Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy denies carpool ban in Bengaluru

Carpooling was considered as an effective move to reduce number of vehicles on Bengaluru roads. It involves group of people using one car to travel on road.

Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy on Monday denied reports of the government imposing a ban on carpooling in the state.

Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said commercial Vehicles with yellow number plates, can be used for carpooling by following appropriate guidelines.

“Carpooling is not banned, it is false news. First, let them take permission. When they have not taken the permission where is the question of banning? Everyone should follow the rules and regulations. It is illegal to use non-commercial private vehicles with white number plates for carpooling purposes. Commercial Vehicles with yellow number plates, can be used for carpooling by following appropriate guidelines”, the minister posted on social media platform X.

Carpooling was considered as an effective move to reduce number of vehicles on Bengaluru roads. It is basically an activity of a group of people using one car to travel to work or educational institutions. The IT city has the highest traffic density for any major city in the country.

The taxi associations had complained that carpooling affected their daily earnings and had submitted a demand to the state government to take action against them.

The reports of carpooling being banned had triggered a storm with BJP MP Tejasvi Surya asking the Siddaramaiah government to reconsider the ‘ban’.

“While it is the Government of Karnataka's contention that private vehicles cannot be used for commercial purposes, it must also be remembered that the law needs to be amended as per the changing times. As far as carriage of persons in private or contract vehicles is concerned, the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, are outdated and are insufficient to meet the needs of the present day,” Surya wrote in an open letter to the chief minister. The BJP leader had argued that the public transport infrastructure in Bengaluru is not able to cater for its population and also reiterated that carpooling could be the solution to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.