PUNE: The Pune regional transport office (RTO) on late Friday evening, lodged an FIR against Roppen Transport Services Private Limited, the operators of Rapido, for operating bike taxis in the city on non transport petrol enabled two wheelers without any permission or approval.The action comes after Pune collector Jitendra Dudi, who heads the regional transport authority (RTA), had asked the aggregator to stop bike taxi operations within a day or face legal action.The FIR (number- 0517/2026) which was filed at around 11.45pm on Friday at Vishrantwadi police station, cited section 318(8) of the BNS, in addition to sections 66, 93, 192(A), 193 and 197 of the Motor Vehicles Act and Section 66(D) of the IT Act.The sections pertains to cheating, use of personal vehicle for public transportation, taking of valid licence from state govt before operations, driving without a valid permit etc.“It was told by the collector that the aggregator needed to stop the service by Friday. However, the same was continuing and hence we lodged an FIR has been lodged,” an RTO official told TOI.From the RTOs side, the complaint was lodged by RTO inspector Prasad Survase. The FIR said that the company used non-transport two wheelers to falicitate bike taxi operators without any approval which bypassed the regulations and compromised with passenger safety.Strangely however, the bike taxi option was still being reflected in the platform of Rapido. A spokesperson of the company was sent the copy of the FIR and asked for a comment by the response was awaited.In the complaint, Survase said that a booking was made via the Rapido application at around 6.44pm on Oct 16 for a ride from Commerce Zone tin Yerwada to Kothrud bus depot to which the application showed a distance of 13kms and a fare of Rs.179.A petrol operated bike came for the pick-up soon after following which the inspector on duty and the team members questioned the rider and then confiscated the vehicle and issued a challan under provisions of the MV Act. The vehicle was then taken to the Vishrantwadi police station.The FIR also stated earlier court proceedings pertaining to the RTO stopping bike taxi operations back in December 2022 followed by Bombay High Court’s decision in January 2023 which rejected the company’s plea against the RTO’s decision.In an earlier conversation, Pune’s regional transport officer Archana Gaikwad had said that Rapido and Uber had applied for bike taxi operations in Pune as per the provisions of the state’s bike taxi policy which mandated several norms including operations of the same only on electric two wheelers.The same was pending for an approval, the officer had said. In the RTA meeting which happened on Thursday, the company representatives had said that they were operating the service in Pune as part of a trial run.
