NEW DELHI: Two-wheeler taxis may soon start plying in India, offering commuters a cheaper option than the regular four-wheeler cabs and potentially adding substantially to the country’s strained public transport system.The road transport and highways ministry is set to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Act to legalise use of two-wheelers as taxis and frame comprehensive policy guidelines for it, officials said.The central law does not allow two-wheeler taxis, although a few states such as Goa and Haryana permit the use of two-wheelers as taxis. American online transportation firm Uber had to shut down its motorbike taxi service in Bengaluru due to regulatory issues.“We need a comprehensive policy common to all states since motorbike taxis could create a large mode of public transport along with creating employment. Such services can work very well in suburban areas and be economical as well,” a senior ministry official said, requesting not to be identified.Only those two-wheelers that are registered as commercial vehicles will be allowed to ply as taxis, the official said. “Only drivers with commercial licence will be able to ferry people. It has been brought to our notice that a lot of taxi aggregators are running private vehicles as two-wheeler taxis. This will not be permitted,” he said.The ministry is planning to come up with a separate set of safety guidelines that include mandating pillion riders to wear a helmet along with a reflector jacket. An empowered group of state transport ministers will soon start working on the guidelines, the official said.“Licensing for two-wheeler taxis should be common across all states so the legality part is cleared,” said Arunabh Madhur, founder of M-Taxi, a leading twowheeler taxi operators in Gurgaon. “We as a company have also made representation to the Union transport ministry,” he said.Once the central government clears the ambiguity in the law, the states will have model guidelines to follow, he said.The Centre is likely to legalise ride-share services being provided by several transport aggregators that are currently not allowed under law, the official cited earlier said.He said the government is also considering setting up transport regulators in each state to oversee functioning of cab aggregation companies and defining commercial car-pooling to remove ambiguity.