More than 92% of Canadians and Americans go by car to work. Carpooling is a great way to save on gas and help the environment but watch out — there are rules to follow!
Maximum four trips a day
Carpooling isn’t a free-for-all. When you’re carrying passengers during your commute to work, it’s important to respect certain conditions to avoid being subject to the rules regarding paid passenger transportation.
First, make sure you’re using a passenger vehicle. Next, keep in mind that you can only make up to four trips a day totalling no more than 100 kilometres within the same metropolitan community. If you’re carpooling outside a metropolitan community, you can do up to two trips totalling no more than 13 hours.
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Good to know: A different type of driver’s licence is required to drive vehicles that carry more than nine passengers. |
Reason for driving
Another condition is that transporting passengers must be optional. It can’t be the only reason you’re driving. In other words, you would have made the same trip even if you didn’t have any passengers.
Sharing costs, not making a profit
If you ask your passengers to pay you something, there are rules here too. The amount they pay can’t be more than your actual expenses. The goal must be to share costs, not to make a profit. For example, you could ask passengers to pay you $0.54 per kilometre plus their share of the cost of parking or tolls.
You can find people with whom to carpool on online platforms like Amigo Express, Poparide or Covoiturage.ca. Note that there’s a charge for using these platforms (link in French only).