New rules on ride hailing and other fare-based transport services went into effect yesterday in Saudi Arabia

The Transport General Authority (TGA) started yesterday enforcing the new rules for fare-services including ride hailing, it said in a statement.The regulations were introduced in late December 2023 (pdf). The move aims to improve service quality and attract investment into the industry by streamlining operational procedures and outlining the fines and penalties for non compliance. The new rules target private and family fare-service providers, ride-hailing companies, and public transportation operators.

The rules, in short:

• Ride-hailing service providers can offer inter-city rides only after they subscribe to the the Interior Ministry’s Shomoos system (pdf), which entails the transfer of the client’s information to the ministry’s national information center;
• Ride-hailing service providers must allow drivers to see the destination of a trip before accepting the ride request. Non compliance will result in a SAR 4k fine;
• Ride-hailing service providers must ban drivers from using the service for 30 days in case they cancel more than 5 rides within a 30 days period after accepting the ride requests. Non compliance will result in a SAR 1k fine imposed on the company;
• Ride-hailing service providers must define and make public their service terms and conditions including how they address the complaints of the drivers and their payment conditions. Non compliance will result in a SAR 3k fine;
• Ride-hailing service providers will no longer have to oblige drivers to hang an ID barcode / tag in the vehicle;
• Licensees can request to change location where they are permitted to provide the service from one city to another;
• Licensees can transfer their service permit to another licensee;
• Service providers have to define and make public their lost and found policy;
• Licensees and service providers have to be connected to the online systems of the authority. Non compliance will result in a SAR 5k fine.

REMEMBER- We’re less than two months away until the Transport General Authority (TGA) starts rolling out an automated monitoring system to track truck and bus violations on the road. The system will watch for road violations as well as expired operating cards and other breaches of regulations. Cargo transport, international bus services, as well as truck and bus rentals fall under the scope of the system, which comes into effect on 21 April.