General Terms of Use

1. Purpose and definitions

These General Terms of Use (the "Terms") govern access to and use of the sciame.cloud website and the Sciame mobile app (together, the "Platform").

The Platform is operated by Luca Paratore, a natural person and founder of the Sciame project, with operating address c/o Incubatore d'Impresa POINT — Polo per l'Innovazione Tecnologica, via Pasubio 5 (corner of via Einstein), 24044 Dalmine (BG), Italy.

Definitions

• User: a natural person who accesses the website or registers an Account in the app.
• Account: the User's personal registration on the Sciame app.
• App: the Sciame mobile app available on the App Store and Google Play.
• Sciamere(s): the other registered Users you share a ride with.
• Creator: the User who publishes a shared ride, makes the arrangement with the taxi driver, and physically pays the metered fare.
• Passenger: the User who joins a ride already published by a Creator.
• Share: the portion of the fare payable by each participant, determined under sections 5.4 and 5.5.
• Service fee: the amount owed to Sciame for use of the Platform, governed by section 5.

2. Nature of the service

Sciame provides two distinct services:

1. The sciame.cloud website: presents the project, describes the business model, and collects expressions of interest (newsletter, taxi driver form, events form).
2. The Sciame app: allows Users to register, activate matching with other Sciameres heading to the same destination, pay for the ride through the integrated payment provider (see section 5), and — where applicable — make in-app purchases.

Cost sharing, not for profit. The amounts Passengers pay to the Creator are reimbursements of the expense actually incurred for the ride. Using the Platform to make a profit, to apply a mark-up on the actual cost or to carry on a business activity is prohibited.

Tax receipt for the ride. The taxi receipt is issued by the driver to the Creator, who is solely responsible for requesting and keeping it. The summary the app generates at the end of a ride is for information only and does not replace any tax document.

Sciame is a user-matching and taxi-fare cost-sharing service, not a transport service. Sciame is not, and will not be, a party to the transport contract between the User and the taxi driver, in full compliance with Italian Law 21/92. The taxi driver collects 100% of the metered fare.

3. Registration and Account

To use the Sciame app you must be 18 years of age or older. By registering you represent and warrant that you are.

You agree to provide truthful information, keep your password safe, not create more than one Account, and inform us of any unauthorized use of your Account.

4. Using the app

The Sciame app is free to download. Once you have registered your Account you can:

• create your Account and manage your profile;
• publish destinations and times to find other Sciameres heading to your same area;
• get in touch with the other members of the group via the in-app chat and actually share a taxi;
• pay for the shared ride through the integrated payment provider (see section 5);
• cancel a booking according to the rules and time windows in section 6;
• make any in-app purchases or take out subscriptions (see section 8);
• at the end of a ride, rate the ride and, optionally, each of your travel companions, with a score from 1 to 5, descriptive tags and a comment. A User's average score is shown to other Users next to their name once they have received at least 3 scores; individual scores and comments are not visible to other Users;
• earn Polline points for completed rides and for inviting new Users;
• send us feedback about your experience at info@sciame.cloud.

The app is under continuous development: features may change, be temporarily unavailable, or be introduced gradually. Sciame does not guarantee the absence of errors or uninterrupted availability of the service.

Advertising: the app may display advertisements served by Google AdMob. See the Privacy Policy for details on data collection and personalization options.

5. Payments, fees and costs

When you take part in a shared ride in the app, payment is handled through Stripe, a payment service provider certified PCI-DSS Level 1. Your full card details never pass through Sciame's servers: they are sent directly to Stripe via a certified SDK.

5.1 Roles in the ride

• Creator: the User who publishes the ride, makes the arrangement with the taxi driver, and physically pays the metered fare. They then receive the other participants' shares through the Platform.
• Passenger: the User who joins a ride already published and pays their own share through the Platform.

If the Creator leaves the ride. Nobody becomes Creator without accepting. The role is offered to the other participants: the first one who accepts becomes the Creator, travels to the final destination and pays the metered fare. If nobody accepts within 30 minutes (or by the departure time, if earlier), the ride is cancelled and Passengers are not charged anything. A Creator cannot leave a ride once Passengers have checked in.

Departure. When everyone is on board, the Creator confirms the departure in the app; otherwise the departure is set automatically 15 minutes after the scheduled time. From that moment nobody can join the ride, and Passengers who have not checked in are left out of the split and pay nothing.

Vehicle capacity. The total number of participants, including accompanying persons, may never exceed the number of passengers the taxi is authorized to carry. The Creator is responsible for complying with this limit and, if the group exceeds the vehicle's capacity, must reduce the number of participants or arrange a second taxi. Sciame is not a party to the transport contract and cannot verify the capacity of the vehicle actually used.

5.2 Service fee

Sciame applies a service fee of 5% of the individual share, with a minimum of €0.50 per User. The fee is owed both by the Creator and by each Passenger, applied in different ways:

The fee pays for the matching service, payment handling, and the Platform's infrastructure. The transaction fees charged by Stripe are borne by Sciame and are not charged to you.

Pre-contractual transparency: before you confirm your participation in a ride, the app shows you a summary screen with the estimated amount of your share and the applicable fee. No cost is charged to you before this explicit confirmation.

5.3 Payment method

You agree to provide valid payment methods that you own or are authorized to use. When you book, a payment method is registered; the actual charge takes place according to the steps described in the app (authorization at check-in, charge at the end of the ride).

To receive the Shares, the Creator opens an account in their own name with Stripe (Stripe Connect), accepting Stripe's contractual terms available at stripe.com. For details on the data handled by Stripe, see the Privacy Policy.

5.4 Closing the ride and charging your share

Creator's payout account. To receive the Passengers' shares the Creator needs an active payout account with Stripe. A Creator may publish a ride and activate the account later, but only if the departure is at least 2 hours away. Until the account is active, Passengers cannot check in, no authorization is placed on their card and nothing is charged; Sciame notifies the participants, and Passengers may cancel free of charge.

At check-in, an authorization (hold) for an amount not exceeding 150% of the estimated share shown at booking, plus the service fee, is placed on the Passenger's payment method. No money is taken at this stage.

The amount of the authorization is shown in the app before you confirm the check-in. By checking in you expressly authorize the charging of your Share, as it results from the split of the fare under the points below, up to the amount authorized: no charge may exceed that limit.

If fewer people turn up than booked. The authorization is calculated on the estimate split between all those booked, because at check-in it is not yet known who will be present; the Share is instead split between those actually present at departure and may therefore be higher. In that case you are charged nothing beyond what you authorized: the difference remains with the Creator, who is warned by the app before departure and at the close of the ride.

1. The Creator enters the metered fare. At the end of the ride, the Creator enters in the app the amount actually paid to the taxi driver. The fare is split per person among the participants who checked in, and each Passenger is asked to confirm their share. If no Passenger disputes the amount within 12 hours, the share is charged. If a Passenger disputes it, giving a reason, only that Passenger's share is put on hold: the other Passengers are charged as usual. The disputed share is not charged: the authorization on the card is released within 6 days, unless the Passenger withdraws the dispute or agrees otherwise with Sciame.
2. If the Creator does not enter the fare. The Creator receives reminders in the app. If the fare has still not been entered 24 hours after the departure time, Sciame asks each Passenger who checked in whether they confirm they took the ride and agree to pay their share calculated on the estimate shown at booking. Only Passengers who expressly confirm are charged. Silence is never treated as consent: a Passenger who does not reply within 48 hours, or who declines (stating a reason), is not charged and the hold on their card is released. Until a Passenger has replied, the Creator may still enter the metered fare, in which case point 1 applies.
3. Release of holds. In every case, any authorization not charged is released by Sciame no later than 6 days after the departure time, and the Passenger is notified. The bank may take a few additional days to make the amount available again.

You can contest any charge by writing to info@sciame.cloud under the procedure in section 7.3.

5.5 Intermediate drop-offs along the route

When the feature is available in the app, Passengers may get out at intermediate points along the route instead of travelling to the final destination.

How it works. Everyone gets in together at the departure stop. Each Passenger chooses their drop-off point before booking, and it cannot be changed afterwards. At departure the Creator asks the taxi driver and tells them the stops. The Creator gets out last, pays the metered fare and enters it in the app.

How the fare is split. With intermediate drop-offs the fare is not split equally: it is split by legs. Each leg of the route is shared equally between the people on board for that leg. Before joining, you see your estimated share and the corresponding percentage. Each new participant recalculates everyone's percentages, which become final when the departure is confirmed.

Choosing the drop-off point. The point must be no more than 500 metres from the planned route and may not fall within the first 300 metres; a point within the last 300 metres counts as the final destination. The route calculated when the ride was created applies: detours of up to 500 metres to reach a drop-off point do not change the split.

"I have got out". On getting out, a Passenger may report this in the app and enter the metered fare at that moment: this is used only to check any later dispute. Reporting is optional and does not affect your share, which remains the one determined at departure on the basis of the drop-off point chosen: not reporting the drop-off does not lead to any additional charge.

Fixed fares (for example to and from airports) do not apply to rides with intermediate stops.

If the driver does not accept the stops. The driver is free to refuse a route with intermediate stops. In that case the Creator looks for another available taxi. If the ride does not take place, the Creator enters no fare and Passengers should not confirm the estimate (section 5.4, point 2): nobody is charged and the payment authorizations are released within 6 days, or sooner by writing to info@sciame.cloud. If no Passenger has checked in yet, the Creator can cancel the ride directly in the app (section 6.4).

The safeguards in section 5.4 continue to apply: a photograph of the receipt is required above 110% of the estimate, the system refuses above 150%, and each Passenger has 12 hours to confirm or contest their share.

6. Cancellations, penalties and no-shows

Ride sharing only works if the participants show up. Late cancellations and no-shows harm the other Users, who are left without the group they expected. For this reason, the following rules apply; they are shown to you in the app before you confirm the booking and again at the time of any cancellation.

6.1 Cancellation windows

6.2 No-show (failure to appear)

If you do not check in and do not show up for the ride, a fixed penalty of €2.00 is charged to the registered payment method 15 minutes after the departure time. The no-show is recorded for the purposes of section 7.

6.3 Where the penalties go

The penalties in points 6.1 and 6.2 are retained entirely by Sciame as a contribution to operating costs, and do not constitute a refund to the Creator or the other participants. The amounts are set on a flat-rate basis and deliberately kept low, in a measure not exceeding the prejudice that a late cancellation or a no-show causes to the other participants and to the Platform.

6.4 Cancellation by the Creator

If the Creator cancels the ride, the Passengers are not charged anything and any payment authorizations are released.

7. Account restrictions (strike system)

To protect the reliability of the service, Sciame records each User's late cancellations and no-shows over a rolling 30-day window. When the thresholds below are exceeded, the Account is temporarily suspended.

7.1 Thresholds and consequences

7.2 Effects of suspension

During the suspension period you cannot book new rides or create new ones. The app's other functions (browsing, profile, history) remain available. The suspension has a fixed duration and lapses automatically when it expires: no action is required on your part.

The app notifies you with a prominent banner when you have an active strike and when your Account is suspended, showing the reactivation date.

7.3 How to contest a restriction or a penalty

If you believe a late cancellation, a no-show, or a suspension was attributed to you by mistake (for example due to an app malfunction, a technical problem, or force majeure), you can contest it by writing to info@sciame.cloud, stating:

• the email address associated with your Account;
• the ride in question (date, time, destination);
• a brief description of what happened.

You will receive a response within 15 working days. If the complaint is well-founded, the penalty is refunded and the event is removed from the strike count. The contestation procedure is free of charge and does not affect your right to use the dispute resolution tools indicated in section 18.

8. In-app purchases and subscriptions

The Sciame app is free to download and to use. On the free plan you can join or create up to 3 active rides at a time; a ride stops taking up a slot when it ends or is deleted. The paid subscription raises this limit to 10 active rides at a time. Three plans are available: monthly at €3.69, quarterly at €9.99 and yearly at €14.99. Prices are those published on the stores and include applicable taxes. The subscription does not affect the service fee under section 5.2, the penalties under section 6 or your share of the fare.

In-app purchases and subscriptions are managed through RevenueCat and processed directly by Apple (App Store) or Google (Play Store), under their respective terms.

In-app purchases renew automatically until cancelled, according to the stores' procedures. You can cancel a subscription at any time from your App Store or Google Play account settings.

For purchases made through the stores, the right of withdrawal is governed by Apple's and Google's terms. For refund requests, contact the store directly.

9. Expressions of interest (website forms)

The sciame.cloud website includes two forms intended for professional partners:

• Taxi Driver form (page /tassisti): allows taxi drivers to leave their contact details so they can be contacted at the commercial launch to discuss a partnership.
• Events form (page /eventi): allows event and trade fair organizers to propose a "Mobility Partner" partnership at the commercial launch.

Completing and submitting these forms constitutes a non-binding expression of interest for both parties. Neither the User nor Sciame assumes any contractual obligation merely by filling in the form. Any contractual relationship will be governed by specific agreements at the time of the commercial launch.

10. Newsletter

By subscribing to the newsletter on the website, you consent to receiving informational communications about Sciame: launch updates, activation of the service in your city, and project news. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in every email or by writing to info@sciame.cloud.

11. User obligations

By accessing the Platform, you agree to:

• not use the Platform for commercial or profit-making purposes;
• not provide false, misleading, or harmful information;
• not publish defamatory or insulting content about Sciame or third parties;
• not infringe Sciame's intellectual property rights;
• not open more than one Account or open Accounts in the name of third parties;
• not attempt to decompile, reverse engineer, or extract data from the Platform;
• comply with Italian law and these Terms.

11-bis. User content, notices and complaints

In the app, Users can enter their own content: messages in the ride chat, comments and tags in ratings, names of places and rides. Sciame does not review such content in advance and is not its author.

11-bis.1 How to report content

Anyone may report content believed to be unlawful or contrary to these Terms by writing to info@sciame.cloud or using the reporting features in the app, stating:

• where the content is (ride, chat, profile or rating);
• a description of what is being complained about and why;
• contact details for a reply.

We acknowledge receipt of the report and communicate the outcome with a reasoned decision, without undue delay.

11-bis.2 Measures

Where content or conduct is unlawful or contrary to these Terms, Sciame may remove the content, restrict its visibility, cancel the ride concerned, issue a warning to the User, suspend the Account or close it in the most serious cases.

Every measure is communicated to the User concerned with a statement of reasons, the content or conduct it relates to, its duration and the means available to challenge it.

11-bis.3 Complaints against a measure

You may challenge a measure within six months of its communication by writing to info@sciame.cloud. The complaint is free of charge and is examined by a person, not by automated systems; you will receive a reasoned reply. If the complaint is upheld, the measure is withdrawn.

The complaint does not prejudice your right to bring proceedings before the courts or to use the dispute resolution mechanisms set out in section 18.

11-bis.4 Misuse of the reporting tools

After a warning, Sciame may suspend the handling of reports from anyone who repeatedly submits manifestly unfounded ones, and the Account of anyone who repeatedly posts manifestly unlawful content.

11-bis.5 Point of contact

The point of contact for Users, for authorities and for communications relating to this section is info@sciame.cloud. Communications may be in Italian or in English.

12. Evolution of the service

The app is under continuous development: features may be introduced, changed or withdrawn over time. The features available at any given moment are those actually present in the app. These Terms do not constitute an undertaking to release future features, and descriptions of the project published on the website or in presentation materials are illustrative and not contractual.

Polline points. Polline are a free promotional reward: they have no monetary value, cannot be converted into money and cannot be transferred to other Users. As at the date of these Terms they can be accumulated but not yet redeemed. Sciame may cancel points obtained by artificial means (fake accounts, simulated rides) and may change or close the programme on 30 days' notice, without any entitlement to compensation.

Substantial changes to the Terms will be notified on the website and in the app with at least 30 days' notice. Continued use of the Platform after the new terms take effect will constitute acceptance. Anyone who does not wish to accept the new terms may close their Account.

When the company that will commercially operate Sciame is incorporated, the service owner will be updated and Users will be informed with a prominent notice.

13. Processing of personal data

The processing of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms.

14. Intellectual property

All intellectual property rights relating to the Sciame trademark, the logo, the content of the website and app, the software, and the databases are the exclusive property of Luca Paratore (and will be transferred to the company upon its incorporation). Any use, exploitation, reproduction, modification, decompilation, or reverse engineering without prior written authorization is prohibited.

15. Limitations of liability

As the service is under continuous development, and without prejudice to the conformity obligations under Articles 135-octies et seq. of the Italian Consumer Code, Sciame does not guarantee:

• uninterrupted operation, absence of errors, or full compatibility with all devices;
• the permanent completeness or accuracy of the product's descriptive information;
• uninterrupted availability of matching or of specific destinations;
• specific timelines for the activation of new features.

Sciame is not responsible for the behavior of other Sciameres during the shared ride, nor for false information provided by them. Sciame is not a party to the transport contract with the taxi driver (see section 2).

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes Sciame's liability for wilful misconduct or gross negligence, for personal injury, nor does it prejudice the rights that the law grants to consumer Users on a mandatory basis; the limitations apply only to the extent permitted by Articles 33 to 36 of the Italian Consumer Code.

To the extent permitted by law, Sciame's liability towards the User is limited to direct and foreseeable damages connected to the user-matching and cost-sharing service, excluding indirect damages, loss of profit, loss of data, and any consequential damages.

16. Platform availability

We will endeavor to keep the website and the app accessible, but access may be temporarily suspended without notice for maintenance, updates, or force majeure. Sciame reserves the right to modify, suspend, or withdraw all or part of the Platform or its features.

17. Changes to the Terms

Sciame may amend these Terms at any time. Changes will be published with an indication of their effective date. Substantial changes, in particular those related to the commercial launch, will be notified with at least 30 days' notice to those who have provided an email contact.

18. Dispute resolution

For any dispute, the User is invited to first contact Sciame at info@sciame.cloud to attempt an amicable solution.

For disputes with Users acting as consumers, the courts of the consumer's place of residence or elected domicile have jurisdiction (Art. 66-bis of the Italian Consumer Code).

18.1 Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Under Articles 141-sexies et seq. of the Italian Consumer Code we inform you that Sciame does not adhere to any ADR body and does not undertake to use such procedures to resolve disputes with consumers.

You remain free to turn to the alternative dispute resolution bodies listed in the registers kept by the competent authorities under Article 141-decies of the Italian Consumer Code. The register kept by the Italian Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy is available at mimit.gov.it.

18.2 Payment disputes

For disputes about a charge on your card you may at any time contact the issuer of the card directly, as provided by Article 13 of Italian Legislative Decree 11/2010. This option is in addition to the remedies set out in these Terms and is not limited by them.

The Italian Banking and Financial Arbitrator (ABF) has no jurisdiction over Sciame, but may have jurisdiction over the intermediary that issued your payment instrument.

19. Governing law

These Terms are governed by Italian law.

20. Contacts and point of contact for complaints

You can reach us at:

• Email: info@sciame.cloud
• Contact form: sciame.cloud/en/contact (rapid and direct means of communication under Art. 49 of the Italian Consumer Code)
• Website: sciame.cloud
• Operating address: c/o Incubatore d'Impresa POINT — Polo per l'Innovazione Tecnologica, via Pasubio 5 (corner of via Einstein), 24044 Dalmine (BG), Italy

Single point of contact for complaints and reports

The address info@sciame.cloud is the single point of contact for:

• contesting a penalty or an Account restriction (see section 7.3);
• reporting inappropriate content or behavior by other Users;
• exercising your personal data rights (see the Privacy Policy; the time limits in Article 12 GDPR apply to such requests);
• any other complaint about the service.

We are committed to providing a response within 15 working days of receiving the report. Communications may be sent in Italian or English.