This city-to-city rideshare service is super cheap and available in 20+ (mostly Europe) countries. Conversation is optional.
I needed to get from Seville to Madrid, Spain. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of an important fútbol (soccer to Americans) match, so train and plane seats were all sold out and I didn’t really want to take the bus. I was complaining to my Spanish professor about having to rent a car when she suggested I try BlaBlaCar.
What is BlaBlaCar? As their slogan says, “trusted carpooling: connecting people who need to travel with drivers who have empty seats.” If you’re traveling long-distance in your car, you can offer a ride to other members via the app. If you need to travel between cities, you can choose a ride from the app and make a preset contribution to driving costs.
Drivers and riders are verified via government ID, email, and phone number. Profiles include a mini-bio, ratings from prior riders/drivers, driver experience level, and ride preferences (conversation, smoking, pets, music). There’s a “Ladies Only” option that allows members to plan a ride where the drivers and passenger(s) are all female.
Riders and drivers communicate via inter-app messaging and price limits are set for each journey to ensure charges are fair. As passengers only contribute to fuel costs, no profits are made by drivers, so they don’t worry about taxes and their insurance isn’t affected. You can sign up via the app or website: www.blablacar.com. Live chat is available if you have questions during the booking process. And BlaBlaCar shows up in travel aggregator Rome2Rio results.
BlaBlaCar is available in 22 countries:
- Spain
- France
- United Kingdom
- The Netherlands
- Luxembourg
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- Italy
- Germany
- Ukraine
- Russia
- Turkey
- India
- Mexico
- Hungary
- Croatia
- Romania
- Serbia
- Brazil
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
How was my experience? Three days before I wanted to go, I searched Seville to Madrid on my desired travel date. I found out there were 435 rides available, and the trip would last around five and a half hours. (I had no idea so many people were driving to Madrid!)
It seemed like most drivers put their rides up from three to seven days ahead of time, although some were leaving same day. I don’t think there’s a big advantage to booking far ahead of time; I wouldn’t, mostly because I think there’s a greater risk of the driver canceling the farther out you plan.
For each ride, I saw a brief summary of the driver’s profile and basic details about the ride they’re offering. (The price is listed in pounds because I pulled up the UK page so everything would be in English.)
For example, Rafael S is 25 years old with a 4.4 out of five star rating driving to Madrid today with two seats left in his car. Departure time is 5:40PM. It will cost you about $38 to ride with him. The lightning bolt symbol means you can instantly book the trip without waiting for his approval.
Clicking on a listing will take you to a page with more information on the ride. You can see who the other passengers are (Alberto), what Rafael’s driver rating is (2.8 out of 3), past reviews (ten total) from other riders, and how much space there is for luggage.
I messaged three drivers leaving on the day I wanted to go, telling them the dimensions of my bag and asking if there was space in the car for it. I received a response from a driver named Javier who said he had room for my bag, so I put in my request for a ride with him. (Instant booking wasn’t an option for his ride.)
Before confirming me, Javier had a chance to read my profile. When I registered with BlaBlaCar, in addition to verifying my identity and enabling connectivity between me and drivers (adding my social media account, email, phone number) I created a profile where I told a little about myself and chose my ride preferences.
The preference of conversation level is obviously where the company derived its name. I chose the BlaBla chat level–some talking, but not too much.
I didn’t have any reviews as a rider, as this would be my first trip. Javier apparently decided everything else was good enough, as he approved me the day before we were to leave. Once he did this, I received an email and push notification from BlaBlaCar that all was set and ready to go. I could also see there was another rider joining us, and read his profile, too. (If I didn’t like the other passenger, I had the option of cancelling.)
On the day of the trip, I went to the departure point listed in the trip details, and Javier picked me up. The trip was great. Javier was a fine driver, friendly, and good about stopping for bathroom breaks. We “Blabla’d” for a while in Spanish, then I listened to my Audible book. The other rider, a guy from Estonia (I think; it might have been Belarus) was pretty quiet. Javier dropped me at the central train station in Madrid, where I caught the metro to my final destination. I rated him five stars; he gave me the same.
Twist’s Take: BlaBlaCar is a cheap option for city-to-city travel when the train, plane, and bus won’t work. It’s also a nice way to meet people and practice your language skills. I think it’s especially useful if you travel spontaneously or just need to get somewhere last-minute when train and plane fares are at their highest.
