Bengaluru: Days after Bengaluru residents took matters into their own hands — offering free carpooling facilities to circumvent the government pushback on app-based ride-sharing — the Karnataka government said Tuesday that it was not against carpooling as long as it is offered in an individual capacity and not on a commercial scale, adding to the confusion over existing regulations on the facility.
Speaking to the media, Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said the government will study existing guidelines on carpooling and come up with a suitable solution within the next 10 days.
He added that existing ride-share aggregators were carrying out commercial operations with non-commercial private vehicles with white number plates and that only cars with yellow license plates should be used for commercial operations.
Last week the Karnataka transport department announced penalties, including fines ranging from Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000, for vehicles offering carpooling services through apps like Quick Ride and BlaBla Car. The Karnataka government had earlier also cracked down on app-based aggregators like Uber and Ola for offering ride-sharing.
“We are not against carpooling. There was news that it was banned but there is nothing like that,” Reddy said Tuesday.
He added: “There are benefits from carpooling as well…in that there is cost saving, environmental benefit, reducing congestion, social benefits…if they do it at a personal level there is no problem, but it cannot become a commercial activity. Government does not permit this.”
Reddy’s statement came hours after he met representatives of ride-sharing platforms and two days after vehicle owners in Bengaluru started offering free carpooling services to circumvent the state government’s pushback against app-based ride-sharing.
“Hey @QuickRidein. Since earning from carpool is illegal, I’m offering my ride for free. My way of protesting against this regressive decision,” Rakesh Kumar, a Bengaluru resident wrote on X (formerly Twitter), reacting to reports suggesting that the state government had issued a fresh order ‘banning’ app-based ride sharing in the city.
Hey @QuickRidein Since earning from carpool is illegal , I'm offering my ride for free. My way of protesting against this regressive decision. #Carpooling #bangalorecarpoolingban#bangaloretraffic pic.twitter.com/quFCbaikWf
— Rakesh Kumar (@rakesh_822) October 2, 2023
“@QuickRidein With this ban the assumption that the #carpoolers will take cabs or public transport is flawed. People will go back to personal vehicles (cars and bikes),” wrote another user on X.
@QuickRidein With this ban the assumption that the #carpoolers will take cabs or public transport is flawed. People will go back to personal vehicles (cars and bikes).
— ಎಮ್ ಲೈಫ್ (@EmmLife81) October 2, 2023
Quick Ride, the carpool and ‘bike pool’ booking service headquartered in Bengaluru, thanked the users for their efforts to “free roads of congestion”.
‘Karnataka Motor Vehicle Rules outdated’
Bengaluru had topped the list of the most traffic-congested cities in the world in a 2020 study by Dutch location technology company TomTom.
On Sunday, Tejasvi Surya — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bengaluru South — waded into the ongoing debate over app-based carpooling, by writing a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in which he said that carpooling can help get private vehicles off the road and ease traffic during peak hours.
Carpooling can get private vehicles off the road & bring ease during peak hour commute.
Vehicular population has increased by 6,000% since 1990, making Bengaluru, a city with highest vehicle density that commutes at 15kmph.
A ban on car-pooling only encourages congestion, the… pic.twitter.com/R2e3ja76zS
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) October 1, 2023
“Vehicular population has increased by 6,000 percent since 1990, making Bengaluru, a city with highest vehicle density that commutes at 15 kmph. A ban on car-pooling only encourages congestion, the last thing people of Bengaluru would want to experience.
“Karnataka Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 are outdated & insufficient to meet the needs of the present day. Penalising citing rules will only add to the mobility crisis in the city. Karnataka Govt should prioritise ‘Quality of Life’ over outdated rules & encourage innovation among ridesharing apps to decongest the city……,” read the letter.
In an interview with ThePrint in July this year, state Information Technology & Biotechnology minister Priyank Kharge had acknowledged the gap between traditional modes of transport and disruptive solutions, conceding that the state’s policies were not able to match the pace of technological advancements.
“Even policies don’t catch up to the fast-changing technology or the industry verticals that are prevalent. So like you said, bike taxis, there is a ban, Uber runs illegally. There is no concept of car sharing or carpooling in the Transport Act… So, our policies also are now playing catch-up with technology,” he said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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