Closed-community carpooling under Tunisian law

01Who this page is for

This page sets out the legal position of Ridy, a carpooling app operated by RIDYX. It supports discussions with universities, partner companies, insurance companies and public authorities.

Ridy is described as it works on the update date; the page is revised whenever the service changes.

02What the Ministry of Transport said

On 10 April 2019 the Minister of Transport, Mr Hichem Ben Ahmed, publicly stated that carpooling is not prohibited and that the ministry encourages it; only transport carried out without authorisation as a business is targeted ¹²³⁴⁷. The statement came the day after a ministry director mentioned a fine of 700 TND ⁸⁹.

• On the contrary, we encourage carpooling, which is a good alternative for citizens, given its ecological and economic aspects.

• We are against carpooling when it turns into a commercial activity, without authorisation or insurance.

• Reports of a ban "have nothing to do with reality": the ministry encourages this concept, which helps fight congestion and pollution. The 700-dinar fine does not target citizens who carpool, but those who run illegal transport.

• The ministry does not oppose carpooling, it encourages it. What the ministry fights and bans is parallel, informal transport, that is when some people make carrying passengers a job without any licence.

• There is a problem with illegal carriers.

• A regulatory framework will be put in place, in coordination with the Ministry of Communication Technologies, to organise the use of mobile apps by taxis and for carpooling.

03Summary

Tunisian law has no legislation specific to carpooling. Public passenger transport for payment requires prior authorisation under law no. 2004-33 ¹⁴¹⁵, and paid transport carried out without authorisation ("transport clandestin") is punishable ⁸¹². In April 2019 the Minister of Transport publicly stated that carpooling is not prohibited and is encouraged; only unauthorised commercial activity is targeted ⁶⁷.

Ridy's design keeps it on the carpooling side: closed communities, journeys the driver makes anyway, simple cost sharing, no pick-up on the public highway and no professional drivers.

04Applicable Tunisian legal framework

The governing text is law no. 2004-33 of 19 April 2004 on the organisation of land transport ¹⁴. It distinguishes three categories of passenger transport, only one of which requires authorisation.

Ridy's position. Ridy journeys are intended to fall under private transport within the meaning of article 14. First, they are not offered to the public: only authenticated members of a closed community can see a journey and join it. Second, they are not carried out for payment in the commercial sense: the passenger only contributes to the actual costs of the journey (fuel, tolls) and the driver makes no profit.

Main legal risk. The law does not define for payment and says nothing about cost sharing. An authority could argue that any sum paid to the driver is enough to qualify the journey as "public transport". Public transport without authorisation is transport clandestin, which could carry a fine of up to 700 TND ⁸⁹¹². This is why Ridy caps contributions at the actual cost and prohibits any professional use (see "Risks and safeguards").

Other texts applicable to RIDYX as a company

• Personal data: organic law no. 2004-63 of 27 July 2004 ¹⁶, supervised by the INPDP. A replacement bill aligned with the GDPR (bill no. 095/2025) was tabled in July 2025 ¹⁷ and was still pending before Parliament in February 2026 ¹⁸. RIDYX follows this reform and will adapt its practices as soon as it comes into force.
• E-commerce and online payments (electronic wallet, top-up codes): law no. 2000-83 on electronic exchanges and commerce and the Central Bank of Tunisia's payment services regulation, which the Ridy wallet complies with, through a licensed payment provider where needed.
• Insurance: the driver's compulsory motor insurance must cover passengers carried free of charge or for simple cost sharing. Ridy requires a valid insurance certificate from every driver at sign-up.

No specific legislation to date. A carpooling text was announced as early as 2019 ⁷¹⁰ and, in November 2024, the Minister of Transport, Mr Rachid Amari, told Parliament that a regulatory framework for taxi apps and carpooling would be put in place, without banning these apps ¹¹. As of this page's date, no such text has been identified as in force.

05How Ridy works

Ridy connects members of the same closed community who already travel the same route, so that spare seats are used and costs are shared. RIDYX acts as a technical intermediary: it owns no vehicle, employs no driver and transports no one.

Closed communities. Each community is a university campus or a partner company. Joining requires proof of membership (student or work email address, student card, badge), and a user only sees the journeys and members of their own community. Ridy is not open to the general public and does not allow hailing a vehicle on the street.

A journey, step by step

1. The driver publishes a journey they make anyway (for example home → campus at 8 am), with the route, the time and the available seats.
2. Passengers from the same community book a seat, or publish a request; Ridy groups requests on the same route and submits them to drivers.
3. The app shows an indicative contribution per seat, calculated from distance and fuel cost, which cannot exceed the passenger's share of the actual costs.
4. After the journey, the passenger pays their contribution through the Ridy electronic wallet, topped up by bank card or with prepaid codes sold on campus.
5. Both parties rate each other; repeated negative ratings or reports lead to account suspension.

Cost sharing, not pricing. The driver decides the journey; Ridy caps the contribution. A driver cannot receive more than their share, make journeys solely for passengers, or use Ridy professionally. Professional-looking accounts are flagged and removed.

How RIDYX earns money. At launch, Ridy takes no commission on journeys. Future revenue will come from services to partner companies (mobility and CO₂ reports for their ESG reporting) and optional features, and never from a cut on the price of a ride.

06Privacy and personal data protection

Ridy only collects the data strictly needed to check membership, match journeys and keep users safe. Processing complies with organic law no. 2004-63 ¹⁶ and is declared to the INPDP before launch, following standards equivalent to the GDPR.

Principles applied

• Express consent at sign-up; a plain-language privacy policy in French and Arabic.
• Phone numbers are hidden: calls and messaging go through the app.
• No sale of data; partner reports are based only on anonymised, aggregated data.
• Access, rectification and erasure rights exercised from the app; the INPDP can be contacted.
• Encryption in transit and at rest; staff access is logged.
• Any hosting or transfer outside Tunisia is declared to the INPDP and authorised where the law requires it.

07Comparison with taxis, louages and ride-hailing

A taxi driver provides transport to anyone, on demand and at a regulated fare; a Ridy driver shares a journey they already make with members of their own community and recovers only part of the costs.

No harm to taxis and louages

• Ridy serves daily, fixed-time journeys that taxis rarely cover, mostly made by students who cannot afford a taxi twice a day.
• A Ridy driver cannot pick up the public, choose the passenger's destination or drive all day.
• The closed-community rule limits Ridy's reach to the members of each campus or company.
• Fewer vehicles at peak hours, so shorter journey times for taxis and louages.
• RIDYX is willing to work with the representatives of the taxi profession.

08Public interest

Each Ridy passenger who stops driving alone removes a vehicle from peak-hour traffic, in line with the goals the ministry cited in 2019: less congestion, fewer emissions and lower fuel consumption ³⁷.

1.2

people per vehicle in Greater Tunis ¹⁹

600 M

dinars: estimated annual cost of congestion ²⁰

41 min

average journey time in Tunis, mid-2025 ²¹

Traffic congestion. In Greater Tunis, a 2017 estimate put private cars at about 75 % of journeys ¹⁹. A former Secretary of State for Transport estimated the cost of congestion at 600 million dinars a year ¹⁹²⁰. In mid-2025 Tunis had a local traffic index of 169, with peaks between 7 and 9 am and between 5 and 7 pm ²¹²², exactly the hours Ridy targets.

CO₂ emissions. New vehicles sold in Europe emitted on average about 107 g of CO₂ per km in 2024 ²³; Tunisia's older fleet probably emits more, so this note uses 150 g/km. On that basis, 100 regular passengers each giving up a 30 km daily round trip avoid about 81 tonnes of CO₂ a year:

100 passengers × 30 km/day × 180 days × 0.15 kg/km ≈ 81 t CO₂/year

Other benefits

• Lower transport costs for students (a share of fuel instead of a taxi fare).
• Safer than informal carpooling on social networks: authenticated users, tracked journeys, mutual ratings.
• Less parking needed on campuses and company sites.
• A lawful, transparent alternative to transport clandestin.

09Safeguards built into Ridy

The main point of attention is that contributions could be requalified as public transport within the meaning of article 13 of law no. 2004-33 ¹⁴. The safeguards below, built into the product, keep every journey a cost share between members of a closed group.