OCU regrets the announcement of sanctions against users from Blablacar sharing trips

The Ministry of Transport of the Community of Madrid yesterday announced its intention to punish two users sharing trip and to the travel platform shared with fines of 4,000 and 8,000 euros to understand that it was producing a violation of the Law on Spatial Ground Transportation. 

For OCU, this announcement is a step in the wrong direction showing the need for the government to understand the scope of a phenomenon such as collaborative consumption as a new way of eating in which, thanks to technology, individuals are they contact each other to share their knowledge, or skills properties.

For OCU drivers who share your car with other travelers can not be subject to the uncertainty of being punished, need clear rules and establish at what cost per kilometer is considered profit, which in other countries is already established clearly. 

According to a study conducted by OCU last November, the tariffs proposed by users sharing trip reduces spending significantly, but do not allow a business with paths as to cover gasoline, hypothetical tolls, wear tires, car depreciation, insurance or taxes would require that the driver carry almost 6 passengers, something impossible even with van or minibus, as BlaBlaCar establishes a maximum of 4 passengers. 

OCU, as it did yesterday with the launch of its website "Ciudadano Colaborativo" reiterates its support to the phenomenon of collaborative consumption between individuals, where all stakeholders, platforms, consumers and prosumers, fulfill their obligations, and calls for authorities comply with their obligation to provide certainty to participants in a model that is beneficial to the whole of society both from the economic point of view, and from the social and environmental.