In a major decision, the state Transport department has allowed bike taxis to ply in Salt Lake.
As a result, a commuter can travel from Haldiram Bridge off VIP Road to Chingrighata near Eastern Metropolitan bypass via New Town covering a distance of 15 km on a bike taxi.
Alapan Bandopadhyay, principal secretary, Transport department said bike taxis would be allowed in sectors I to V in Salt Lake, that is, the areas that come under Bidhannagar commissionerate.
Bike taxis were introduced in New Town a few months ago. Taking cue from its success, its service was extended to areas under Nabadiganta Township Development Authority. Now, the bike taxis will ply in vast areas that come under Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), Nabadiganta Industrial Development Corporation (NDITA) and Bidhannagar Municipality. Kolkata is the first city to introduce bike taxis in Eastern India.
It may be recalled that Kolkata was the first city in the country to introduce "baby taxis" in the 1950s when baby Hindusthan and Standard 10 cars were replaced by large cars that included Chevrolet, Pontiac and Hudson. The concept of baby taxi came from the then Chief Minister Dr BC Roy.
Two bike taxi operators, K Bike Taxi and One Man Taxi are now functioning in New Town. It has become very popular as a cheap mode of transport. The fare is Rs 20 for the first two kilometre and then Rs 5 per subsequent kilometres.
The bike riders are properly trained and they drive the two-wheelers at the maximum speed of 40 km per hour. The driver uses helmet and the operators provide a helmet for the pillion riders. Soon, women bike riders will be introduced.
Every bike taxi is fitted with GPS and during monsoon, the pillion rider will be given a raincoat. Two more firms have applied for permission and their applications are being studied by the Transport department to check their credentials.
The concept of introducing bike taxis was developed by Debashis Sen, chairman of HIDCO. He took up the matter with Alapan Bandopadhyay and the Transport department, conducted a careful study spanning over nearly one year before giving clearance. As bike taxis were first introduced in the state, the Transport department had to take several things under consideration like, as bikes were to be used for the first time commercially, it had to be incorporated in the Act, then training of the drivers, speed limit of the bikes among others.
Initially, there was an apprehension from some quarters whether that the project would not be successful but it had hit the headlines from Day 1. In New Town, many students are regularly using bike taxis to go to their educational institutions. But as its services were restricted to New Town so long, people who wanted to come to areas under NDITA or Bidhannagar could not avail it. With its area of operation going up, it will fetch more users and more firms will show interest to deploy bike taxis soon, a senior state government official felt.
There are now around 50 bike taxis in New Town. NKDA has constructed sheds for the bikes in New Town as well.