. After the good response in Mumbai, we thought to extend the service to Bengaluru as traveling seems like one tough job here.” HeyTaxi can be reached through the app, web or WhatsApp.

Currently 30-40 bikers have joined their network in Bengaluru. Manoj adds, “We are trying to bring more and more people to join our system. There is also an additional feature to our service. If somebody wants something to be delivered to a certain place, our rider will deliver that as well.”

Last year, Mumbai RTO had put a brake on HeyTaxi as the transport department argued that it lacked governmental sanction and the Motor Vehicle Rules in force barred its continuance. However, the founders say that they have submitted a representation to the Bengaluru transport department that they are open to be regulated and come under the commercial purview and do what is needed to be done.

Manoj said, “We met the transport commissioner Ramegowda and presented a plan. We have told him that we are ready to work in tandem with the government. Currently, there is no statute under the state government which regulates this model. However, in Goa, there is a rule that says two-wheelers can be used as contract-carriages, the states have to adopt them.”

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