hellmet

Just the other day, I was going through an article about motorcycle taxis in Bangkok, and with a few more searches, found out that there are other Asian countries having these in their cities as well. I was wondering why, India, with it's affordable motorcycles and with the high fuel efficiencies hasn't really taken off in terms of converting them to taxis. Am I missing something here?

Sunny

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jd666

umm what you are referring to are tuk tuks? right? A motorcycle engine and rear of a rickshaw?

I guess we have autorickshaws to compensate for that. And commuter bike engines wont really have the power to last that long and be efficient at the same time. It would require new engine design, and chassis development.

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Omega Man

Motorcycles are already in use commercially in India. Eg. Pizza Chain Outlets, Courier Companies, etc. I have seen motorcycle taxi's in Goa. Maybe, if the R.T.O. comes up with an authorised metering system for motorcycles, this concept may pickup in India.

I noticed the motorcycle taxi's you mention, while I was in Bangkok & Pattaya. I was also delighted by the fact that I could hire a motorcycle in Bangkok & Pattaya without possessing a driving licence from Thailand. They merely take your passport's photo copy and lend you the bike with about 4 litres of fuel for a day. You can fill more fuel if you feel you are going to travel a lot and run out of fuel.

There are other more important commercial uses for motorcycles in suburban and rural India. Any ideas, anyone?

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Omega Man

Nope, Tuk Tuk's are 3 wheelers. Motorcycles are a different concept in Thailand.

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hellmet

Yea, pizza, sub, etc I've seen those too. But they carry goods as against people. Is it the lure of multiple passengers (read overloading) autos that is preventing moto-taxis from taking off?

Do you really need the RTO to come up with a metering system? Can't one just start their own Rs. X per km meter and get going? I thought private taxi (cars) companies got to charge their own rates!

myg124

The idea is good but then there will be increase in traffic, as the max no of passengers a moto-taxi will be able to accomodate will be just one. There will have to be thousands of moto taxis around to ferry people. Not a bad idea for congested areas, especially near station side where office people need a quick drop to work and have to bear the brunt of auto wallahs saying no.

The idea of a motorcycle painted yellow-black seems cool, but the 'taxi riders' must wear proper helmets and whatever gear possible for appropriate reasons.

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hellmet

^ That sounds good . But how much would you want to pay per km on a motorcycle? Rs3/4/5? I think cab-wallahs charge between Rs10-Rs15 / km. But when returning to their office after dropping a customer, they usually pickup passengers and charge cheap, around Rs25 for 15km which is real cheap. Cheaper than a motorcycle. Maybe this illegal market is killing the demand for moto-taxis.

Maybe like you said, only helpful for short rides.. (shrugs).

Omega Man

Yes indeed. No one can run a private taxi without approval from R.T.O. The private taxi's who are already registered with the R.T.O charge arbitary rates and can be pulled up by the R.T.O. only if its bought to their notice by a concerned citizen. Its always good to have some system in place even if its being misused slightly.

Check this out:

Rs 1.5cr earmarked under motorcycle/taxi scheme for Goa. Interested, get going to Goa.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6127585.cms

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antz.bin

What is all the fuss about? You can easily get a motorcycle taxi in Goa. Motorcycle taxis are riden by the designated taxi rider and you are pillion. This system is different from the usual rent-a-bike services in Goa. The taxi bikes are registered in the regular black on yellow license plates. The rent-a-bike bikes are registered in yellow text over black license plates. The demand for such a service in Goa is due to absense of frequent city-buses as most of goa is not part of a single city though its total size in sq. km is not much bigger than our very own Mumbai City (if you include all suburbs).

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