BlaBlaCar became what was not intended
It is not a secret for anybody: in the top now there are “ideological” brands that are actively developing their philosophy, positioning the product through their lifestyle, a reflection of consumer principles. Recall the same Apple with its “Think different”: it feels much better to challenge the genius system than the unremarkable user of an expensive smartphone. Successful companies that clearly and concisely articulate their position, and BlaBlaCar copes with this:
The text is intended to inspire confidence in the service. However, in Russia, the BlaBlaCar principles, which imply the reciprocity of users, for some reason do not work.
Instead of cooperative means of cheerful and trustworthy people (at least, users of the resource in the photo look like this), the site is used as a platform for receiving orders by small commercial carriers. Seriously, I booked about a hundred trips from the moment of registration on BlaBlaCar, and only in 5-10% of cases the driver turned out to be a person with a real photo who indicated his working cell phone as a contact! Most often, the dispatcher girl answered the phone calls or, worse, the driver himself, who poorly understood in Russian (and I had serious doubts about the fact that this man may be twenty-year-old "Natalia K.").
Add other unpleasant details, which are not immediately clear up (instead of a car, there is a multi-seat bus with the driver’s compatriots leaving, not at the time indicated on the site, but as the bus is full, the price is naturally higher than the stated one), and you will not recognize BlaBlaCar. The platform becomes a source of income for the PI and LLC, and where there is commerce, there are abuses. Previously, “bus workers” were banned, but nothing prevented them from changing the compromised account. Now part of the regular carriers are registered honestly, and the rest go "under the black flag", and although the reliability of the account can be checked by an instant search on the picture, no one does it.
Neither the passenger nor the carrier is insured - and he and the other may refuse to travel half an hour before departure without prejudice to reputation (and even leave a negative comment, this option is available only for those with whom the user had a trip).
However, despite the unreliability of the resource is popular - BlaBlaCar prefer at the expense of efficiency and convenience of routes. The company positions itself as a full-fledged alternative to scheduled transport, and in fact, incentives and punishments (ratings and reviews) are devalued and are not a significant criterion when choosing a trip.
And, in such a difficult and troubled time ... BlaBlaCar is introduced monetization. Simply put, in order to book one trip for the average distance, you will have to pay the company about the same amount as the overpayment when choosing a regular transport. With the same price in fact, the advantages of the latter are obvious.
For example, you can make 149 rubles (access per day) and book one specific trip, and the driver will reject the booking request tomorrow. No explanation. Yes, you can. Therefore, it is more expedient to buy access for a month for 199, but this is beneficial when making three or four trips at least.
The bottom line: rotten small-scale commerce. An unfortunate decision is to introduce aggressive monetization until the problems of account verification are resolved and the unhealthy portion of risk and adventurism is reduced when ordering trips through the BlaBlacar service in Russia, otherwise it is very similar to the saying “from a black sheep, even a tuft of wool”.
The text is intended to inspire confidence in the service. However, in Russia, the BlaBlaCar principles, which imply the reciprocity of users, for some reason do not work.
Instead of cooperative means of cheerful and trustworthy people (at least, users of the resource in the photo look like this), the site is used as a platform for receiving orders by small commercial carriers. Seriously, I booked about a hundred trips from the moment of registration on BlaBlaCar, and only in 5-10% of cases the driver turned out to be a person with a real photo who indicated his working cell phone as a contact! Most often, the dispatcher girl answered the phone calls or, worse, the driver himself, who poorly understood in Russian (and I had serious doubts about the fact that this man may be twenty-year-old "Natalia K.").
Add other unpleasant details, which are not immediately clear up (instead of a car, there is a multi-seat bus with the driver’s compatriots leaving, not at the time indicated on the site, but as the bus is full, the price is naturally higher than the stated one), and you will not recognize BlaBlaCar. The platform becomes a source of income for the PI and LLC, and where there is commerce, there are abuses. Previously, “bus workers” were banned, but nothing prevented them from changing the compromised account. Now part of the regular carriers are registered honestly, and the rest go "under the black flag", and although the reliability of the account can be checked by an instant search on the picture, no one does it.
Neither the passenger nor the carrier is insured - and he and the other may refuse to travel half an hour before departure without prejudice to reputation (and even leave a negative comment, this option is available only for those with whom the user had a trip).
However, despite the unreliability of the resource is popular - BlaBlaCar prefer at the expense of efficiency and convenience of routes. The company positions itself as a full-fledged alternative to scheduled transport, and in fact, incentives and punishments (ratings and reviews) are devalued and are not a significant criterion when choosing a trip.
And, in such a difficult and troubled time ... BlaBlaCar is introduced monetization. Simply put, in order to book one trip for the average distance, you will have to pay the company about the same amount as the overpayment when choosing a regular transport. With the same price in fact, the advantages of the latter are obvious.
For example, you can make 149 rubles (access per day) and book one specific trip, and the driver will reject the booking request tomorrow. No explanation. Yes, you can. Therefore, it is more expedient to buy access for a month for 199, but this is beneficial when making three or four trips at least.
The bottom line: rotten small-scale commerce. An unfortunate decision is to introduce aggressive monetization until the problems of account verification are resolved and the unhealthy portion of risk and adventurism is reduced when ordering trips through the BlaBlacar service in Russia, otherwise it is very similar to the saying “from a black sheep, even a tuft of wool”.