Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Crime Branch has ordered a ban on bike taxi services operated by Uber and Rapido across the state for violating the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Odisha On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Guidelines, 2023.
In a letter addressed to the Transport Commissioner-cum-Chairman of the State Transport Authority (STA), the agency has directed Uber and Rapido to discontinue bike taxi services operating through private, non-transport two-wheelers in the state.
According to the notification, non-transport (private registered) two-wheelers are being illegally used for passenger transport through Uber and Rapido mobile applications, which is in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Odisha On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Guidelines, 2023.
Acting on special enforcement reports submitted by RTO Kataka, RTO Bhubaneswar-I and RTO Bhubaneswar-II, the CID-Crime Branch has written to the Transport Commissioner-cum-Chairman of State Transport Authority and also to the Nodal Officers of M/s Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd. (Rapido).
The Crime Branch, in its letter, has sought immediate action to disable the functionality of unauthorized non-transport two-wheelers on both platforms. The aggregators have been directed to shut down the illegal bike taxi services within 15 days of receiving the notice.
The Crime Branch has warned that failure to comply with the direction will attract legal action as per law. However, officials have clarified that the order is only for two-wheeler bike services. Rapido’s other services are not included in the current scope, while Uber car and auto services will continue to operate as before in Odisha.
