To Pool or not to Pool – carpooling a dilemma in India

Do you think car pooling is not legal in India?  Well that’s the dilemma the people are facing today around car pooling in the country. The latest update  in the central motor vehicles act 2015 also does not have any mention on car pooling. The central motor vehicles act that lays down rules for transport and private motor vehicles has published updates on regulations for commercial transport vehicles and taxi services but yet no direction on  car pooling.

 Every city today has car pooling companies and they each come with a technology backbone in the form of an app that drives the eco system. These applications allow for price thresholds that ensure that car pooling does not lead to a commercial gain for the car owner. For example: using the mobile application a car owner can only allow and charge for 3 people a maximum predefined fixed amount to ride in his car and this predefined amount within the application is what will get charged online to the rider. This  helps limit the amount being exchanged between the two parties thus not making this a profitable venture.

The issues on pollution, traffic congestion and travel delays could be a thing of the past if smart travel solutions have clear direction from governments, especially when they require little or no budgets. However, with all good things there will always be starting trouble. So its a wait and watch situation for now. Unless laws are reviewed and quickly published the go-green agenda will only look good on paper. Until then..do we pool or not is the question that will trouble city slickers in India.