A Serbian driver has been fined and had his car seized for 90 days after traffic authorities determined that sharing travel costs with a passenger through the BlaBlaCar platform constituted providing paid transport services.
A passenger, who regularly travels from Šabac to Belgrade for work, said he joined BlaBlaCar to reduce his monthly fuel and toll expenses by sharing them with passengers travelling in the same direction. He said he was stopped by traffic police shortly after starting a journey with a passenger he had found through the application.
According to him, officers argued that publishing the journey on BlaBlaCar amounted to charging for transport on a route where public transport is available. The passenger reportedly told authorities that he had paid for transport, after which his licence plates and vehicle registration documents were taken and his car was seized for 90 days. A procedure against him was also initiated.
The case highlights a legal grey area in Serbia. The Law on Passenger Transport does not clearly regulate the use of platforms such as BlaBlaCar, while the platform’s own rules state that drivers must not use the service to make a profit and may use it to share travel costs with passengers travelling with them.
