Terms & Conditions for Drivers

1. DEFINITIONS

1.1. Ryde (also referred to as “we”, “our” or “us”) – Ryde Technologies Ltd, a private limited company incorporated and registered under the laws of Republic of Malta with Company registration number C94482, registered office Gasan Centre, Triq il-Merghat, Central Business District, Birkirkara, CBD 1020, Malta.

1.2. Ryde Services – services that Ryde provides, including provision and maintenance of Ryde App, Ryde Platform, In-app Payment, customer support, communication between the Driver and the Passenger and other similar services.

1.3. Ryde App – a smartphone application for Drivers and Passengers to request and receive Transportation Services. Inside the Ryde app, drivers will find information and documents regarding usage of the Ryde Services in course of provision of Transportation Services, including accounting documentation.

1.4. Ryde Platform – technology connecting Passengers with Drivers to help them move around cities more efficiently.

1.5. Passenger – a person requesting Transportation Services by using Ryde Platform.

1.6. Driver (also referred to as “you”) – the person providing Transportation Services via the Ryde Platform. Each Driver will get a personal Ryde Driver Account to use Ryde App and Ryde Platform.

1.7. Agreement – this agreement between Driver and Ryde regarding the use of Ryde Services which consists of:

1.7.1. these General Terms;

1.7.2. special terms displayed in Ryde App, e.g regarding price info or service descriptions;

1.7.3. the Drivers guidelines; and

1.7.4. other terms referred to in this Agreement as may be amended from time to time.

1.8. Fare – the fee a Passenger is obliged to pay Driver for provision of the Transportation Services.

1.9. Ryde Fee – the fee that Driver is obliged to pay to Ryde for using the Ryde Platform.

1.10. In-app Payment – cards and other payment methods used by the Passenger via the Ryde App to pay for the Transportation Services.

1.11. Transportation Services – transport service a Driver is providing to Passenger whose request Driver has accepted through the Ryde App.

2. ENTRY INTO THE AGREEMENT

2.1. Prior to using the Ryde Services, you must sign up by providing the requested information in the signup application handed to you, signing up to the Ryde app and uploading necessary documentation as required by us. Upon successful completion of the signup application, we will provide you with access to the Ryde app. By signing up, you represent and warrant that:

• pursuant to valid legal acts, you are entitled to enter into an agreement with us to use the Ryde Platform for providing the Transportation Service;
• you have carefully studied, fully understand and agree to be bound by these General Terms, including all obligations that arise as provided herein and the Drivers Manual;
• all the information you have presented to us is accurate, correct and complete;
• you will keep your Ryde App accurate and profile information updated at all times;
• you will not authorize other persons to use your Ryde App account nor transfer or assign it to any other person;
• you will not use the Ryde Services for unauthorized or unlawful purposes and impair the proper operation of the Ryde Services;
• at all times, you fully comply with all laws and regulations applicable in the state you are providing Transportation Services in, including (but not limited to) laws regulating passenger transportation services;

2.2. You are obliged to provide your bank requisites in course of filling the payment details upon registration. In case you are a legal person, you must insert the bank account of the company. We are transferring In-app Payment fees to the bank account that you have provided. We are not liable for any incorrect money transactions in case you have provided wrong bank requisites.

2.3. After submitting the signup application, you will receive an e-mail with additional conditions that must be met in order to use Ryde Services. These conditions may include providing criminal records, valid driving license, satisfactory technical state of the vehicle, completion of a training course, owning a GPS-supporting mobile device and other conditions as described in the pertinent e-mail. The failure to comply with the provided requirements and conditions may result in termination of the Agreement and right to use the Ryde Services.

2.4. Registering Ryde Driver Account as a fleet company. Upon concluding a separate agreement, a fleet company may itself register accounts to its employees and/or service providers. In such case the fleet company shall be required to ensure that its employees and/or service providers conform to the requirements of General Terms, Agreement and any further agreements and agrees to act in accordance and be bound with its conditions and obligations. The fleet company and its employees and/or service providers shall remain jointly and severally liable for any infringement conducted by such employee and/or service provider.

3. RIGHT TO USE RYDE APP

3.1. License to use the Ryde App. We hereby grant you a license to use the Ryde App. The license does not grant you the right to sublicense or transfer any rights to the third persons. Regardless of the above and if so agreed separately, fleet companies may sub-license the Ryde to the members of its fleet.

3.2. In course of using the Ryde App you may not:

• decompile, reverse engineer, or otherwise attempt to obtain the source code of the Ryde App or other software of Ryde;
• modify the Ryde App in any manner or form or to use modified versions of the Ryde App;
• transmit files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other programs that may damage or adversely affect the operations on Ryde Platform;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Ryde App, Ryde Driver Account or any other Ryde Services.

3.3. The License granted herein revokes automatically and simultaneously with termination of the Agreement. After termination of the Agreement you must immediately stop using the Ryde App and we are entitled to block and delete Driver account without a prior notice.

3.4. Using tags and labels of Ryde. Additionally, we may give you tags, labels, stickers or other signs that refer to Ryde brand or otherwise indicate you are using the Ryde Platform. We grant you a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable license to use such signs and only for the purpose of indicating you are providing Transportation Services via the Ryde Platform. After termination of the Agreement you must immediately remove and discard any signs that refer to Ryde brand.

3.5. All copyrights and trademarks, including source code, databases, logos and visual designs are owned by Ryde and protected by copyright, trademark and/or trade secret laws and international treaty provisions. By using the Ryde Platform or any other Ryde Services you do not acquire any rights of ownership to any intellectual property.

4. PROVIDING THE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

4.1. The Driver’s Obligations. You hereby guarantee to provide Transportation Services in accordance with the General Terms, Agreement as well as laws and regulations applicable in the state where you are providing Transportation Services. Please note that you are fully liable for any violation of any local laws and regulations as may arise from providing Transportation Services.

4.2. You must have all licenses (including a valid driver’s license), permits, car insurance, liability insurance (if applicable), registrations, certifications and other documentation that are required in the applicable jurisdiction for providing the Transportation Services. It is your obligation to maintain the validity of all aforementioned documentation. Ryde reserves the right to require you to present evidence and submit for review all the necessary licenses, permits, approvals, authority, registrations and certifications.

4.3. You must provide the Transportation Services in a professional manner in accordance with the business ethics applicable to providing such services and endeavour to perform the Passenger’s request in the best interest of the Passenger. Among else, you (i) must take the route least costly for the Passenger, unless the Passenger explicitly requests otherwise; (ii) may not make any unauthorised stops; (iii) may not have any other passengers in the vehicle other than the Passenger and the passengers accompanying the Passenger; and (iv) must adhere to any applicable traffic acts and regulations, i.e must not conduct any actions that may disrupt driving or the perception of traffic conditions, including holding a phone in his/her hand while the vehicle is moving.

4.4. You retain the sole right to determine when you are providing the Transportation Services. You shall accept, decline or ignore Transportation Services requests made by Passengers at your own choosing.  Having said that, a consistent pattern of Transport Services refusals, by any driver, shall be considered as enough ground for Ryde to unilaterally terminate dealings with respective driver.

4.5. Costs you incur while providing the Transportation Services. You are obliged to provide and maintain all equipment and means that are necessary to perform the Transportation Services at your own expense, including a car, smartphone, etc. You are also responsible for paying all costs you incur in the course of performing the Transportation Services including, but not limited to, fuel, mobile data plan costs, duty fees, amortization of the vehicle, insurance, VAT collection and payment, relevant corporate or payroll taxes etc. Please bear in mind that using the Ryde App may bring about consumption of large amount of data on your mobile data plan. Thus, we suggest you subscribe for a data plan with unlimited or very high data usage capacity, but this is at your own discretion.

4.6. Fares. You are entitled to charge a fare for each instance you have accepted a Passenger on the Ryde Platform and completed the Transportation Service as requested (i.e. Fare). The Fare is calculated based on a default base fare, the distance of the specific journey as determined by the GPS-based device and the duration of the specific travel. This is subject to the actual fare schedule set by Ryde, which you can view in the Ryde App. The default base fare may fluctuate for business rides, and for rides from specific destinations. Additionally, you shall always have the right to charge the Passenger less than the Fare indicated by the Ryde App. However, charging the Passenger less than the Ryde App indicates, does not decrease the Ryde Fee.

4.7. Fixed Fare. ​A Passenger may be offered to use a ride option that allows the Passenger to agree to a fixed Fare for a given instance of Transportation Service provided by you (i.e Fixed Fare). The Fixed Fare is communicated via the Ryde App to a Passenger before the ride is requested, and to you when the ride is accepted or at the end of the ride. The Fare calculated in accordance with section 4.6 shall be applied instead of the Fixed Fare if the Passenger changes the destination during the ride, the ride takes materially longer than estimated due to traffic or other factors, or when other unexpected circumstances impact the characteristics of the ride materially.

4.8. If you find that there has been an error in the calculation of the Fare, you need to contact Ryde with details of what you think is wrong in the calculation.

4.9. Ryde may adjust the Fare for a particular order completed, if we detect a violation (such as taking a longer route or not stopping the fare meter of the Ryde App after the Transportation Services have been completed) or in case a technical error affecting the final fare is identified. Ryde may also reduce or cancel the fare in case we have reasonable cause to suspect a fraud or a complaint by the Passenger indicates a violation by you. Ryde will only exercise its right to reduce or cancel the fare in a reasonable and justified manner.

4.10. Passenger may pay the fare for the Transportation Services either directly to you or via the In-app Payment as described in section 6 of these General Terms. In case the Passenger pays the Fare directly, it is your obligation to collect the Fare. In case the Passenger fails or refuses to pay, Ryde will send a notice of debt to the Passenger on behalf of you. Such authorisation derives from the mandate of payment agent given to Ryde and does not entail that Ryde has an obligation to compensate the Fare not paid by the Passenger. If the passengers in the vehicle do not agree to pay the Fare for the provision of Transportation Service, the Fare will be paid by the Passenger who has ordered the provision of Transportation Service. If Passenger justifiably refuses to pay the Fare on the account that your information stated in the Ryde App is incorrect, then Ryde will not reimburse you for such expenses.

4.11. Receipts. After each successful provision of Transportation Services, Ryde shall create and forward a receipt to the Passenger consisting of the following information: the company’s business name, place of business, the first name and surname of the Driver, service license number (if applicable), the registration number of the vehicle, the date-, the time-, the start and end locations-, the duration and length-, the Fare and the Fare paid for the provision of the Transportation Services. The receipt of each provision of Transportation Services is available to you via the Ryde Driver Account.

4.12. Cancellation fee & wait time fee. Passenger may cancel a request for Transportation Services that a Driver has accepted via the Ryde App. Driver is entitled to the Fare for cancelled Transportation Services (Cancellation Fee) if a Cancellation Fee is set by Ryde. Cancellation Fee would come into effect when a Passenger cancels accepted request for Transportation Services after certain time period determined by Ryde App.

4.13. If, in the course of the provision of the Transportation Services, a Passenger or its co-passengers negligently damage the vehicle or its furnishing (among else, by blemishing or staining the vehicle or causing the vehicle to stink), you shall have the right to request the Passenger to pay a penalty up to 50 EUR and request compensation for any damages exceeding the penalty. If the Passenger does not consent to paying the penalty and/or compensating the damage, you must notify us and we will then try to collect penalty and/or relevant costs on the your behalf from the Passenger. However, bear in mind that we are not taking any liability for direct or indirect damages in relation to cleaning or maintenance of the vehicle caused by Passenger.

4.14. Your tax obligations. You hereby acknowledges that you are obliged to fully comply with all tax obligations that arise to you from the applicable laws in relation to providing the Transportation Services, including (i) paying income tax, social security tax or any other tax applicable; and (ii) fulfilling all employee and tax registration obligations for calculations in regard to accounting and transfers to applicable State authorities as required by the applicable law. In case the Tax authority will submit a valid application to us to provide information regarding your activities in relation to Ryde, we may make available to the Tax authority the information regarding your activities in relation to Ryde to the extent set forth in valid legal acts. Additionally, it is your obligation to adhere to all applicable tax regulations that may apply in connection with the provision of Transportation Services. You hereby agree to compensate Ryde all state fees, claims, payments, fines or other tax obligations that Ryde will incur in connection with the obligations arising from applicable tax regulations not having been met by you (including paying the income tax and social tax).

4.15. The Driver’s authorisation to issue invoices. For the purposes of Article 50 of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act (Chapter 406 of the Laws of Malta), Ryde and the driver hereby expressly agree that any tax invoices for the services by the driver to Ryde shall be raised by Ryde on a “self-billing” basis. Ryde and the driver agree that each tax invoice will be made available for the driver’s acceptance through a system to be agreed between the Ryde and the driver separately.

5. RYDE FEES

5.1. In order to use the Ryde Services, you are obliged to pay to a fee (i.e. the Ryde Fee). The Ryde Fee is paid based on the Fare of each Transportation Service order that you have completed. The amount of the Ryde Fee is made available to you on the Ryde App or other pertinent means. Please acknowledge that the Ryde Fee may change from time to time. We shall send you a prior notification of each such change.

5.2. You must pay the Ryde Fee and any other fees due to us for the previous month at latest by the 15th date of the following month. Upon delay with payment of the Ryde Fee, you shall be obliged to pay a penalty of late payment in the amount of 0,04% (zero point zero four percent) of the unpaid amount per day. You are obliged to cover all costs incurred by us, which are related to debt collection activities.

6. IN-APP PAYMENTS

6.1. We may enable Passengers to pay for the Transportation Service via cards, carrier billing and other payment methods (Ryde Business etc) directly in the Ryde App (i.e. In-app Payment). You hereby authorise us to act as your limited commercial agent solely for the purpose of collecting, on your behalf, the Fares or other fees paid by the Passenger via In-app Payment. Any payment obligation made by the Passenger via the In-app Payment shall be considered fulfilled as of the time that the payment has been made.

6.2. You may not refuse payment by the Passenger via the In-app Payment, or influence the Passenger against the use of the In-app Payment. In case you refuse to accept an In-app Payment without just cause, we shall be entitled to charge you a contractual penalty in the amount of 15 Euros for every refusal and/or block your right to use the Ryde Services in case of repetitive behaviour.

6.3. Ryde reserves the right to distribute promo code to riders at our discretion on a per promotional basis. If the use of promo codes is suspected as being fraudulent, illegal, used by a Driver in conflict with our Terms and Conditions relating to promo code use, then the promo code may be cancelled and the outstanding amount will not be reimbursed by Ryde to the Driver.

6.4. You are entitled to review trips which were paid via In-app Payment in the Ryde Driver App. These trips will show the amounts of the In-app Payments brokered in the trip as well as the withheld amounts of the Ryde Fee. You must notify us of any important circumstances which may affect our obligations to collect and distribute the Fares paid via In-app Payment.

6.5. We are not obliged to pay you the Fare due from the Passenger if the In-app Payment failed because Passenger’s credit card or other payment is cancelled or is unsuccessful for other reasons. In such case we will help you in requesting the Fare due from the Passenger and shall transmit it to you once the Passenger has made the requested payment.

6.6. Before providing Transportation Services, you must verify that the service is being actually provided to the right Passenger or the Passenger has expressly confirmed he/she allows other passengers to ride under Passenger’s account. If you make a mistake in identifying the Passenger, and the In-app Payment is charged to a person, who has not been provided or has not approved the Transportation Services for other passengers, then we shall reimburse the person for the Fare. In such case you are not entitled to receive the Fare from us. Additionally, for every wrongfully applied In-app Payment, we shall be entitled to charge you a contractual penalty up to 10 Euros.

6.7. Please note that we will set off any Fares paid via In-app Payment against the amounts that you are obliged to pay to us (i.e. Ryde Fees and contractual penalties). We reserve the right to fulfil any of your financial liabilities to Ryde, in which case we will acquire the right to submit a claim against you. We may set off any of your financial liabilities against financial liabilities that you may have against us.

6.8. If we are not able to pay the Fees to you due to you not including your bank account details in your Driver´s account or if the bank account details have been noted incorrectly, then we will hold such payments for 180 days. If you do not notify us of the correct bank account details within 180 days from the date that the right to claim such payments has been established, your claim regarding the payment of the Fare not transferred to you shall expire.

7. CUSTOMER SUPPORT

We provide the Drivers customer support regarding the use of the Ryde Services. We have the right to stop providing the customer support services in case you are in delay with any of the payments for more than 5 (five) calendar days.

8. RATINGS AND ACTIVITY

8.1. In order to guarantee high-quality service and provide additional reassurance to Passengers, you hereby acknowledge that the Passengers may provide you a rating and leave feedback regarding the quality of the Transportation Services that you have provided. Your average rating will be linked to your Driver´s account and will be available to Passengers at Ryde App. If we find out the rating or comment is not given in good faith, this rating or comment may not be projected in the calculations of your rating.

8.2. In addition to the rating, we measure your level of activity and provide you with an activity score, which is based on your activity regarding accepting, declining, not responding and completing Transportation Service requests.

8.3. In order to provide reliable services to Passengers, we may determine a minimum average rating and a minimum activity score that Drivers must establish and maintain. If, after a pertinent notification from us, you do not increase your average rating or activity score to minimum level within the prescribed time period, your Driver´s account will be automatically suspended either temporarily or permanently. We may reverse the suspension of your account if it is merited by any external circumstances or it is detected that the suspension was caused by a system error or false ratings.

9. MARKET OVERVIEWS AND CAMPAIGNS

9.1. Market overviews. We may send you, via the Ryde App, SMS, e-mail or other means, market overviews, in order to increase your awareness regarding when the demand by the Passengers is highest. Such market overviews are merely recommendatory and do not constitute any obligations for you. As the market overview estimations are based on previous statistics, we cannot give any guarantees that the actual market situation will correspond to the estimations provided in the market overview.

9.2. Campaigns promising minimum income. We may also provide campaigns, whereby we will guarantee a minimum income if you provide Transportation Services within a specified timeframe. If the specified minimum is not reached by you, we shall compensate the gap. The specific requirements and conditions will be sent via the Ryde App, Ryde Driver Account, SMS, e-mail or other means. We have full discretion in deciding if, when and to which Drivers we provide such campaigns. If we have reasonable cause to suspect any fraudulent activity by you, we may withhold your Fare until the suspicion of fraud has been cleared.

9.3. Campaigns for Passengers. We may also occasionally arrange various campaigns to Passengers in order to promote the Ryde Platform. If the Fare paid by the Passengers is reduced as part of such campaign, we shall pay you compensation, amounting to the monetary value of the benefit offered to the Passengers. We may set off the marketing compensation against the Ryde Fee.

10. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU, US AND THE PASSENGERS

10.1. You hereby acknowledge and agree that we provide an information society service and do not provide Transportation Services. By providing the Ryde Platform and Ryde Services, we act as marketplace connecting Passengers with Drivers to help them move around cities more efficiently. You acknowledge that you are providing the Transportation Services on the basis of a contract for carriage of passengers and that you provide the Transportation Services either independently or via a company as an economic and professional activity.

10.2. You acknowledge that no employment agreement nor an employment relationship has been or will be established between you and us. You also acknowledge that no joint venture or partnership exists between you and us. You may not act as an employee, agent or representative of us nor bind any contract on behalf of us. If due to the implication of mandatory laws or otherwise, you shall be deemed an employee of us, you hereby agree to waive any claims against us that may arise as a result of such implied employment relationship.

10.3. You may not transfer your rights and obligations deriving from the General Terms or Agreement to any third party.

11. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

Your personal data will be processed in accordance with the Privacy Policy, available at https://rydemalta.com/privacy-policy-drivers/

12. LIABILITY

12.1. The Ryde Platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We do not represent, warrant or guarantee that access to Ryde Platform will be uninterrupted or error free. As the usage of Ryde Platform for requesting transportation services depends on the behaviour of Passengers, we do not guarantee that your usage of the Ryde Platform will result in any Transportation Service requests.

12.2. To the maximum extent permitted under the applicable law, we, nor Ryde’s representatives, directors and employees are not liable for any loss or damage that you may incur as a result of using the Ryde Services, including but not limited to:
– any direct or indirect property damage or monetary loss;
– loss of profit or anticipated savings;
– loss of business, contracts, contacts, goodwill, reputation and any loss that may arise from interruption of the business;
– loss or inaccuracy of data; and
– any other type of loss or damage.

12.3. The financial liability of us in connection with violating the General Terms or Agreement will be limited to 200 euros. You shall have the right to claim for damages only if we have deliberately violated the General Terms or Agreement.

12.4. We shall not be liable for the actions or non-actions of the Passenger or co-passengers and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may incur to you or your vehicle as a result of actions or non-actions of the Passenger or co-passengers.

12.5. You shall be fully liable for breach of the General Terms, Agreement or any other applicable laws or regulations and must stop and remedy such breach immediately after receipt of a respective demand from us or any state authority. You shall indemnify us for any direct and/or indirect loss and/or damage, loss of profits, expense, penalty, fine that we may occur in connection with your breach of the General Terms, Agreement and laws and regulations. If Passenger presents any claims against us in connection with your provision of Transportation Services, then you shall compensate such damage to us in full within 7 (seven) days as of your receipt of the respective request from us. In case we are entitled to present any claims against you, then you shall compensate us any legal costs related to evaluation of the damages and submission of claims relating to compensation for such damage.

13. TERM AND TERMINATION

13.1. The conditions expressly specified in these General Terms shall enter into force as of submitting the signup application. Agreements and other terms shall enter into force once the specific document or message has been made available to you and you commence or continue providing Transportation Services on Ryde Platform.

13.2. You may terminate the Agreement at any time by notifying Ryde at least 7 (seven) days in advance, after which your right to use the Ryde Platform and Ryde Services shall terminate. Ryde may terminate the Agreement at any time and for any reason at the sole discretion of us by notifying you at least 3 (three) days in advance.

13.3. Ryde is entitled to immediately terminate the Agreement and block your access to Ryde Platform without giving any advance notice in case you breach the General Terms or Agreement, any applicable laws or regulations, disparage Ryde, or cause harm to Ryde’s brand, reputation or business as determined by Ryde in our sole discretion. In the aforementioned cases we may, at its own discretion, prohibit you from registering a new Driver account.

13.4. We may also immediately block your access to the Ryde Platform and to the Ryde App for the period of investigation, if we suspect an infringement of the Agreement or fraudulent activity from your behalf. The block of access will be removed once the investigation disproves such suspicions.

13.5. We are aiming to provide the highest quality service to all Passengers therefore we are monitoring the activity of Drivers on Ryde Platform. If you fail to meet the minimal service requirements, such as the minimal, we are entitled to immediately terminate the Agreement without giving any advance notice.

14. AMENDMENTS

14.1. Any changes to the Agreement shall enter into force after they have been made available to you via e-mail or Ryde App and you have continued to provide the Transportation Services.

14.2. In order to amend the General Terms, we shall post a revised version on the website (http://rydemalta.com/driver-terms‎) and give you at least 14 (fourteen) days prior notice. If you continue to use the Ryde Services, you shall be deemed to have accepted the revised conditions.

15. APPLICABLE LAW AND COURT JURISDICTION

15.1. The General Terms and Agreement shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Malta. If the respective dispute resulting from General Terms or Agreement could not be settled by negotiations, then the dispute shall be solved in the courts of Malta.

16. NOTICES

16.1. You are obliged to immediately notify us of any changes to your contact information.

16.2. Any notice required to be given under the General Terms and Agreement shall be sufficiently given if: (i) delivered personally, (ii) sent by courier with proof of delivery, (iii) sent by registered mail, (iv) sent by e-mail or (v) made available via the Ryde. Any notice which is sent or dispatched in accordance with this clause shall be deemed to have been received: (i) if delivered personally, at the time of delivery to the party; (ii) if delivered by courier, on the date stated by the courier as being the date on which the envelope containing the notice was delivered to the party; (iii) if sent by registered mail, on the 10th day after handing the document over to the post office for delivery to the party; (iv) if made available via the Ryde, or (v) if sent by e-mail, on the day the party receiving the e-mail confirms receiving the respective e-mail or on the 2nd day following the dispatch of the e-mail provided that the sender has not received an error notice (notifying that the e-mail was not delivered to the party) and has sent the e-mail again on the next calendar day and has not received a similar error notice.

17. FINAL PROVISIONS

If any provision of the General Terms is held to be unenforceable, the parties shall substitute for the affected provision an enforceable provision that approximates the intent and economic effect of the affected provision.