Pune District Magistrate Jitendra Dudi has directed authorities to stop bike-taxi services in the city until they receive official government permission, warning that continued operations could lead to administrative action. He has also instructed regional transport officials to act against app-based aggregators that impose their own autorickshaw fares.
Dudi issued the directions on Thursday, October 15, during a meeting with representatives of autorickshaw unions, traffic police and aggregator companies. The meeting was convened amid rising complaints about bike-taxi operations and alleged rule violations by transport aggregators.
The district administration’s position is that bike taxis cannot operate in Pune without formal approval from the government. Dudi said the services must be stopped whether they are being run on a trial basis or as regular operations. The warning places responsibility on enforcement agencies to identify and act against services that continue operating without the required permission.
Autorickshaw unions at the meeting opposed granting permission to bike taxis. Nitin Pawar, president of the Rickshaw Panchayat, raised a separate concern about the fares displayed on aggregator applications. He said the Regional Transport Authority has the power to determine autorickshaw fares, but aggregator companies display their own rates on their apps and charge passengers accordingly.
According to Pawar’s submission, passengers are consequently pressured to pay the fare shown on the application instead of the fare calculated by the autorickshaw meter. Dudi agreed with the concern and directed the Regional Transport Office to take steps to control what he described as arbitrary fares charged by the companies.
The dispute exposes two separate regulatory questions in Pune’s app-based mobility market: whether a new category of passenger service has received the necessary government approval, and whether digital platforms can determine fares for regulated autorickshaw services. The district administration’s directions address both issues through enforcement against unauthorised bike-taxi operations and scrutiny of aggregator pricing.
The meeting was attended by Regional Transport Officer Archana Gaikwad, Pimpri-Chinchwad Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Police Vikrant Deshmukh, Deputy Regional Transport Officer Swapnil Bhosale, representatives of various autorickshaw organisations and aggregator companies. The Regional Transport Office is now expected to act on the instructions relating to app-based fares, while bike-taxi operators have been warned to stop services until the government grants permission.
