India’s largest cab aggregator Ola is testing a service to provide bike taxis in Bengaluru, close on the heels of its main rival Uber which recently launched a similar service in the city.

The service, the latest from the Ola stable following the launch of a shuttle-bus as well as an auto-rickshaw hailing service, is aimed at helping the SoftBank-backed company consolidate its lead in the app-based urban transport market.

“With lower operating costs, increased efficiency and potential to do more trips, bikes are clearly a scalable mode of mobility,” said Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer of Ola.

The pilot will be extended to more areas in the city in the next two weeks. Riders on the Ola platform, who began offering rides, are charging Rs 2 per kilometer with a minimum fare of Rs 30.

According to estimates by the state transport department, Karnataka’s capital had 3.8-million two-wheelers, including motor bikes, scooters and mopeds, compared to 1.1-million cars as of March 2015.

If successful, the launch of the two competing services, along with those offered by a slew of startups like Rapido and M-Taxi are set to expand the scope of commuting choices in Bengaluru, where traffic gridlocks are a common feature.

Experts are of the view that the success of biketaxi services will also depend on them having a supportive regulatory framework. “We need to see how the market will evolve, bike-taxi service require a different type of strategy and plan,” said Jaspal Singh, Founder of Valoriser Consultants.

India is one of the largest markets for two-wheelers with sales more than doubling to 16 million in 2015 up from 7 million in 2008. Across the country, about a dozen startups now offer bike-taxi services ranging from Baxi in Gurgaon to Bikxie, Pillionaire, Heybob and Headlyt. Indonesia’s largest bike-taxi firm GoJek recently announced plans to set up an engineering centre in Bengaluru.

Source: The Economic Times

Image Courtesy: Indiatoday