Bike-taxi operators take a fancy to West Bengal

Firms place bets on business after state proposes legalizing bike-taxis in the satellite township, New Town, near Kolkata

Move over Uber and Ola. Start-up bike-taxi operators are the new flavour in West Bengal. 

West Bengal came up with a draft notification legalising playing of bike-taxis in the satellite township, New Town, near Kolkata end May and a number of bike-taxi operators have already hit the road. 

Bogo Bike launched a pilot project with 200 bikers in its fold to test the market in Kolkata and the response so far has been encouraging. 

“Every day we are noticing that the number of rides is increasing. Allowing bike taxis to commute in a newly developed place like New Town will be beneficial for the riders”, Mayukh Dutta, co-founder of Bogo Bike Taxi, says. 

The company will apply for a formal licence once the final notification from the West Bengal transport authorities comes out and that should be soon.

State transport minister, Suvendu Adhikari, says, the final notification is likely to be in place in the next two weeks. "It will unleash a huge investment potential in the state," he said. 

West Bengal will be the fourth state to join the bike-taxi bandwagon. While there is no specific policy to govern bike taxis in a majority of states, only two states Haryana and Mizoram and a union territory - Goa - have specific guidelines governing them.  

Under the draft notification of the West Bengal government, any operator who has a fleet of 15 bikes can start this service after obtaining the necessary area-based Letter of Intent from the Regional Transport Authority. A daily log for each of these motorcycles used for commercial purposes will be maintained and submitted to the police.

Players from outside the state are also showing interest.

“We’ll definitely be interested in this proposal and may launch the service in New Town after due research”, founding member and marketing lead of Delhi-based Now Ride, Aryan Solanki said.

Now Ride, has a fleet of 150 bikes plying in Haryana and Faridabad (Uttar Pradesh) and is in the process of adding another 250 electric bikes for Delhi NCR area in the coming 10 days.

“Our focus is to become a national player and not just limit ourselves to a particular area. We are planning to start operations in Madhya Pradesh soon”, he added.

Bengaluru based Rapido, which also operates its fleet in Gurgaon (Haryana) too, is interested in extending its operations to West Bengal.

Dutta and Solanki are of the opinion that these bike-taxis not only help in reducing congestion but are also able to ride to alleys and areas which are otherwise inaccessible by cars.

Jaspal Singh, co-founder of transportation sector consultancy Valoriser Consultants, points out, there is a lot of demand for bike taxis in Gurgaon, mainly for last mile connectivity. "People have been using it for short distances. However, not many states have proper policy governing them,” he adds. 

While the base fare for bike taxi service ranges from Rs 10-15, a passenger has to pay between Rs. 4-10 per km depending on the operator.

Market Opportunity

As per the latest census data 2011, around 25.5 million (7.5% of total trips) people use two-wheelers to reach their workplace. 

If the number for 2015 based on vehicle registration is extrapolated, then it is estimated that 35 million trips are being performed by two-wheelers to reach to workplace (excluding personal trips) on daily basis.

If 10% of this two-wheeler commuting market is capture,d then it will translate into 3.5 million trips daily.

Why Motorcycle Taxi is required?

To reduce the sale of two-wheelers in India that will help reduce road congestion and pollution

To provide economical and cost effective transport solution

To provide point-to-point connectivity and covering shorter distances

To complement existing mass transport system

Source: Valoriser Consultants