BlaBlaCar - benefits for passengers and drivers, how to use the service. Service BlaBlaKar (BlaBlaCar) to find fellow travelers and a cheap means of transportation. Personal experience

Many active users of the popular site and application for finding fellow travelers Bla Bla Car are familiar with the beautiful-sounding word "ambassador". Let's figure out what the concept means for this resource, and how dictionaries define it.

The term "ambassador"

Abstracting for a while from "Bla Bla Car", let's analyze other definitions of this word:

• Ambassador is a purely diplomatic term. This is the name of any official envoy representing a certain country in another state. It can be a permanent, plenipotentiary, extraordinary ambassador.
• Representative, participant in negotiations on behalf of a third party.
• Messenger, messenger of goodwill.
• Promoter for any event.
• A representative of a certain well-known brand, demonstrating the values ​​of the latter with his life and activities. The agreement of the ambassador with the company does not make him its employee and is not official - it is something like a sponsorship contract. Neither the direction of activity nor the budget of the brand depends on such a representative - he remains only a representative of the corporation, sharing and promoting a personal example of the value of the brand.

Having analyzed all the definitions of an ambassador, let's go directly to Bla Bla Car.

Bla Bla Car Experience Levels

On the companion search resource, there are five categories of experience for drivers registered on it:

• beginner;
• confident user;
• advanced user;
• expert;
• ambassador.

So, what does an ambassador mean to drivers? The highest level of experience in Bla Bla Car, directly dependent on the activity and duration of the driver's stay in the application and on the site, which along the way is a litmus test of past fellow travelers' trust in him.

What gives the status of an ambassador

What is an Ambassador Driver? Users of this status have a number of advantages in Bla Bla Car:

• guaranteed trust of fellow travelers;
• ambassadors can be the first to try out new app options;
• such drivers are often invited by the project managers to participate in decisive surveys, they are invited for interviews, etc.

The users themselves, who have given status, note the following:

• in almost all trips, the places in their cars are occupied by fellow travelers;
• the status inspires confidence - from a number of trips of the same type, passengers are guaranteed to choose an ambassador's car;
• the highest category allows you to influence the operation of the application, site, developer projects.

Speaking about the fact that this is an ambassador driver, we note that the same five categories are valid for fellow passengers of the Bla Bla Car website and application.

Ambassador "Bla Bla Car": how to become one

To become an ambassador driver (what is it, you already imagine) on the resource, you must:

• indicate and confirm your phone number and email address in your personal profile;
• indicate your travel preferences (music, conversations, transportation of pets, etc.);
• have a photo avatar;
• have 12 positive feedback from your fellow travelers;
• the percentage of positive reviews must be more than 90% of the total;
• in Bla Bla Car, the driver must be registered for at least one year.

These indicators are updated regularly by the moderators of the service - daily at 2 am.

If you, having learned that this is an ambassador-driver, also decided to become one, then you definitely need to do the following:

1. Complete the "About Me" section 100%:
   • 15% - confirmed phone number and e-mail - this information is important for your future travel companions to quickly contact you and discuss all aspects of the upcoming trip.
   • 15% - avatar: having a personal photo in your profile where you can clearly see your face is a decisive factor for many passengers.
   • 15% - preferences - this is the attitude to music and smoking, and three levels of your talkativeness - Bla, BlaBla, BlaBlaBla (a reference to the name of the application - "Bla Bla Car").
   • 30% - brief reference about yourself: name, age, description of yourself as a person and a driver.
2. Get feedback from your passengers - they can rate the trip in 4 categories: "Disliked", "Normal", "Good" and "Excellent". To advance to a higher level, you need to have at least 90% of the reviews of the last three categories. In order for passengers to give you positive ratings more actively, do not skimp on the relevant reviews for them too - according to statistics, 75% of users will answer you with a similar mark.

Becoming an ambassador driver at Bla Bla Car is very simple - you need to offer trips as often as possible, be punctual and friendly with your fellow travelers, use safe driving techniques, and remember to leave feedback to passengers.

I love traveling and meeting new people. I started using the service almost as soon as it appeared. I will briefly describe its pros and cons.

PROS.

1. Has a feedback system, you can choose the driver who has a lot of good reviews– which guarantees a certain comfort and safety.

2. You can arrange with the driver that he will pick you up right from home– many agree to make a small detour.

3. Can carry non-standard items(or very heavy) that you cannot bring with you on the bus.

4. Can be filtered the necessary conditions search: set not only the route, but also the type of car, cost, driver experience level, date of travel.

5. Can subscribe to the route of interest and receive notifications about new trips on this route.

6. For the price regular bus you can get to the desired city in a comfortable car almost 2 times faster.

7. You can view the route on which the driver is driving. It happens that the destination is one, but the routes are different. You choose the one that is more convenient.

MINUSES.

1. For me, a big minus is the inability to add the driver as a friend, for example, as is done on other sites. If you often travel the same route and the driver is driving in the same direction as you, it would be convenient to track his trips back and forth.

2. The search system does not always work correctly. If you go to a small village, for example, then trips are displayed not only to this village, but also to the neighboring regional center. However, for me, the fundamental question is that it is not a problem to get to that very village, to the regional center and by minibus.

3. It is not possible to call the driver until you have booked a seat. However, I think this inconvenience is a reasonable precaution.

4. There are unnecessary drivers who are late or cancel the trip and may not even warn you. I think that there are also complaints from drivers about non-punctual passengers.

TOTAL. As you can see, there are more advantages. The main plus: the ability to save money and time.

As soon as I wrote this review (literally a week ago - approximately from 07/25/2016), the rules for using the service have changed. Introduced a seat reservation system.

New option "book your seat"

Now the route lookup goes like this:

You choose a suitable route and reserve seats. AND Only then you can see the phone number , call the driver and clarify the details. At the same time, the driver sees your number and can contact you. In this case, the driver must confirm your booking only then will it become effective. This is a bit of an embarrassment - you have to wait for the driver to confirm the reservation or not: drivers do not always do this quickly. True, you can set the time (for example, if it does not confirm within 2 hours, you are looking for another). At the same time, reminders come to your phone - sms: “You have booked 2 seats for such and such a date, the cost of the trip ...” Or: “The driver did not confirm your reservation, look for another option.”

Many are used to the fact that the driver's phone becomes visible as soon as you write him a message. But now it's not.

HOW TO CONTACT THE DRIVER

Drivers rarely describe the details of the upcoming trip, so it often becomes necessary to contact him and clarify the details. There are 2 ways: less effective - write a message or (more efficient) - book seats and contact by phone. Drivers rarely respond to messages. In general, they are busy people, and the booking system, I think, was introduced for them.

You can cancel your booking at any time.

As a result, the service has become more automated. And yet - a curious button appeared - the cost of armor. While it is “free” there, but since it has appeared, this is suggestive.

In general, the service is convenient and, I think, very useful. And before there were so-called "trafficking trips", now this kind of solution transport problem made more civilized. Still, driving someone else's car with an unfamiliar driver can be unsafe. So pay attention to

SAFETY REGULATIONS

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 end point route — 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?

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 the driver's phone number 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)