The move, framed as a safety and sustainability intervention, has ignited debate across commuters, operators, and policy circles. But amid the noise, a crucial point is being missed: not all bike taxis are created equal.
At the heart of the issue is a tendency to view the entire bike taxi sector as one homogenous entity. When safety concerns arise, all players regulated or unregulated, structured or informal are painted with the same brush.
Yet the real divide in urban mobility lies not in the mode of transport, but in the systems that govern them.
Unlike the patchwork of informal bike taxis that have long operated without oversight, certain platforms have invested in creating structured, tech-driven safety ecosystems. Rapido, one of India’s leading bike taxi aggregators, offers an instructive example of how safety can be institutionalised not left to chance.
Systematic safety from onboarding to post-ride support: Rapido’s approach goes beyond ad hoc fixes. Every aspect of a ride, from the captain’s onboarding to real-time rider support is governed by clear, trackable protocols.
Drivers are onboarded only after identity verification, police background checks, and vehicle documentation are cleared. This already sets it apart from the largely anonymous operations seen on many city streets.
What happens after onboarding is equally crucial. Captains must undergo mandatory behaviour and safety training before taking their first trip. These include modules on passenger conduct, emergency response, and, importantly, how to engage respectfully with women passengers.
Captains who do not complete or adhere to these protocols are deactivated. Rapido treats safety as a skill to be mastered, not just a checklist to tick off.
Every ride, accountable and visible: Unlike cash-based informal services where traceability is minimal, Rapido’s rides are digitally booked, GPS-tracked, and digitally paid for offering a layer of accountability that many others lack.
In-app features allow passengers to share ride details with contacts, trigger SOS alerts, and submit post-ride feedback. Such features aren’t cosmetic. They are designed to catch and act on red flags in real time.
This system-led design helps Rapido operate with full visibility into every ride and rider interaction. When things do go wrong, the company has mechanisms to investigate and act. A verified safety breach leads to immediate deactivation, there is no recycling of errant captains.
Why blanket judgments can hurt more than help: The larger challenge is that policy often lags behind nuance. When the state enforces blanket decisions such as permitting only EVs while shutting down ICE bike taxis, it inadvertently lumps regulated players like Rapido with fly-by-night operators.
In doing so, it risks punishing platforms that have built safety into their DNA, while allowing informal operators to continue unchecked.
For thousands of daily commuters, especially women who rely on affordable, convenient two-wheeler transport, the difference between a regulated and unregulated ride is night and day.
And for the lakhs of captains earning a livelihood through such platforms, clarity in regulation can be the difference between stability and sudden unemployment.
What Maharashtra’s urban mobility landscape needs today is not just regulation but differentiated governance. The real gap is not between petrol and electric, but between systems and their absence.
By recognising and codifying platform-level safety standards, regulators can ensure that compliant operators remain accountable while gradually phasing out informal, unsafe models. This will protect commuter safety without jeopardising employment or access.
As the bike taxi ecosystem evolves, Maharashtra can lead the way in showing that safety is not a by-product of bans but a result of smart, system-led regulation.
