In-Vehicle Conduct

Smoking

Smoking is prohibited in all our vehicles. A motor vehicle used for public transport is a public place under Section 4 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. This covers cigarettes, beedis, e-cigarettes and vaping devices, and it applies for the whole of your trip, not only while the vehicle is moving.

This is not a preference of ours dressed up as a rule; it is the law, and it applies equally to a short local run and a three-day outstation trip, to the driver as much as to you. A window rolled down does not make an exception to it. If a vehicle is smoked in, the cleaning charge that follows is assessed the same way any other cleaning charge is, set out in full in the section below rather than repeated here.

Alcohol

Whether alcohol may be consumed inside the vehicle is at our driver’s discretion to permit or refuse. An open container in a moving vehicle is a road-safety and legal risk, and our driver is entitled to refuse it outright, regardless of what has been permitted earlier on the same trip.

Several states and union territories prohibit the possession or consumption of alcohol entirely, among them Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland and Lakshadweep, and any locally declared dry day adds to that list without notice. Where your route crosses into one of these, our driver will refuse alcohol in the vehicle regardless of what was permitted at any earlier point on the trip. This is not a position we are able to soften for a particular booking; it is the law of the state the vehicle happens to be travelling through at the time.

Food and drink

Food and drink are generally fine inside the vehicle. If something is spilled or the vehicle is left soiled, the same cleaning charge mechanism set out below applies, assessed against what the vehicle actually needs rather than against a fixed figure for a spill.

Pets

Pets are welcome, subject to telling us in advance so we can arrange the right vehicle for the trip. A pet must travel in a secure carrier for the whole journey, for its own safety as much as for the safety of everyone else in the vehicle. The same cleaning charge mechanism set out below applies where a vehicle needs cleaning after carrying a pet.

Cleaning and damage

A cleaning or damage charge, where one applies, is assessed against what the vehicle actually needs, supported by photographs taken before and after, and never decided arbitrarily.

This is how it works in practice. The vehicle is photographed before it goes out on your booking and again after it comes back. Where a difference between the two calls for cleaning beyond a normal valet, or for a repair, the charge reflects what that specific job actually costs to put right, not a number picked off a list because your trip happened to involve smoking, a spill, or a pet. You are shown what the photographs show and told what the charge covers before it is put on your invoice, and it is never raised without that explanation.

This applies the same way whether the cause was smoking, food or drink, a pet, or anything else left in or done to the vehicle during your booking. Where a booking carries more than one traveller, the charge follows the booking as a whole rather than trying to establish which of you was responsible.

Music, volume and route safety

Music and its volume inside the vehicle are at our driver’s discretion wherever they affect his ability to drive safely. A driver concentrating on a difficult stretch of road, heavy traffic or poor visibility is entitled to ask for the volume to be turned down, and that request is about the road in front of him, not about taste.

Seatbelts

A seatbelt is mandatory for every occupant, in every seat, for the whole of the journey.

This applies in the rear as much as in the front, and to a child old enough to sit in a seat of their own. Our full position on seatbelts and the rest of what we do to keep your trip safe is set out at /legal/traveller-safety.

The driver’s right to end an unsafe journey

Our driver may end a journey where any occupant’s conduct is unsafe, unlawful, abusive or threatening, including intoxication that endangers the vehicle, refusal to wear a seatbelt after being asked, or harassment of the driver. Where this happens, no refund is due and you remain responsible for the full booking value and for any damage caused.

This is not a step our driver takes lightly, and it is reserved for conduct that genuinely puts the vehicle, its occupants or the driver at risk, not for a disagreement over the route or a request he has already met. How this interacts with our refund policy more generally, including what happens to a booking ended this way partway through, is set out at /cancellation-refund-policy.

Conduct toward the driver

The standard we hold you to runs the other way as well. Our full expectations of a driver, and yours in turn, are set out at /legal/code-of-conduct, and our position on treating every driver and every customer without discrimination is at /legal/non-discrimination. Both apply inside the vehicle exactly as they apply anywhere else on your trip.