Govt issues guidelines for private carpooling to curb traffic, pollution

NEW DELHI: The union road transport and highways ministry on Friday issued fresh guidelines to allow pooling services by private car owners across all states to tackle pollution and de-congest metros.

The option of ‘aggregation of non-transport by aggregators’ or carpooling by private vehicles can be incorporated in ride hailing apps, unless prohibited by a state government. “Rationale for such prohibition shall be specified in writing and accessible on the transport portal of the state government,” the guidelines said.

In such a shared mobility arrangement, a maximum of four ride-sharing intra-city trips per day and a maximum of 2 ride-sharing inter-city trips per week will be permitted for each vehicle with the driver, integrated with the aggregator.

“The vehicle integrated…shall obtain an insurance of at least ₹5 lakh for the ride-sharers in the vehicle, other than the owner or driver integrated with the aggregator,” the guidelines said, adding that pooling facilities will be offered to riders who have provided KYC details. Such riders will have to travel on the same route but with varied stoppages from one point to another under a virtual contract through the mobile app.

The final guidelines will have to be considered by the states. These guidelines are a part of the ‘Motor Vehicle Aggregators Guidelines-2020’ issued by the transport ministry that lays down a regulatory framework for ride hailing apps in the country. The government had decided to rollout the guidelines last year, with a larger framework on these vehicle aggregators. However, it got delayed due to the disruption caused by covid-19.