BENGALURU: After a wide debate in favour of and against carpooling in Bengaluru, Transport Minister R Ramalinga Reddy said a decision will be taken by the state transport department in 10 days. Reddy met representatives of app-based carpooling companies on Tuesday, along with top officials from the transport department.
Speaking to TNIE after the meeting, Reddy said, “The state government is in favour of carpooling as it helps curb traffic, reduce pollution and allows people to travel at a low cost.
We have not imposed a ban on carpooling. However, the carpooling system needs regulation as non-commercial vehicles with whiteboards cannot be used.”
In the next ten days, transport officials will explore the legal options of carpooling and take a suitable decision, he said.
‘FRAME REGULATIONS FOR CARPOOLING’
“The state’s transport department is confused between ‘carpooling’ and ‘ride splitting’. Carpooling is when the owner of a private whiteboard vehicle goes to a destination of his choice and takes along a few co-passengers on the same route, who share travel expenses. The driver or owner does not make any profit but shares the cost of the ride among the travellers,” Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya told reporters here on Tuesday.
“In ride-splitting, which private aggregators like Uber Pool and Ola Share are doing, passengers taking a certain route are picked up, and share the ride cost. It is an activity for profit taken up by a for-hire driver running a yellow-board taxi,” he said, adding that the government should frame regulations and not ban carpooling. Bengaluru is struggling to manage its traffic and the policy objective of the government should be to provide mobility via public transport and not vehicles, he said.