General definition of carpool/rideshare
A carpool or rideshare with Poparide is defined as a driver offering their empty seats to passengers heading the same direction, and sharing the costs of the trip with those passengers, without turning a profit.
Please note that this is very different from ridehailing companies like Uber and Lyft, who offer a service whereby a person hails a driver on-demand to get them from A to B, and where the driver receives a financial compensation and turns a profit. This is closer to a taxi service and falls within different legislation.
Legality of carpooling in Canada
In Canada, carpooling is regulated at a Provincial level. In general, Provincial laws allows the act of carpooling based on these following rules:
- The driver and passenger share a trip with a common origin and destination
- The driver does no more than one return trip a day
- The driver receives contributions towards their costs and does not turn a profit
- The seating capacity of the vehicle is not more than 10 passengers
Below are links to the articles in the law related to carpooling for each Canadian Province.
- Alberta: Traffic Safety Act, p23
- British Columbia: Passenger Transportation Act, section 1 (2)
- Manitoba: Highway Traffic Act, no information available on carpooling but we were informed by a Senior Analyst that it was allowed if driver does not profit from the ride
- New Brunswick: Motor Carrier Act, section 1
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Motor Carrier Regulations, section 2 (j)
- Northwest Territories: Motor Vehicles Act, no information available
- Nova Scotia: Motor Carrier Act, section 2 (l)
- Ontario: Public Vehicles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.54
- Québec: Chapitre S-6.01 LOI CONCERNANT LES SERVICES DE TRANSPORT PAR TAXI, section 3°
- Saskatchewan: Traffic Safety Act, no information available
We invite Poparide members to check the carpooling law where they intend on using our service.