Uber just took its motorbikes to a second city, while Ola is still out cold

Uber looped in the authorities for the Gurgaon launch. Photo credit: Uber.

Within a month of landing in hot waters in Bangalore, the company announced the launch of its bike taxis, UberMOTO, in a second city today.

“Uber… has today announced a pilot of Uber’s bike sharing product UberMOTO in Gurgaon, as the city observes ‘Car-Free Tuesday’ to help reduce congestion,” the company statement said.

When Uber launched its bike taxis in India, it was called the cheapest legal transport system in the country – for a few hours, before Ola announced its own bike taxi service.

In true startup fashion, the two fought it out for some days before the government started seizing their vehicles and the transport department of Karnataka, where Bangalore is, called them illegal.

Uber then had to negotiate its way out, with some changes.

The company told the authorities that it was not charging a commission from riders for using UberMOTO. Hence, there was no need for additional permits and it was running as a bike pooling service, it said.

Ola, meanwhile, suspended its motorbike operations.

“UberMOTO essentially encourages bike pooling and will help in decongesting city roads,” says Uber in a blog post.

Fresh start in Gurgaon

For Gurgaon, however, Uber’s been smart to cozy up to the government right from the get go.

You probably can’t fit this many people on an UberMOTO. Photo credit: Wikipedia.