Uber plans to start bike taxi in Kerala

Kochi: The  Uber taxi service is set to launch bike taxi in Kerala  with the central government asking the states to  promote it.   “We are evaluating the prospects of launching bike taxi in the state,” a top source with the Uber said.“The government has released only the guidelines. There are several grey areas. Uber is waiting for the state and central governments to bring out the final regulations,” the source said.

Uber recently had launched  bike taxi in Hyderabad.  “We are happy with the progress and have plans to extend  the service to Kerala,”  the source added. They have  held discussions with the state's transport department and  hoped  that it will evolve a taxi policy soon. The guidelines recommended that the respective state transport departments may allow two-wheeler taxi permit on the lines of  city taxi. 

“This will offer an economical and convenient last mile connectivity solution to the citizens. It is recommended that the existing private bikes may be allowed for such transportation  to facilitate the utilisation of idle assets.  The  state governments may also consider online option to allow private bikes to convert to taxis,” the guidelines said. There were attempts in Kerala earlier to run bike taxis but they failed miserably. In August 2003 a bike taxi service was launched in Kochi but it failed to gain momentum.