BlaBlaCar, is a ride-sharing website where people that are driving from one city to another by car look for passengers to reduce their transportation costs. Basically, the driver tells how many seats are available in his car for a certain route and than defines a price per passenger. If you are interested you can reserve a seat in the car and join the ride for a really reasonable price.
In Europe I used Blablacar many times. I wanted to move 900 kilometers from Krakow in Poland to Hamburg in Germany but the train Ticket was about 100 EUR. The same distance by bus was 80 EUR but I found a BlaBlaCar trip for only 29 EUR. The system works with references and recommendations meaning that if you are a great passenger or driver you will be well rated for your next trips.
It is important to check the driver’s profile in detail, if they have recommendations, if they have already shared trips, if they have a photo, if they have a phone and a certified e-mail from the website. For safety reasons I send names, photos of the conversations among other information to my relatives.
With 11 positive ratings and a great black Mazda 6 wagon, I found a trip in the exact day I wanted at 8AM. I sent the driver a message and received the confirmation and the meeting point, a gas station in front of a shopping mall.
I arrived at the place at 7:30 and waited. At 7:50 a nice couple from Madrid appeared with suitcases and they came to me, they used blablacar several times and were waiting for the same guy. Another girl from Poland showed up at 8AM and the driver was there by 8:10AM. The trip was great and the car was really comfortable.
The driver told us he was going to Hamburg to visit a friend and buy a car, to resell in Poland. We made a 15-minute stop at the border between the two countries at lunchtime to fill up the gas tank and eat something.
The Payment was only made in the end of the journey when we arrived in Hamburg by 6PM. This sharing economy trend is just great and efficient for driver and passengers! Highly recommend!