Taxi Cab Uber, Ola battle it out in India with bikes service

The minimum fare for UberMOTO service will be Rs 15 followed by Rs 3 per km thereafter and Rs 1 per minute on trip time. Both Ola and Uber, however, said they expect women customers to use the services as much as male customers.

Uber launched a similar service in Bangkok about a month ago and have seen some success there.

The motive of the bike taxi is mainly driven by the lack of public transport in the city of Bangalore and this could help commuters reach their destination in time compared a four-wheeler or even a three-wheeler.

On the same day as Uber made announcement, rival Ola said it too will offer bike taxis in Bangalore. Ola is charging 2 rupees per kilometer or 1 rupee per minute with a minimum fare of 30 rupees. There are no bikes available, however, and the text above the bike icon reads “no cabs”. The service will provide pillion riders with a helmet.

Uber also highlighted that two-wheeler owners can become drivers on its platform and recoup expenses for their trips. But it’s unclear whether the two companies will issue safety guidelines for drivers, such as clarifying whether they can dart between stalled cars or not.

Ola, backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management, has a presence in more than 100 Indian cities and is part of an alliance of Uber’s competitors including Didi Kuaidi in China, GrabTaxi Holdings Pte in Southeast Asia and Lyft Inc.in the US.

Uber is not restricting itself to a cab provider only and is foraying into bike-taxi service.

The addition of motorcycles to both apps marks the latest clash between Ola – which is now valued at around $5 billion – and Uber which is worth over $62 billion.

Initially launched in Bengaluru, Ola launched the feature last night on its application. With this the people in the Bengaluru city may find it easy to reach their destination using the new services offered by the two companies.