With Carpooling Around Europe

By Author: Alice Sutton
Total Articles: 7
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A faster, cheaper and comfortable journey that contributes to a greener environment. Thanks to many advantages of the car-sharing system, it is more popular in France within the entire continent of Europe. Have you tried it already?

In the mid-2000’s, Covoiturage was already a well-established and preferred way of travelling in Western Europe, for example in Switzerland and France. On the other hand, most of the people were not even aware about it. I remember precisely, as I started to use site covoiturage France in 2009, my family and friends were worried about my safety. But I always reassured them: if we consider to whom we join in the car, it is not more dangerous than travelling alone on a plane or on a train. Since then, I only gained positive experiences during my trips. But how exactly the system work? What guarantees a safe arrival?

Fast and cheap
France is the pioneer of Covoiturage; you would find many companies offering this service around the clock. The aim is to share the fuel costs with the travellers ...
... and to find a nice company for the long way. The passengers can enjoy the trip in a pleasant atmosphere and travel cheaper, comfortable and even from door to door. All we need is a free registration.
The drivers can give detailed information about the trip. The “virtual hitchhiker” can see the model of the car, the opportunity to carry packages or bicycle with, the availability of seats and child seat, etc. Both drivers and passengers have to create a profile with a picture and a short introduction to build trust. The user can tell more about himself, e.g. if he likes to talk, what kind of music he prefers, what his hobby is, does he smoke. After the reservation, the passengers can see the car registration number and the phone number of the driver. The contribution to the travelling expenses already appears on the screen during the search and it is usually cheaper than an adult train or bus ticket.
Furthermore, carpooling offers a great opportunity to get to know new people, since simple reservations already turned into relationships and even marriages. During the trips, from foreigners might become friends, colleagues, relationships. Of course, small talks are not forced, but according to my experiences there are many nice drivers and everybody has an interesting story to tell.
Trust and safety
Of course, many people don’t trust these kind of novelties and just like hitchhiking, they find it dangerous. Nevertheless, several functions of the system guarantee the safe travelling. Before choosing a driver or a passenger, it is possible to read each other’s profile. Beside a short introduction and a picture, we can see the ratings from previous travellers and drivers. This makes the choice easier and is necessary to build a trust with the other passengers. The rating on site covoiturage France, has different aspects: we can rate safety, comfort, punctuality, politeness and communication. Moreover, there are applications for women where female drivers can decide to accept only female passengers.
On the other hand, many sites emphasise on the importance of green thinking. They wish to contribute to a greener environment with reducing carbon emission and traffic jam.
Finally, my personal advice, it is useful to tell a family member or a friend, with whom and where we travel, what is the name and phone number of the driver, what is the car’s registration number, etc. This way, we can feel safer and maybe our parents and friends will also nod approval to this ways of travelling.