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What is BlaBlaCar? BlaBlaCar is a French mobile application, designed to improve community ties across Europe and Latin America by allowing its users to connect authorized drivers and share the cost of the trip. So, BlaBlaCar is a combination of a ride-sharing app and a social networking platform.
The app was developed after extensive research into the market and people’s road behavior, so despite the potentially dangerous idea of sticking random strangers on a ride, the app took off, with 26 million active users. So what is BlaBlaCar? And how do they meet security concerns? Check below to find out.
What is BlaBlaCar?
Despite being focused on ridesharing, the service’s interface is similar to that of an electronic booking system, where users can pick a date, destination, number of passengers, and find a good ride partner. Due to this, the application empowers people to chat and build a community, hence the name.
They span a huge number of destinations, including all major European & Latin American cities where people can get by carpool, sharing a ride with like-minded partners and drivers. The booking is done through the website or mobile application.
Features & Advantages for BlaBlaCar Drivers
The drivers who pass a separate BlaBlaCar registration process can at least save on fuel, at max get monetary awards if they make 3+ successful trips in 3 months. To gather people for a trip, they can say they’re about for a ride on a specific date. What’s left for them is to wait for people to react. Notably, the fare is split between the driver and the service charges an 18-21% commission.
BlaBlaCar also lets people try bus trips by booking a ticket in physical outlets or via the website. How to use BlaBlaCar bus travel option? It is available in Europe. Trips vary by luggage availability, number of seats, destination, date, and price, which is way lower than at usual booking apps.
The application is available in a majority of European and Latin American languages, including different dialects of French & Spanish, German, English, Ukrainian, and other languages. You can join by downloading the app via Google Play & AppStore and registering a free BlaBlaCar account.
How to Pass the BlaBlaCar Registration?
Registering for an account is a fairly simple procedure, requiring a password and an email or Facebook account. After the signup, they will request some more info before booking. BlaBlaCar will request email, personal things such as a driver’s license or passport, selfies, and your phone number.
The data is kept in their data centers, never to be displayed in the public field. This practice helps them prevent scam and fraud on the platform, plus maintain trustworthiness. Still, they trust your ID information to third-party service providers, meaning that your data can potentially be mishandled.
Confirming your phone number for BlaBlaCar is a mandatory step to verify your account. Without it, you won’t be able to book a ride or create a driver profile. This is understandable, given that they allow completely random people to give each other rides all over Europe and Latin America. Of course, identity verification is mandatory.
But if you don’t want to reveal your real phone number, you can use a virtual phone number for registration to bypass the SMS confirmation step. Such phone numbers are highly anonymous, stable and cost-effective. So, how to use BlaBlaCar without a phone number? Shown below!
How to create BlaBlaCar without a Phone Number?
Virtual phone numbers differ from a physical SIM card in that you can use it online. Thus, thanks to special hardware and software on the provider’s side, you can get a unique phone number via a web platform or mobile application and manage it using any device without a SIM card.
But there are some limitations: using a virtual phone number you will be able to receive SMS messages, but not to send or receive calls. It is an ideal solution that you can use to register accounts with apps like BlaBlaCat, Bolt, Uber and many more.
SMS-man offers virtual phone numbers for rent or for one-time registration. The latter option is better suited for the BlaBlaCar account verification procedure, as you will only need one SMS confirmation.
So, here’s how to get a virtual phone number for BlaBlaCar:
- Go to sms-man.com, then register or log in.
- Find the “Top up my balance” section in the left-side menu and make a deposit.
- Click on “Get SMS”, then select any country and the BlaBlaCar app.
- Then click “Buy SMS” opposite the app and find your phone number in “History” section.
- Copy the virtual number and start registering in the app.
- Go back to SMS-Man and tap on “Get SMS” to see the verification code.
- Enter the code to complete the registration.
Vyacheslav is SEO expert at SMS-MAN. He also writes on virtual numbers and SMS verification issues on SMS-man Blog.
You can reach Vyacheslav at: z@sms-man.com