PALARIDE

Terms of Service

Last updated October 4, 2026

1. What Palaride is
2. Who can use Palaride
3. Your account
4. Sharing costs, not making a profit
5. Drivers’ responsibilities
6. Passengers’ responsibilities
7. Bookings and payments
8. Cancellations, refunds and no-shows
9. Women-only rides
10. Community rules
11. Safety, blocking and reports
12. Reviews and content
13. Our role and liability
14. Suspension and account deletion
15. Changes to these terms
16. Governing law
17. Contact us

1. What Palaride is

Palaride is an online platform that helps people who are already making an intercity trip in Canada share empty seats with other travellers, and share the cost of the trip.

• Palaride is not a taxi, bus, ride-hailing or transport company, and does not provide transportation.
• Drivers are independent members travelling for their own reasons. They are not Palaride’s employees, contractors or agents.
• Each trip is an arrangement between the driver and the passengers. Palaride provides the tools to find each other, communicate, book and pay.

Palaride only supports trips between approved cities and routes. We may add, change or remove cities and routes at any time.

2. Who can use Palaride

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract.
• You may have only one account, and it is for your personal use. Don’t share it or let anyone else use it.
• You may not use Palaride if we have previously suspended or removed your account, unless we agree otherwise.
• Palaride is for personal, non-commercial carpooling. It may not be used to run a transport business.

3. Your account

• Give accurate information, including your real name, and keep it up to date.
• Keep your password private. You are responsible for activity on your account.
• Your display name, photo, introduction, home city, reviews and ride listings may be visible to other members and to visitors.
• Tell us right away through Help if you think someone else has accessed your account.

4. Sharing costs, not making a profit

Palaride is built for cost-sharing. The seat contribution a driver sets should only help cover the real costs of the trip, such as fuel, tolls and wear on the vehicle.

• Drivers may not make a profit from any trip.
• Drivers may not offer trips they would not otherwise be making, or drive for the purpose of earning money.
• Each seat’s contribution is capped based on the driving distance between the pickup and drop-off. The cap is currently about $0.15 per kilometre per seat, with a minimum cap of $5. We may change the cap, and may remove listings that appear to be for profit.
• You are responsible for any taxes that apply to you.

5. Drivers’ responsibilities

If you offer a ride, you confirm and agree that:

• You hold a valid driver’s licence for the vehicle and are legally allowed to drive it.
• The vehicle is registered, safe, roadworthy, and has a working seat belt for every passenger.
• You have valid auto insurance, and you have confirmed with your insurer that your policy covers carpooling with passengers who share costs. Palaride does not provide insurance.
• You will drive safely and obey all traffic laws, and will never drive while impaired by alcohol, cannabis, drugs, medication or fatigue.
• Your listing is accurate, including times, meeting points, vehicle, seats, luggage space and preferences.
• You will show up on time, take only the passengers who booked through Palaride, and follow the route you agreed.

Driver document review is a manual check of the documents you upload. It is not a background check, and it does not confirm your driving record or insurance.

6. Passengers’ responsibilities

• Be at the meeting point on time. If you will be late or can’t make it, message the driver and cancel as early as possible.
• Book only the number of seats you need, and bring only the luggage shown in the listing unless the driver agrees.
• Wear your seat belt, respect the driver’s vehicle and preferences, and follow the law.
• Children must travel with a parent or guardian and in a car seat or booster seat where the law requires one. The parent or guardian provides it.

7. Bookings and payments

• Requests. Passengers request seats. The driver approves or declines each request.
• Payment. After approval, the passenger pays online through Stripe. Seats are held for a limited time (currently about 35 minutes) during checkout. A booking is confirmed only when payment succeeds.
• Booking fee. Passengers pay the driver’s seat contribution plus a Palaride booking fee, currently 15% of the contribution. The total is shown before you pay. All amounts are in Canadian dollars.
• Palaride holds the payment until the trip is over. Your payment is collected when you book and held by Palaride until the trip has taken place.
• Driver payouts. Drivers set up a payout account with Stripe Connect. About 24 hours after a trip’s scheduled arrival, Palaride automatically sends the driver their passengers’ contributions (not the booking fee). Payouts run once a day, so a payout can take up to about 2 days after arrival. Stripe then sends it to the driver’s bank on its usual schedule.
• Stripe’s terms for drivers. Payment processing services for drivers on Palaride are provided by Stripe and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Terms of Service (together, the “Stripe Services Agreement”). By setting up payouts, you agree to the Stripe Services Agreement, as Stripe may change it from time to time. Because Palaride works with Stripe to pay you, you agree to give Palaride accurate and complete information about you and your payout account, and you allow Palaride to share it and transaction information related to your use of Stripe’s services. You are responsible for keeping your banking details correct.
• Card disputes (chargebacks). If something went wrong with a payment, contact us through Help first. Most problems can be fixed with a refund. If a passenger disputes a charge with their bank and the dispute succeeds, any amount already paid to the driver for that booking may be recovered from the driver’s Stripe account. Filing disputes in bad faith, such as for a trip you took, may lead to suspension.
• Payout holds. If a passenger reports a no-show, or we see signs of fraud or a payment problem, we may hold a payout until the matter is resolved.
• Only pay through Palaride. Cash, e-transfers or any other payment outside Palaride are not allowed. Don’t ask for or accept them. If anyone asks, please report it.

Palaride does not store your full card details. Stripe processes them.

8. Cancellations, refunds and no-shows

If you’re a passenger

• You can cancel a confirmed booking online from My trips at any time before departure. You’ll receive a full refund, including the booking fee.
• After departure, online cancellation closes. Contact us through Help and we’ll review the situation.
• Unpaid requests can be cancelled at any time at no cost.

If you’re a driver

• You can cancel a ride from My trips any time before departure. Every passenger who has paid is refunded in full automatically, including the booking fee. Pending requests are declined, and you are not paid for the cancelled ride.
• Each cancellation after passengers have paid is recorded on your account. Cancelling at the last minute or not showing up lets your passengers down. Repeated cancellations or no-shows may lead to your account being suspended or removed.

If your driver doesn’t show up

• After the departure time, and until 24 hours after the scheduled arrival, a passenger can choose “My driver didn’t show up” in My trips.
• The driver’s payout for that booking is paused, and the driver is asked to respond.
• The driver can refund the passenger in full straight away. Otherwise, Palaride reviews the report and any information from both members, and decides whether to refund the passenger in full or release the payment to the driver. Our decision on the payment is final, but it doesn’t affect any other rights you have under the law.
• Reports must be honest. False reports are a breach of these terms.

If a passenger doesn’t show up

• If a passenger doesn’t come to the meeting point and hasn’t cancelled before departure, the driver is paid as normal and the passenger is not refunded.

Refund timing

Refunds go back to the original payment method. Banks usually take 5 to 10 business days to show them. If a driver has already been paid for a booking that is refunded, we may recover that amount from the driver’s Stripe account.

We may update this policy. Any change applies only to bookings made after it takes effect, and we’ll show it before you pay.

9. Women-only rides

Drivers may post women-only rides, and members who identify as women may book them. Eligibility is a self-declaration in Settings, not identity verification. Every reserved seat on a women-only ride must be for a woman. Misusing this option is a breach of these terms.

10. Community rules

Everyone deserves a safe, respectful trip. You must not:

• Discriminate against anyone because of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or family status, or any other ground protected by law. Women-only rides as described in section 9 are allowed.
• Harass, threaten, intimidate or make unwanted sexual comments or advances to anyone.
• Carry weapons, illegal items, or anything dangerous or unsafe, on a trip.
• Smoke or vape in the vehicle, including cannabis.
• Bring a pet without the driver’s agreement before the trip. Service animals are welcome as the law requires.
• Bring strong-smelling food or messy items without asking the driver first.
• Post false, misleading, offensive or someone else’s content, or impersonate anyone.
• Use Palaride to advertise, send spam, collect other members’ information, or move conversations or payments off the platform to avoid these terms.
• Interfere with, copy, scrape or try to break into the service, or misuse another member’s account.

11. Safety, blocking and reports

• In an emergency, call 911. Palaride is not an emergency service and doesn’t monitor trips in real time.
• You can block any member from their profile. Blocked members can’t see your rides, book with you or message you.
• You can report a member from their profile, or through Help. We review reports and may contact the members involved, remove content, or suspend accounts.
• Share my trip lets you send your trip details to someone you trust. It shows the planned trip, not live location.
• Use your own judgment. Read profiles and reviews, meet in public places, and don’t travel if you feel unsafe.

12. Reviews and content

• After a trip, drivers and passengers can review each other. Reviews must be honest, based on your own trip, and follow the community rules.
• You keep ownership of what you post, such as your photo, introduction, listings, messages and reviews. You give Palaride a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display and use that content to run and promote the service.
• We may remove content that breaks these terms. Messages are private between trip members, but we may review them when investigating a report or when the law requires it.

13. Our role and liability

• Palaride provides the platform “as is”. We don’t guarantee that rides will be available, that members will behave as described, or that trips will happen as planned.
• We don’t control, and aren’t responsible for, the conduct of drivers or passengers, the condition of vehicles, or what happens during a trip.
• Travel times, distances, carbon estimates and maps are estimates only.
• To the extent allowed by law, Palaride is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability to you for any claim related to Palaride is limited to the booking fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim.
• You agree to compensate Palaride for losses caused by your breach of these terms or of the law.
• Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under consumer protection laws that can’t be excluded.

14. Suspension and account deletion

• You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Account security. Paid upcoming bookings must be cancelled first so everyone is refunded.
• We may limit, suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, puts others at risk, or is involved in fraud. When an account is suspended, its upcoming rides and bookings are cancelled and the passengers affected are refunded in full. Where it’s safe and appropriate, we’ll tell you why.
• Some records, such as past trips and payments, are kept after an account is closed. Our Privacy Policy explains how.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as Palaride changes. We’ll post the new version here with a new “last updated” date and, for important changes, tell members in the app or by email. If you keep using Palaride after a change takes effect, you accept the updated terms.

16. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of New Brunswick and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. You may also have rights under the laws of the province where you live.

17. Contact us

For questions about these terms, send us a message from Help → Contact us.

Questions? Send us a message from Help → Contact us.