Happier Abroad Forum Community

Anyone have experience with BlaBlaCar? It looks like it might be a good way to get between some cities in Ukraine.

I've ridden buses there, it's an experience. Seats are small and no A/C.

For some pairs of cities, taking a train is great. For other pairs, it's more than double the time it would take to drive.

blabla drivers can be erratic. You could be involved in a collision. I would not book a passenger car. Mini busses are safer. You're able to see the type of vehicle at the time of booking.

Personally I prefer the safety and comfort of train travel above every other mode of transportation.

blabla is not going to offer luxury vehicles if that's what you're looking for. Forge relationships with Uber SELECT drivers and negotiate your price if you want to travel by car.

Kherson to Kharkiv is 19 hours by train. 12 hours by bus. 8 hours by car.

The buses are cramped. Even an average econobox will have more room than a bus seat.

Plus, I want to spend more time at the destination.

Cars can be cramped too. I can tell you've never ridden a blabla. The driver is going to want to fill up his car with as many passengers as possible to generate the most revenue.

There is also the possibility of you buying all the seats so that you are alone in the car but this is tricky.

I never have ridden BlaBlaCar either, though they have it here in Mexico. However, taking buses to go between cities is a world of difference from Greyhound. Larger seats, more legroom, movies shown on board / personal monitors at every seat, complimentary lunch when you board, fleet is more state-of-the-art.

The concept behind blablacar was that the driver was already going from one city to another so they could take on passengers and get some gas money. It has changed from that to most drivers doing it commercially like a taxi and if they don't get enough passengers to justify the trip they will cancel the ride or charge you more.

It really is undependable and not that safe in my view.

Ironically enough, the lifestyle in the U.S. is centered around the automobile, and yet BlaBlaCar isn't used there at all.