Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Monday, 2 October, sought to out a lid on a controversy over carpooling in Bengaluru by saying that the activity was not banned.
However, he also said that apps profiting from it would need to first get permission from the pertinent authorities.
The issue had become a hot topic in Bengaluru, with many believing that there was a blanket ban on carpooling in the city, and that the authorities would penalise carpoolers up to ₹10,000 while also suspending their vehicle registration certificates for six months.
Others argued why the government was not looking at the benefits of carpooling, which include reduced energy consumption, reduced emissions, lower travelling costs, and fewer traffic jams.
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What started it all
It all started with a group of yellow-board taxi-cab union representatives approaching the state’s Transport Department and lodging a complaint against a few mobile application platforms offering carpooling services.
The representatives complained to the authorities that these apps were engaging private white-board registration vehicles for carpooling services.
This way, not only were they making commercial gains, but yellow-board registered taxi cabs were losing customers to these services.
Based on their complaint, the enforcement wing of the Transport Department directed all Road Transport Offices (RTOs) in Bengaluru to take action against such private white-board vehicles using mobile application platforms for carpooling.
However, sources from the Transport Department told South First that the challenge was how to identify such private vehicles engaged in carpooling.
The only option with the vigilance officials was to book carpooling services as decoy passengers on these apps and then penalise the private-vehicle owners using them.
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Tejasvi Surya takes a stance
Coming out in support of carpooling mobile apps like BlaBla Car, Quickride, Zoom, and Rideshare, Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya wrote a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday, asking him to reconsider the ban on an interim basis.
The Bengaluru South MP also urged the chief minister to amend or update the outdated Karnataka Motor Vehicles (MV) Rules.
The Lok Sabha member also said that a ban on such services, citing rules of the Transport Department, was detrimental to the interests of the city and would only make its traffic congestion worse.
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
Meanwhile, Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told South First that the government in the first place had not issued any licences or permissions for these mobile applications for offering carpooling services. “When we have not given any licence or permission for carpooling, how can we ban it in the first place?” he asked.
“It is illegal if private white-board vehicles are used for commercial purposes. They (carpooling mobile application aggregators) have requested to meet me on Tuesday. We will explain to them the legal sanctity and take it further from there,” Ramalinga Reddy told South First.
He also took to X in an effort to clear up any residual confusion.
ಕಾರ್ಪೂಲಿಂಗ್ ನಿಷೇಧಿಸಿಲ್ಲ, ಇದು ಸುಳ್ಳು ಸುದ್ದಿ.
ಮೊದಲು ಅವರು ಸರ್ಕಾರದಿಂದ ಅನುಮತಿಯನ್ನು ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲಿ. ಅವರು ಅನುಮತಿಯನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳದಿರುವಾಗ ನಿಷೇಧದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ?
ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರೂ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ನಿಯಮಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ನಿಬಂಧನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುಸರಿಸಬೇಕು.
ಬಿಳಿ ನಂಬರ್ ಪ್ಲೇಟ್ಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯೇತರ ಖಾಸಗಿ ವಾಹನಗಳನ್ನು…— Ramalinga Reddy (@RLR_BTM) October 2, 2023
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Clarification on the matter
Transport authorities clarified that if carpooling was done informally, like between friends or colleagues, it was not of concern to them.
However, if it was done for commercial gains or someone got a commission out of it, then they needed to get permission from the authorities, added the authorities.
Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal Jain posted on X: “I hope this clears the misinformation about carpooling being banned in Bangalore. Central motor board act and the state motor board act is very clear- one cannot run a white board car for profit, one can always change it into yellow board and run it for profit. Anyone can carpool, but if private ride sharing apps are onboarding white board vehicles as cabs it illegal. Mischief monger MP @Tejasvi_Surya and his ilk should have double checked before spreading misinformation.”
I hope this clears the misinformation about carpooling being banned in Bangalore.
Central motor board act and the state motor board act is very clear- one cannot run a white board car for profit, one can always change it into yellow board and run it for profit.
Anyone can… pic.twitter.com/Ewuaqjo5r1— Lavanya Ballal Jain (@LavanyaBallal) October 2, 2023
She later posted a video to further clear matters and accused Tejasvi Surya of muddying waters.
There’s no ban on car pooling in Karnataka.
We wish @Tejasvi_Surya has reached out to @RLR_BTM sir or the CMs office for clarification before going to the press based on rumours. pic.twitter.com/1F7YLHyYle— Lavanya Ballal Jain (@LavanyaBallal) October 2, 2023
