[ghodlur]

Bumping an old thread. Mods - If this needs a seperate thread for discussion, kindly do so.

My experience with intercity rides using ride sharing app Bla Bla car.

My Bangalore to Pune trip using VRL bus was nothing less than traumatic and i had cancelled the return trip from Pune to Bangalore with VRL bus based on the experience. I searched for the intercity rides and found one on Bla Bla app. I had used the Bla Bla app previously as well but that was limited to Thane Pune since the time of travel was only 2-3 hrs max. I was sceptic of using the app to find for rides between Pune and Bangalore as this would easily be a 12 hr journey (min). Found a couple of owners posting for 3rd Nov trip from Pune to Bangalore and zeroed on one which was best based on the pick and drop points and time expected to be taken. Connected with the owner and was given a mobile no, had the initial conversation and found the owner to be a frequent traveler on this route, the price was confirmed and so was the date and time of pick up plus the location of pick up.

On the date of travel, the car came 45 mins late than the actual pick up time. Wasted another good 10 odd mins to rearrange the luggage although I had clearly mentioned my luggage (cabin trolley bag + laptop sack). I found that the owner was travelling with his wife which was not mentioned earlier. In addition to me there was one more passenger in the rear who was supposed to picked up later but found him sitting already. So clear communications seems to have been missed from owner side. The car was Kia Seltos and was an year old.

The route supposed to be taken was Pune-Shirwal-Phaltan-Pandharpur-Mangalwedha-Zalki-Vijaypura-Chitradurga-Bangalore. The time for this trip as seen on the app was 11 hrs. The owner made a non disclosed halt at Pandharpur for personal reasons to collect a package which took away a good 20 odd mins including a ride inside the town. The single laned roads till Zalki showed the driving skills of the owner who used to speed abruptly, hard brake, went over a couple of speed breakers creating a loud thud and rear passengers bobbing and hitting the car roof. Once Zalki was reached and NH50 touched speeds became a bit more steady and regulated all the way till Bangalore.

There was no co driver support as the wife was sleeping the whole time or listening to music. There was no effort from owner to stop anywhere for breakfast or nature's call. I had to search for the restaurants and suggest for the stoppages. The music was being shuffled so frequently that after some time it became a pain. The conversations were mostly between the owner and wife. The rear passenger preferred to sleep the whole time than talk. At one point I started feeling if I made a right choice or not.

The trip was finally over 16 hrs from the start of the trip at a location where I was dropped. The owner showed no remorse for the late arrival nor apologized. Paid for the trip and left for the final destination i.e my house.

Its a matter of pure luck of getting a good company for the trips booked on the app. Maybe that's the reason I prefer solo driving if I have to drive and wouldn't want to pick up any passenger.