A second bike taxi service — One Man Taxi — was launched on Wednesday and its bikes can now be hailed on New Town roads. Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari inaugurated the service at the Maidan in presence of MLA Sujit Bose, transport secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and others. 

The first such service, K Bike Taxi, was launched on March 16. “The registration of our bikes took time,” said Raghav Randar, the brains behind One Man Taxi. “I don’t think we’ve missed the first mover advantage as the market is huge and we are only two companies in the fray.”

The bike taxi rides can be booked through mobile apps. As a trial run, the government has allowed them permission to ply only in New Town so rides have to be booked from within the township and passengers must be dropped within a 5km radius outside it. Fares for both companies start at Rs 20 for the first 2km and Rs 5 for every kilometre thereafter.

“We start with 22 bikes and eight more are awaiting registration,” said Randar. “Our app had more than 100 downloads even before we launched so we’re optimistic of a good start.”

With around a month’s experience on the road, Imran Mustafa, co-founder-director of K Bike Taxi, said it has been a slow but steady climb. “We’ve had 96 rides between 8am and 5pm today,” Mustafa said on Tuesday. Their top four pick-up and drop points are the Technopolis bridge, City Centre 2, Shapoorji Pallonji complex and the Unitech area. 

But demand is highly sensitive to the IT sector. “Since the IT sector is off on weekends, Saturdays and Sundays are like bandhs in New Town. Demand takes a hit,” said Mustafa. 

So they are now requesting the government to allow them permit to ply in Salt Lake on weekends. “Since it’s a residential area with PGs and students, bike taxis would be convenient to take them to the mall or to Eco Park on weekends,” said Mustafa. “We are also asking the authorities for fixed parking space like autos and totos have.”