Uber has resumed its bike taxi pilot UberMOTO in Bengaluru after giving the service a different coat of paint —’bikepooling’ — and promising not to charge the rider any commission till regulations for the service are framed by transport authorities.

The ride-hailing app is trying to present UberMOTO’s comeback as a public good after incurring the wrath of the state government, which ordered a shutdown of the service that was launched on March 3.

“UberMoto essentially encourages ‘bikepooling’ and will help in decongesting city roads,” the company said in a blog post on Friday.

“In the spirit of collaborating with the government, we have had extensive discussions with the relevant authorities over the past few days. Uber will not charge any service fee for the period of this pilot,” it wrote. The logic is that by not charging the 20% commission, UberMOTO becomes a zero-profit service akin to carpooling thus eliminating the need for additional permits. “It is our hope that this product will cut travel time considerably and give people the option to ditch car travel for short distances,” Uber said.

After the pilot, Uber said it will prepare a report addressing viability of the product and share it with the transport department to help draft laws.

The company’s rival Ola, which too launched its bike service on the same day, has temporarily removed the option from its mobile app.

“Bikes are the best transport for developing countries as it provides point-to-point connectivity at a very economical price,” said Jaspal Singh, founder of Valoriser Consultants.

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.

Experts said that while transport authorities are opposing the bike taxi service because of safety concerns, solutions are possible. “There is a need to educate the government,” commented Singh.

Source: The Economic Times