🇺🇸 · Applies to US only · Click here for Canada version
What is Poparide?
Poparide is a cost-sharing platform, not a commercial transportation service. Drivers share the cost of a trip they were already planning to take with passengers heading in the same direction. Contributions go toward the driver's actual travel costs such as gas and maintenance. Drivers do not earn a profit.
This is fundamentally different from services like Uber or Lyft, where drivers provide on-demand transportation for pay.
Legality of carpooling in the United States
Cost-sharing trips are generally permitted across the United States, but regulations vary by state. Poparide is currently available in Texas only.
In Texas, shared-expense carpool arrangements are explicitly recognized by law as distinct from commercial transportation services, provided drivers do not earn a profit and contributions remain within cost-recovery limits. Poparide enforces a price cap to ensure this.
To keep trips on the right side of the law, drivers must follow these rules:
Trips must be based on the driver's own schedule and route, not the passenger's request.
Contributions cannot exceed the driver's actual shareable travel costs.
Drivers cannot use Poparide to run a for-profit transportation service.
Drivers are limited to a maximum of 3 passenger seats per trip, and may post no more than 2 round trips per day.
For more information, see Texas Occupations Code § 2402.001(5)(C).