Ride Aggregator Rapido has found a workaround to the bike taxi ban imposed by the Karnatak High Court. It has now renamed its ‘bike taxi’ service to ‘bike parcel’ service and is continuing passenger rides under the garb of this wordplay.
Rapido, when first introduced, rose to fame for its bike taxi services, but has since been banned by many states due to regulatory and safety issues. In a most recent incident, a woman was assaulted by a Rapido driver after she expressed concerns over rash driving.
Bike Taxi services by Rapido have now been rebranded as Bike Parcel service. Going by the name, this service seems similar to what Borzo and Dunzo provide, which is legal in the state, however Rapido continues to also hail passengers under the garb of bike parcel service. Netizens have taken to social media to talk about it and offer witty reactions. Commuters in Bengaluru rely heavily on Rapido and other bike taxi services to evade the traffic jams that the city is popular for.
One user wrote on X, “Became a parcel today since Karnataka HC has banned bike taxis. Rapido is offering you to become a parcel and get delivered.
Uber seems to have followed the same strategy and has introduced a Motor Courier option instead. “Rapido and Uber made a Bike Parcel option to bypass the Bike Taxi ban. Now you can book a Bike Parcel/Moto Courier and parcel yourself to the selected destination. Win for Bengaluru folks,” another user wrote.
In a major twist in the Bengaluru Rapido driver assault case, new CCTV footage of the incident has emerged, revealing a completely different version of events from the woman's initial claims. The CCTV footage shows the woman physically assaulting the rider first after a brief argument. The woman had alleged that the rider assaulted her after she objected to his rash driving.
