The Tamil Nadu government has initiated strict action against bike taxis that are operating in Chennai. In the circular issued to all the zonal officers and the Regional Transport Officers on 11 December 2024, the Commissionerate of Transport and Road Safety states that two-wheelers that have been used for commercial purposes were also involved in violations of the Motor Vehicles Act. A special vehicle audit has been ordered, and officers are required to submit reports by 1900 hrs. daily. This is amid increasing pressure from autorickshaw trade unions, which held a protest on 10 December demanding action against bike taxis operated through aggregators such as Ola, Uber, and Rapido.
The protest, by more than 2,000 autorickshaw drivers affiliated with various unions under the Tamil Nadu Road Transport Workers union, included a memorandum urging the State Transport Commissioner to address several concerns. Their demands are said to be a ban on the use of bike taxis, a fare hike on autorickshaws, regularization of companies such as Ola and Uber, and bringing down the lifetime tax on maxi cabs. According to them, unregulated bike taxi service affects their livelihood and disrupts transport.
To this, the Transport Commissioner, Shunchonngam Jatak Chiru, issued an order to RTOs and MVIs on enforcing the MV Act while restricting the bike taxi contraventions. The drive that commenced on December 11 would include impounding all the two-wheelers to provide commercial services. Each of the RTO’s would furnish daily action reports on this enforcement activity to the Transport Commissionerate.
In this context, this crackdown would be a major step for the Tamil Nadu Government in regulating commercial transport services in the state and would also address concerns raised by auto rickshaw unions over the growth of bike taxis.
