Ride-sharing service Uber has suspended its two-wheeler taxi operations called UberMoto in Bengaluru. The Karnataka government cracked down on bike taxis associated with ride-hailing services, Uber Technologies, which continued to operate UberMoto service violating rules over the last two months, has finally shut it down on Wednesday.
Uber informed some of its users about the pause via an email that read "Today, we are pressing pause on the pilot while we share our learnings and work with the government to create modern regulations for app-based motorbike services."
Its competitor Ola had already withdrawn the OlaBike service in March, soon after the State transport department termed it illegal. Since UberMoto's launch in March this year, the State transport department had seized close to 100 two-wheelers operated by Uber. The department claimed that, since the two-wheelers are used for commercial purpose, the vehicles should have yellow boards, while the government did not have provisions to grant permission for the same.
Locked in a fierce battle for market share in India, both Ola and Uber launched bike taxi services in Bengaluru this March aiming to disrupt intra-city travel. Last year, due to lack of regulation and security concerns, the Mumbai RTO had ordered the shutting down of two-wheeler taxi service provider Hey Taxi within a week of its launch. Incidentally, except Goa and Haryana, no other state in India allows commercial use of two-wheelers.