[arunphilip]

If the earning of money is what is illegal, then I wonder what would happen if these apps switch to a pseudo-currency? i.e. earn credits by opening your car to others, consume earned credits by riding in someone else's car.

I'd think that with such an approach, it would end up respecting the spirit of pooling, without converting it into a business, since the need to earn credits will result in a give & take approach.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

If the earning of money is what is illegal, then I wonder what would happen if these apps switch to a pseudo-currency? i.e. earn credits by open your car to others, consume earned credits by riding in someone else's car.

No personal experience but I thought that's how quickride works - you get points that can be claimed again fuel purchase.

I also remember Bangalore traffic police encourage the use of quickride as a platform for corporate users to carpool, so what changed suddenly ?

Is this drive then to target specific or other ride sharing apps that let users actually exchange money for shared rides ?

I also agree with @V.Narayan that this is case of technology being ahead of law. We saw that with Uber also, whereas in some countries private folks can use their private vehicles for ride sharing, in many others including India they are an app based Taxi service with commercial/taxi registration and drivers with commercial licenses. So, it's time for our lawmakers to also focus on current trends and ratify it under law so it leaves no room for ambiguity. Even insurance related laws/clauses will need to clarify if such use (carpooling) will still be considered private use and under what conditions.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by NPV

No personal experience but I thought that's how quickride works - you get points that can be claimed again fuel purchase.

The current behavior is that the points can also be converted to currency on wallets like PayTM. There is only a declaration by the user that he is going to use that for fuel/maintainance.

[SoumenD]

Highly possible that ola/Uber brigade has some influence behind this kind of move.

I personally have used quick ride only twice from Bannerghata road to Manyata and the price difference between Ola/Uber share and quickride is gigantic. Former being 350-400+ while the latter is max 120-130 bux for even a Rapid/XUV. And since it's among corporates nobody has to bother about the some of those roudy cabbies. In short it's safer , far more economical and of course environment friendly.

So pretty obvious a decent chunk of regular ola/Uber crowd(corporates) has shifted to car pooling now much to the displeasure of certain folks.

[motorpsycho]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

Why do I sense the Uber/ola lobby to be behind this?

Most of the Car pooling is used for InterCity travel, I do not think Uber/Ola would be bothered with it, as they do not server this market space.

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by motorpsycho

Most of the Car pooling is used for InterCity travel, I do not think Uber/Ola would be bothered with it, as they do not server this market space.

Quickride is targeted solely at corporate employees for office commute. As a matter of fact when you sign up you have to provide your Organization name and your official email id is verified before you can use the app.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by motorpsycho

Most of the Car pooling is used for InterCity travel, I do not think Uber/Ola would be bothered with it, as they do not server this market space.

Oh no. Not at all. Quickride is bang in the middle of Ola/Uber riders. I have used it myself and it works quite well for intra-city rides. However, it works mostly for corporate folks as there is a verification of email and it cannot be any email like Gmail/Yahoo. That's the only thing that makes it not usable by all.

[get2bid]

Carpooling is completely legal and in fact, encouraged. BUT, the exchange of currency for a seat in the car of a private vehicle is illegal. These are 2 different things and need to be kept different till the time we have different registration and licenses for private and commercial vehicles.

As per law, you cannot drive a private vehicle for commercial purposes. Your insurance does not cover the passengers in the event of an accident. This has already been covered in many of the posts above.

[Yieldway17]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

In my mind there isn't a shred of doubt who is behind it - follow the money - Uber and Ola.

They could be but they also have a valid argument that if they were rejected when they applied for running white board private cars as taxis, why is government allowing the other services which accepts payments and provide similar service as a taxi to be run.

Uber's original model is to allow private cars to be shared and used as taxis and it's still their model in the US.

I think they will be happy with either way this conundrum for carpooling apps turn out for them. If government blocks these services, they already have their current taxi based model for them. If government allows using private cars as taxis, they can additionally bring their US model here too. It's a win-win situation for them, why would they not rock the boat?

[speedmiester]

My wife uses quickride regularly as the office cab assigned to her takes a Bangalore darshan circuitous route which makes an already torturous commute even worse.
The less said about the OLA/UBER the better. Overcharging on every single instance and if there is rain, then the prices will cross 30-35₹/Km costing almost a 1000₹ for a single one way commute.

Quickride is safer and an excellent car pooling which really helps in reducing the number of cars on the road.

On the other hand, the intercity apps like BlaBla is clearly illegal as it encourages charging in cash from the riders.

I regularly commute with my colleague as the parking space near our office is limited and it reduces one car on the road. Since we stay close by it works very well. We share the fuel expenses.

Will this be illegal too?
These RTO/BTP have all the time and manpower in the world to conduct drives like this, but will always turn a blind eye to people violating traffic rules right in front their eyes.

I am sure there are ulterior motives behind such drives.

[ajayclicks]

I used to offer rides on quickride. Enjoyed the company of a few regulars. However, logged off from the app this weekend. Will wait for the dust to settle down, and see how this goes.

[GTO]

I wouldn't be so quick as to blame the authorities. If you use your car to ferry strangers and charge them a fee for it, it's commercial, no? How are you different from a taxi?

What next = transporting cargo in your car?

Arguments of both sides are valid, and I wouldn't say anyone is wrong. But clearly, more clarity is needed on this from the law makers. Plus, let's not overlook the insurance aspect. God forbid you are denied compensation after a serious accident. Good luck fighting it out in court for 15 years.

[sdp1975]

Quickrides fares are between Rs 3-6 per km - there's an upper limit in the app. Taxi fares between 15-20 per km. During peak hours the fares can be as high as 30. Yesterday I was planning to take an Uber from Marathalli to Mayohall and the fare was 292 for a 10km ride - finally took a bus for 20 bucks.

In the absence of a clear definition of the word "commercial" in the law , most likely the dictionary meaning of the work will be interpreted by courts . I feel that if a fare of ~ 3 per km per passenger is charged , it can be successsfully argued in court that the usage was non-commercial. If the rates are on the higher side , and particularly if profits are being made , such an argument won't hold water.

Anyways , there should be clear provisions in the law to take account of changing times and transport modes. I believe Singapore and US have laws and restrictions - such as max 2 rides in a day , or income not exceeding expenses . I believe the government has plans to introduce such measures.

I wouldn't offer intercity rides in my car due to the risk of accidents ,insurance and legal complications. Within the city , the risks are much lower , and I have been offering rides on QuickRide.

[shipnil]

As explained, sharing fuel expenses is legal. So how do you define fuel expenses for short distance office rides within city? And how is split between riders? A rate of 3 per km per rider will amount to 12 per km if the car is fully occupied. Even a bad mileage of 8 km per liter of petrol will give price of 10 rs per km. So there is some profit in it. If the car is diesel, there is much more profit. Also, why just allow share just the fuel expenses? We know there are many associated expenses every year for maintaining a car like, service, tyres, battery etc.

Regarding split, will the owner be counted or not? If yes, again the above calculation gets skewed towards profit.

[ambujlal]

Originally Posted by GTO

I wouldn't be so quick as to blame the authorities. If you use your car to ferry strangers and charge them a fee for it, it's commercial, no? How are you different from a taxi?

What next = transporting cargo in your car?

Yup, cargo in the car. My very close friend was booked or rather harassed by police in Bangalore last week when he was carrying some stuff for his new home from the wholesale market. Police pounded on him saying you cannot carry such stuff in your car! But the man that he is, he literally took the police inspector to his house in his car, showed him his new home to prove that it was his personal stuff and he was not using his car (SUV) for commercial purpose, offered a cold drink and sent him back in an auto.

I mean why would anyone use his personal car for carrying other's cargo!