Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has banned carpooling or aggregation in non-transport (unregistered) vehicles. This decision has been taken citing the safety of passengers. According to a government resolution (GR) issued on January 19, ride pooling of two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers as well as non-transport vehicles has been banned to ensure the safety of the public.

In fact, some aggregators are providing app-based bike, auto, and car taxi services in big cities of Maharashtra. Some of them also use vehicles registered under the non-transport category as taxis. These include two-wheelers in particular. In view of all these things, the Maharashtra government has now decided to ban it. Non-transport vehicles have white number plates. They are not allowed to be used for commercial purposes.  

Earlier on January 13, the Bombay High Court had reprimanded bike-taxi aggregator Rapido for operating without a license from the Maharashtra government. The court has also directed to stop the services immediately. Subsequently, Rapido has also ceased operations in Maharashtra. However, the company has approached the Supreme Court against the high court order. The government order said that the use of non-transport vehicles as transport vehicles (commercial vehicles) has increased greatly. Due to this, many questions have arisen about the safety of passengers and they have also been threatened. During the hearing of the case in the Bombay High Court, Advocate General Dr. Birendra Saraf told the court that bike taxis are not allowed to run in the state as there is no policy or guidelines in the state for this. He had said that Rapido should not run bike taxis in the state till the decision. A bench of Justices GS Patel and SG Dige had approved that the policy should be the same for all aggregators. Either everyone will be allowed or no one will be allowed.

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