BlaBlaCar for the driver. Is it worth taking travel companions? Supply and demand. What gives the status of an ambassador

In short, this is the main service that helps you travel with a passing car in Russia and around the world. Someone is going to another city, for example, alone in the car. He wants to save on gas, and takes fellow travelers with him. As a result, everyone is happy. I think it is worth revealing some points from the point of view of a fellow traveler, which were incomprehensible to me when I did not use the service. If you like, these are such “advice from the experienced” 🙂

1. Don't be late

Under the first number is obvious. The advice is trivial, yet many neglect this simple but important rule. Not only when using blablacar, but also in life. If you allow yourself to be late, why do you think that other people will be on time to meet you? In addition, not only the driver is waiting for you, but also other fellow travelers, people just like you. Arriving on time or a little early is important not only from an ethical point of view, but also from a practical point of view, because if you arrive first, you will take a seat in the car of your choice, and not on a “what’s left” principle.

If something is holding you back, call and talk about it. But only if you really want to come. Because, I know, there are smart people who already neglect the second rule.

2. Call if you find out that your trip will not take place

More than once I have heard stories or even witnessed them myself, when people say that they “exactly, exactly, one hundred percent” will come at the designated time, and even half an hour before it they say that yes, they have time, and when this time comes then they don't pick up the phone. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of such people. The most responsible are limited to SMS, and thanks for that, of course. I am ready to understand the logic of these people who do not answer the phone, but not to accept it. Kind of childish, to be honest. If we agree on something, then we assume obligations that must be fulfilled. Of course, it’s a shame to admit that you let someone down, it’s better not to bring it to this. But you can at least answer the call and say it like it is. Then at least you won't have to wait extra minutes. I recently traveled from Krasnodar to Sochi and the trip was delayed for half an hour, due to the waiting of a passenger who “definitely” promised to come. As a result, the desired irresponsible citizen did not pick up the phone, and anyway we went without him.

Strictly speaking, you should call immediately if you find out that you cannot go. The earlier the better. Even if it became known an hour before the expected departure, during this time the driver may well have time to find someone to replace, because there is a category of fellow travelers who call about the trip at the last moment.

3. Specify the number of passengers in the back seat

Many drivers quite reasonably argue that blablacar is not for making money, but to compensate for the cost of gasoline and for the company on the trip. Therefore, they do not pursue the maximum benefit and reasonably believe that up to three fellow travelers should be put in the car, that is, only two in the back seat.

But not everyone thinks this way, and drivers often come across who assume three passengers in the back. The trip in this case may not be very pleasant, depending on the size of the car, the length of the journey, the presence of voluminous neighbors. Therefore, I recommend not to fit into this, fortunately, now there are a lot of different options on the site, and usually you can choose the one that will suit you in all respects.

Once I even went with a woman who was trying to earn money by traveling on the Sochi-Krasnodar route. Naturally, she put back three passengers in her “top ten” (!!!) in order to make the most of the car’s capabilities. I'm not sure that you can make money with the prices of Blablacar in principle, while I assume that such an approach is completely prohibited by the rules. Need to check.

Recently, new information appeared on the site when searching - an icon of two people in a circle, as in the picture below. It means that the driver guarantees no more than two passengers in the back seat.

Oddly enough, not all drivers yet pay attention to this, and do not tick the appropriate box, although they are also going to follow this rule. Therefore, even if the driver does not have this icon - you can still check with him during the call - perhaps he simply forgot or did not know that it was important.

4. Pay attention to reviews

This point, I think, is not fully relevant. Still, the search for fellow travelers on the blablacar website has not been developing in our country for a long time (in Europe, the situation should be better, but I honestly haven’t checked) and the number of reviews for specific drivers, reflecting an objective picture, has not had time to accumulate. Meanwhile, I can say that the situation with reviews is better now than a year ago. Therefore, I think that the advice will be more relevant for those who read this article in 2017 or later 🙂

When searching, pay attention to the driver's rating and the number of reviews:

The reviews themselves can be read on the driver's page. At the same time, most of them are positive, as I have seen, but there are also drivers who have 3 negative reviews out of 5. Of course, I do not propose to refuse trips with drivers who have no or few reviews, as in the cases with or. But this is an additional point to keep in mind.

5. Arrange a trip as early as possible

Unfortunately, not everything is as rosy with the number of free places as it might seem at first glance. If you see that some car has n-th number of empty seats, then this may not be true. It’s just that the driver needs to make changes on the site on his own, and this is not always done promptly. Therefore, “3 places left” can in reality mean that there are no places at all.

Therefore, it is still worth planning your trip in advance in order to find best option and attach it to you. It is better that it be earlier than 3 days before the trip, more reliable. Although, if you have not found anything suitable, then it is worth continuing the search - the issue is constantly updated. I myself, when I negotiated on the last day, I was usually nervous, because I have to choose from a very limited number of options that may not suit all parameters.

The functionality of the site allows you to see phone number driver after you have sent him a message. Don't wait for an answer to a message - call right away.

6. Specify the place of the beginning and end of the trip

If a specific meeting point is indicated, then it is still worth clarifying the itinerary of the trip. I once had when I went to the appointed place through half the city, and then it turned out that we were driving just past my house and it was possible to save an hour. The same applies to the place of arrival. IN small towns If you beautiful girl You can even be dropped off wherever you need to be. But once I was driving from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and they dropped me off at 5 in the morning in Shushary (not the most comfortable spot), when even the transport did not go yet. It's just that the driver then left for other parts of the world. Somehow I got out of there, of course, but in such situations, a taxi ride can tend to the cost of a Blablacar fare)

Hello, friends!
I continue to adhere to the principle of "I tried it personally - I told you." Today I want to tell you about a freshly acquired experience. I have long been worried about the performance and reliability of the service BlaBlaCar, but I was somehow afraid to conduct such experiments on myself.

Nevertheless, THIS happened to me and nothing terrible happened :).
Some time ago it was actively advertised on TV and on the Internet. Of course, I could not pass by. The idea itself is very cool. In fact BlaBlaCar this is a community of people who are looking for fellow travelers, either as a driver or as a passenger. The driver of the car saves on gasoline, and the passenger gets from point A to point B cheaply and comfortably.

The first thing that comes to mind is safety. And the fears are mutual. On the one hand, you get into a car with a stranger, on the other, an unfamiliar passenger sits down next to you. Personally, I never let down people voting on the road precisely for safety reasons.
Let's see how the service works on my personal example of three days ago.

Task: to get from the city of Belorechensk to the airport of Krasnodar (91 km). I was returning from vacation and missing the plane was not part of my plans.

Solution 1

Taxi. Private transfer on the specified route costs about 1500 rubles. Ideal, but the most expensive.

Solution 2

Intercity bus. The ticket price is about 225 rubles. Of course, the bus will call in all villages and farms and the travel time will obviously be the longest. Plus, you need to lay down the time to get from the bus station to the airport.

Solution 3

BlaBlaCar. I remembered the community quite by accident and decided to check if there are progressive Kuban people on the site :). It turned out that there are.

And then, as they say, the "stars" converged. On the date I need, at the right time and at the right direction there was exactly one car, and the end point of the route was Krasnodar Airport! I did not expect such a development of events. Of course, one could assume that on the road Belorechensk - Krasnodar every day someone dangles, but that with delivery to the airport ... .. this fact bribed me completely.

The second important factor is the cost of the trip. As you can see in the screenshot, it is lower than the cost of a bus ticket. In the end, the trip cost me 150 rubles.

In the search form, you can set the date or navigate the site's offers (yellow highlights the dates that are relevant for trips). You can also immediately see the availability of seats, the age and gender of the driver, the presence of reviews and preferences.

! Service BlaBlaCar according to your desire can filter offers. N / R is a very useful feature for women. If you know in advance that you will only go with a girl or take an exclusively female person as a companion, then you can immediately specify this in the settings.

The next step is registration in the community. I will not describe the process, since all the steps are very simple. The fastest solution is to register through your VKontakte or Facebook account. Then you will be asked to verify the phone. The code received in SMS will need to be entered in a special window. Verifying a phone is a sort of security check.

You can write a message to the driver or call him immediately and clarify the details. Please note that at this stage you can see the phone number.

Actually, that's all the wisdom in using the site. The service will inform you about the response to the message via e-mail. Tangible plus - application BlaBlaCar You can download it to your smartphone and use it while traveling. I never cease to be amazed at the power of human thought. And how do such brilliant ideas and ways of implementation come to mind?

A popular site, an Internet application through which you can find fellow travelers or rides for a jointly paid trip. The service is readily used by drivers and fellow travelers. This is one of the most budgetary ways to travel in Russia and Europe. The application allows drivers and fellow travelers to benefit more. Thanks to BlaBlaCar, drivers significantly save on gasoline, and passengers on their trips, since BlaBlaCar tariffs are much lower than those of Russian Railways and Airlines. For example, thanks to the service, you can get from Moscow to St. Petersburg for only 600-700 rubles. No other way will be as profitable. It is because of this that the site is very popular in many countries of the world.

Registration for

All modern Internet users appreciate the simplicity and high speed of sites and applications. You can register for BlaBlaCar through the official website or mobile app, which is available for Android and iOS. You can create your profile through Facebook or VKontakte by clicking the "login" button. This will take a few seconds, after which you can immediately book or offer trips.

Go to

But for greater security, it is advisable to create a profile through a standard registration form (using e-mail). In this case, you need to fill in several fields: gender, first name, last name, year of birth, password, email address, mobile phone. Next on specified number You will receive an SMS through which you need to confirm the creation of the profile. Immediately after confirmation, the full functionality of the application will be available to you.

BlaBlaCar for fellow travelers

Among BlaBlaCar passengers First of all, it is popular due to favorable tariffs. In some cases, fares are lower than train or bus fares. Even the most expensive fares will be more profitable than other carriers.

How is the choice of car - rides for the trip:

When choosing a trip, pay attention to the reviews about the driver from previous trips. It is better to choose among those drivers who have a better completed profile, have a photo, contact with social networks and positive feedback. It is advisable to call before the trip and clarify questions about the end point of the route. Agree in advance where you need to be so that you don’t get dropped off a few kilometers from your destination. When getting into the car, it is better to remember the number of the car and, for other safety, send the numbers to your relatives via SMS, so that they know who you are traveling with.

When choosing a trip, also pay attention to the following icons in the driver's profile, which inform about the driver's talkativeness, the presence of music, whether it is allowed to smoke in the cabin, whether it is allowed to transport animals.

Passenger Benefits

• Comfort. get to right place by car, regardless of distance, is much more comfortable than by public transport.
• Possibility to persuade the driver to bring you home. By public transport in end point you will get to the station, and when using BlaBlaCar, you can ask the driver to drop you home (either for a fee or completely free).
• Free transportation of things. If you have small luggage, you can transfer it in the driver's car absolutely free of charge. additional fee not provided for it.
• Possibility to reschedule the date of the trip. Unforeseen circumstances happen in every person's life. In this case, you still have the opportunity to agree with the driver to reschedule the date of the trip. If the driver has no urgency, he will definitely go to meet you.
• Convenient interface and simplicity of the application. It is easy and simple to use. This is a very handy application that you can figure out in just a couple of minutes. In order not to miss profitable applications, you can subscribe to updates on selected routes and book trips in time.

BlaBlaCar for drivers

BlaBlaCar allows drivers to benefit a lot. Firstly, at the expense of your fellow travelers, you fully compensate for the cost of gasoline. The fares are low, but it is enough that you do not have to pay a penny for your trip. There are no problems with finding fellow travelers, places are quickly booked a few more days before departure.

Secondly, you can talk with fellow travelers, so you will not be bored on the road. We all appreciate new acquaintances, so even here BlaBlaCar brings a lot of benefits. You can arrange with your fellow travelers to ride together more often, which will bring good benefits and allow you not to get bored on the road. Of course, there are different fellow travelers, and some of them may be silent for the whole trip, but in this case, you can at least enjoy savings on fuel.

You can set a route for any distance: from the most popular "Moscow - St. Petersburg" to " Nizhny Novgorod- Milan. However, in the second case, drivers are advised to submit an ad long before the trip (at least 2-3 weeks in advance). In the first case (when traveling on popular route) fellow travelers will be found as quickly as possible.

Thus, the service is beneficial for both drivers and passengers. This service is used by millions of users around the world. The site operates in 22 countries, incl. in the CIS countries. Over the course of its existence, BlaBlaCar has received many awards, and also managed to reach tens of millions of downloads of the mobile application.

BlaBlaCar is an inexpensive and efficient trip across Russia and Europe. You can use this service for different purposes: for business trips (for example, you need to visit relatives in Moscow or on a business trip to a small town) or for simple travel (for example, you can get to Prague from Moscow thanks to BlaBlaCar for only 4500 rubles). You will not only save significantly, but also get to the desired city in complete comfort and with an excellent company. In addition to you, there may be other fellow travelers in the car with whom you will definitely find mutual language and topics of conversation