Terms and Conditions

1. What Pliho Is

Pliho Technologies, LLC ("Pliho," "Platform") operates a peer-to-peer cost-sharing carpooling marketplace governed by 23 U.S.C. § 146 (federal carpooling policy). Pliho is NOT a Transportation Network Company (TNC), taxi service, common carrier, or transportation provider of any kind. Drivers are volunteer individuals sharing the actual cost of a trip they were already taking, they are not employees, agents, or contractors of Pliho. Riders are individuals who contribute to a driver's out-of-pocket trip costs. All cost-share amounts are bounded by the IRS Standard Mileage Rate (currently $0.76/mile for 2026).

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account. Pliho does not offer accounts to anyone under 18, and sign-up does not accept a date of birth less than 18 years ago. By creating an account, you represent that all information you provide is accurate and complete, and that you will maintain the accuracy of your information.

3. Driver Requirements

To post trips as a driver, you must:

(a) Be at least 18 years of age with a valid, unexpired driver's license. (b) Own or have lawful authorization to operate the vehicle. (c) Carry personal auto insurance that covers carpooling activity (a rideshare endorsement, commercial auto policy, or equivalent coverage that does not exclude passenger cost-sharing). You represent that you have disclosed your Pliho activity to your insurer if required. (d) Complete Pliho's identity and vehicle verification process, including government ID upload and biometric verification. (e) Upload a current insurance declarations page prior to posting your first trip. (f) Re-verify insurance documentation annually.

Pliho verifies the existence of uploaded documents but does not underwrite, supplement, or guarantee any driver's insurance coverage. Insurance responsibility rests solely with the driver.

4. Cost-Share Ceiling & IRS Compliance

All seat cost-share amounts on Pliho are subject to a hard platform ceiling calculated as:

Ceiling per seat = (trip_miles × IRS Standard Mileage Rate) ÷ (seats offered + 1)

The "+ 1" is the driver. The trip's IRS mileage value is shared across everyone in the car, the driver included, so no seat can be priced above its share of what the trip costs to run. The rate used is the one in force on the date the trip runs, taken from federal IRS data. Any seat price that would exceed this ceiling is automatically rejected by the platform before being written to the database.

Tolls are not part of this ceiling and are not added to it. A trip's tolls are split the same way, across the seats offered plus the driver, and charged separately as a toll share under Section 5.

Adventures: For an Adventure, the transport share each member pays is set when the Adventure is posted, as (distance × IRS Standard Mileage Rate) ÷ group size, where the group size counts everyone going, the driver included. That figure is fixed when posted and does not change if the IRS rate changes later. Adventure members are not charged for tolls. Money the host has paid for the group and any organiser fee the host sets are separate from the transport share, are shown separately before a member joins, and are not part of this ceiling. The organiser fee pays for planning and organising the trip, never for driving: the transport share only ever recovers the cost of the drive, whoever the driver is, and no part of it is profit.

Organiser fee records: a member pays for an Adventure in one payment, but Pliho records the organiser fee separately from the transport share and the shared costs on every payment and every payout, and keeps that record for audit. An organiser fee is income to the host. The host is responsible for any tax on it, and Pliho may report payments to tax authorities where the law requires.

Drivers are responsible for their own tax filings. Cost-share receipts that constitute reimbursement of actual vehicle operating costs may be excluded from gross income under IRS guidance; consult a tax professional. Pliho provides in-app mileage logs to assist with IRS recordkeeping.

5. Platform Fees

Platform fees depend on the market a trip runs in. The schedule set out below is the one in force in the United States.

In Bangladesh, Pliho charges no platform fee at launch: no Safety & Technology Fee to the rider and no Marketplace Fee to the driver. The driver receives the whole seat cost-share and the whole toll share. Wherever this document states a fee as a dollar amount or as a percentage, that figure is the United States figure and does not apply to a trip in Bangladesh while the free launch is in effect. Pliho will publish the Bangladesh schedule in the app before any fee there begins.

Safety & Technology Fee: A proportional fee equal to 12% of the seat cost-share, with a minimum of $1.99 and a maximum of $5.99 per seat, is charged to the rider at booking. Where the seat cost-share is under $5.00, a reduced flat fee of $0.99 per seat applies instead. This fee covers payment processing, escrow services, identity verification, and platform maintenance. This fee does not count toward the driver's IRS cost-recovery ceiling and is strictly non-refundable in all cases, including rider-initiated cancellations.

Marketplace Fee: A 10.00% fee is deducted from the driver's collected seat cost-share upon payout. This fee covers marketplace facilitation and payment infrastructure.

Net driver payout = (seat cost-share × seats filled) × 0.90 + (toll share × seats filled) Platform revenue = (Safety & Technology Fee × seats filled) + (seat cost-share × seats filled × 0.10)

The toll share reimburses the driver's actual out-of-pocket toll for the trip and is paid through to the driver in full. It carries no Marketplace Fee, because it is a cost the driver has already paid rather than value the marketplace created. It is not part of the cost-share ceiling in Section 4. It is split across the seats offered plus the driver, so the driver carries a share of every toll like everyone else in the car.

Adventures: a member pays Pliho a booking fee, worked out the same way as the Safety & Technology Fee above, on the member's transport share plus any organiser fee, and never on shared costs the host is being paid back for. A plan with nothing to pay has no booking fee, and Adventures posted before September 27, 2026 carry none. Pliho takes no Marketplace Fee on an Adventure: the transport share, the costs and the organiser fee go in full to the driver or the host.

6. Bidding System

Bidding is available only in markets where Pliho enables it. It is enabled in Bangladesh. It is not available in the United States, where a seat is booked at the cost-share the driver has posted.

Where bidding is available, a driver may enable it on an individual trip listing. Riders may then submit a cost-share offer below the driver's posted price. An offer is checked against the cost-share ceiling that applies to that trip before it reaches the driver, and the ceiling in force at that moment is recorded with the offer, so that a later change in the underlying rate does not disturb an offer already submitted. An offer above the ceiling is not accepted.

A driver may accept, reject, or counter an offer. An offer the driver has not accepted reserves no seat and holds no money. Acceptance of a bid constitutes a binding carpooling agreement between the driver and rider at the agreed cost-share, and the rider is charged as set out in Section 8.

7. Cancellation Policy

The grace period runs from the time of booking. All other times are relative to the confirmed departure time.

Grace Period: cancelled within 60 minutes of booking. 100% refund of seat cost-share; $0 driver payout. The grace period applies however close the trip is to departure.

Standard Notice: cancelled more than 2 hours before departure. 100% refund of seat cost-share; $0 driver payout.

Late Notice: cancelled less than 2 hours before departure. 50% refund of seat cost-share. The retained half, less the 10% Marketplace Fee, plus the whole toll share, is released to the driver on the timetable in Section 8.

No-Show: the rider fails to appear within 10 minutes of the confirmed departure time. No refund. The full seat cost-share, less the 10% Marketplace Fee, plus the whole toll share, is released to the driver on the timetable in Section 8.

The Safety & Technology Fee and any toll share are not refunded in any cancellation scenario.

Where a cancellation still pays the driver, the reduction applies to the seat cost-share only. The toll share is never reduced: you are refunded none of it, and the driver drove the route and paid the toll in full. Where a cancellation pays the driver nothing, the toll share is not owed onward, because no part of that trip settled.

Promotional Discounts: A one-time promotional discount, including the new-rider discount and the student discount, is consumed at the moment your booking is created. It is not restored to your account if the booking is later cancelled, by you or by the driver, and it cannot be reapplied to a future trip. The value of any promotional discount is capped at the Platform Fee charged for that seat.

Referral Rewards: A referral free ride behaves differently. If a booking that reserved a referral reward is cancelled, the reward is returned to your account and remains available for a later trip.

8. Escrow & Payment Timing

Payment is taken in full when your booking is confirmed: the seat cost-share, any toll share, and the Safety & Technology Fee are charged to your payment method at that point, not held as an authorization. The trip-start code you exchange with your driver at the meetup point begins the trip; it does not move money.

For rides in the United States the driver's share is then held for 48 hours. For a completed trip that hold runs from the end of the trip; for a no-show or a late cancellation it runs from the scheduled departure time. When the hold closes, the driver's net share, meaning the seat cost-share owed under Section 7 less the 10% Marketplace Fee plus any toll share collected for that seat, is transferred to the driver's connected payout account by a batch that runs every four hours.

For Adventures in the United States, members pay when they join, and Pliho holds that money until the Adventure is over. 48 hours after it ends, the same batch sends each member's transport share to the driver, and any costs and organiser fee to the host, at the Stripe or PayPal account each of them has linked for payouts. If a recipient has not linked a payout account, their payment waits and is sent once they link one. A PayPal payout is complete when PayPal reports it delivered. If PayPal returns it unclaimed, the money is not lost: Pliho holds it and sends it again once the recipient's payout account can receive it. A cancelled Adventure pays nothing out. In Bangladesh, Adventures are free for now: nobody is charged when they join, so there is nothing to pay out.

In Bangladesh, a driver requests withdrawal of their net share once the trip is complete, and bank withdrawals are processed on a weekly cycle. For cash rides the rider pays the driver directly on the day of travel, and the driver owes Pliho its fee, which is netted against future withdrawals.

Filing a dispute places a hold on any payout for that booking that has not already been released, and the hold stays until the dispute is closed. Disputes are reviewed under Section 9. A resolution either releases the hold to the driver or refunds the rider, in whole or in part, to their Pliho balance.

9. Dispute Resolution

Disputes must be submitted through the in-app dispute system within 24 hours of a trip event. Pliho supports four dispute types: driver no-show, rider no-show, route/trip interruption dispute, and billing error.

Pliho will automatically retrieve booking records, GPS data, payment logs, and in-app chat history as evidence. Both parties have 24 hours to submit their account. Pliho will issue a resolution within 48 hours of receiving both submissions (72 hours total maximum).

Pliho is a neutral intermediary in disputes between drivers and riders. Platform dispute resolution is a service feature, not an assumption of legal liability for the underlying carpooling arrangement. Disputes regarding personal conduct during a trip are outside the scope of platform dispute resolution.

10. Community Standards & Strike System

All users must: treat others with respect and dignity; not discriminate based on any protected characteristic; not engage in harassment, threatening behavior, or unsafe driving; not attempt to conduct transactions outside the platform.

Violations result in strikes: 2 strikes in 90 days triggers a warning; 3 strikes in 180 days triggers a 30-day suspension; 4 strikes at any time results in permanent account termination with identity flagged to prevent re-registration.

Pliho may suspend or terminate any account immediately without a strike threshold for severe violations including assault, fraud, or regulatory violations.

11. Platform Is Not a Carrier or Employer

Pliho provides technology infrastructure only. Pliho does not own, operate, or control any vehicle used in a trip arranged on this platform. Pliho does not employ, hire, or contract drivers. All carpooling agreements are between the driver and rider as independent parties. If all riders cancel a posted trip, the driver is expected to make the trip regardless, the trip is driver-directed, not rider-created.

Pliho does not hold a transportation license, TLC license, or motor carrier authority in any jurisdiction.

12. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, PLIHO AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR: (A) ANY PERSONAL INJURY, DEATH, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR OTHER HARM ARISING FROM TRIPS ARRANGED THROUGH THE PLATFORM; (B) THE ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF ANY DRIVER OR RIDER; (C) ANY INSURANCE CLAIM DENIAL OR COVERAGE GAP EXPERIENCED BY A DRIVER; OR (D) ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.

Pliho's total liability for any claim arising from platform use shall not exceed the amount of the Safety & Technology Fee paid by you in the transaction giving rise to the claim.

13. Arbitration & Class Action Waiver

ALL DISPUTES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM SHALL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION UNDER JAMS RULES, CONDUCTED IN NEW YORK COUNTY, NEW YORK. YOU WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION.

Exceptions: Either party may seek emergency injunctive relief from a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent imminent harm. Claims within the jurisdiction of small claims court may be filed there.

14. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of law principles. Subject to the arbitration clause above, any dispute not subject to arbitration shall be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts of New York County, New York.

15. Modifications

Pliho reserves the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide 14 days' advance notice of material changes via in-app notification or email. Continued use of the platform after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree, you may close your account before the changes take effect.

16. Commuter Passes

A Commuter Pass is a standing search for a route you travel regularly. It is free, it holds no money, and it is not a booking. Creating a pass does not reserve a seat, does not oblige any driver to post a trip, and does not guarantee that a matching trip will exist on any given day.

A pass records a route, the days you travel, the times you leave, and a rate. That rate is a ceiling, not a price. A trip qualifies for your pass only where the per-seat cost-share the driver has already posted is at or below your rate. Qualifying trips are shown to you, and Pliho may notify you when a new one appears. Your rate never reduces the amount a driver posted and never changes what you are charged. You cannot pay above your rate under a pass, because a trip priced above it is never offered as a match. Setting a lower rate therefore narrows what your pass finds rather than lowering any fare.

Booking a trip found through a pass is an ordinary booking. The seat cost-share, any toll share, and the rider fee that applies in your market are charged as set out in Sections 4 and 5, and the cancellation and payment terms in Sections 7 and 8 apply unchanged.

A pass runs for its period beginning on the day you create it: seven days for a weekly pass, one month for a monthly pass. Where the corresponding day does not exist in the following month, a monthly pass ends on the last day of that month. A pass does not renew automatically and is never charged for, so at the end of its period it simply stops matching trips. You may pause, resume, or cancel a pass at any time in the app. Cancelling a pass does not cancel any trip you have already booked through it.

Contact

Legal questions: legal@pliho.comCopied