RIDESHARING: PROBLEMS OF LEGAL REGULATION IN RUSSIA

Ridesharing is the joint movement of several individuals in a single vehicle along a route defined by the vehicle owner. From a legal point of view, this agreement can be regarded as an unnamed joint travel contract. The development of ridesharing is facilitated by the widespread use of smartphones and platforms providing digital services. The main purpose of ridesharing is to save financial resources and to improve the environment by reducing the number of cars on the road. The transport legislation of a number of countries has introduced norms on the legal regulation of shared travel. In the Russian Federation it is necessary to clarify the regulatory framework in this area, as the lack of legal regulation leads to abuse of the right. The purpose of this study is to assess the possibility of legitimisation of ridesharing, to analyse the draft law developed by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation on amendments to the Statute of Road Transport concerning the legal regulation of joint travel, to propose legal measures. The author has developed proposals on the definition of joint travel and ridesharing agreement, defined the legal nature of the agreement, reflected the positive and negative sides of the use of joint travel, analysed foreign experience of their legal regulation.