Less than six months after granting provisional licenses to Ola, Uber and Rapido, the Maharashtra government yesterday reportedly revoked the temporary licences issued to bike taxi operators.

Speaking with NDTV, state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik said that the decision was taken after the department received “constant” complaints of non-compliance of rules by bike-taxi aggregators.

Elaborating on this, he claimed that the platforms were reprimanded over complaints of harassment of women riders and using petrol bikes instead of the mandated electric ones.

As per the report, Sarnaik also said that the temporary licences were cancelled after the ride-hailing companies failed to furnish certain necessary documents.

“We directed them to submit necessary documents; however they (ride hailing companies) did not submit any of them. Prompting us to take a decision to revoke their temporary licenses across Maharashtra,” Sarnaik reportedly said.

The minister, however, also noted that the state government would consider lifting the ban on these players if the companies submit the required documents and assure strict compliance with the rules.

“In Maharashtra, the state government had given permission to use electric bikes on a temporary basis… But companies like Ola, Uber and Rapido have misused it. From today, the licences that were given to Ola, Uber and Rapido have to be revoked. But it is only temporary. If they follow our norms and the terms and conditions of the permits, we will give the permits again,” the minister told the press as per The Print.

With this, bike taxis will once again be non-operational across Maharashtra. The state government had previously banned bike taxis in January 2023 and had directed ride-hailing platforms to apply for a licence to operate in the state.

A few days later, mobility giant Rapido approached the state transport department to acquire a licence to offer bike taxi services but was denied permission. Subsequently, it moved the Bombay High Court (HC) challenging the notification that banned such services.

Thereafter, the HC also rejected the plea by the aggregator and directed the company to suspend its bike taxi services after discovering that Rapido was operating without a licence. Since then, the bike taxi policy in the state continued to be in limbo.

However, in April 2025, the Maharashtra cabinet approved a proposal to allow bike taxis to operate in the state. At the time, Sarnaik said that only electric bike taxis would be allowed to ply on the roads. The rules were notified in July last year.

A few months later in September, the state government granted provisional bike licenses to operators like Ola, Rapido and Uber. However, the bike taxi operators were directed to comply with conditions on vehicle fitness, fare transparency, safety measures (helmets, GPS tracking, emergency features), operator accountability (control rooms, complaint redressal, off-boarding), and strict codes for drivers.

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