‘Carpooling’ and ‘carsharing’ are some of the new mobility services that allow users to save money when travelling
Cars are the most popular form of transport for medium and long-distance journeys in most European countries. However, the concept of sharing a vehicle is still a relatively unused practice in many of them. The way people move around is due to turn on its head in the future, with increasing numbers of new services allowing users to share a vehicle with other people who are making the same journey, allowing them to save a few euros in the process.
Carsharing’ is one of the most popular collaborative economy options, as it makes the journey cheaper, causes less pollution and even gives users the chance to meet interesting people who might just make the journey more pleasant. If you’re thinking of using one of these services but you’re still not entirely sure how they work, we’ve grouped them together in the following list so that you can choose the one that best suits your needs
1. Carpooling apps
In these apps, the vehicle driver lists the journey and sets the departure point, destination and price-per-passenger. The user searches in the app and selects the desired journey, paying the set amount up front. If you’re looking to get from ‘A’ to ‘B’, BlaBlaCar and Amovens are currently the two most popular apps in Spain.
2. Short journey carsharing
Carsharing, meanwhile, is a way of spending less money than you would otherwise do by making the journey in your own car. This concept has limitations, however, as the vehicle belongs to a company. These services are based on offering a fleet of cars to the public, who use them with a rate based on the time for which they are being used.
The most commonly known companies in Spain are Ubeeqo, which offers vehicles for a set number of hours, or fleets of vehicles from companies. The problem with this type of service is that they only operate in the centre of large cities, with availability depending on the demand.
3. Private transport apps
These apps include the well-known Uber and Cabify services. They offer a private service based on the user’s geolocation, with vehicles requiring what is known as a VTC licence (rental vehicles with drivers).
The passenger can select the vehicle and see the price before requesting the journey. This service is typically used for short-distance city journeys. They tend to be cheaper than taxis, and there’s nothing stopping you from sharing the journey with other people to save a few euros.
4. The new form of car rental
Technological developments mean that we are now able to choose from an ever-growing range of services with which we can move around simply and cheaply, with new apps being launched for comfortable travel at the lowest price.
One of the apps that has managed to revolutionise the concept of car rental is DriiveMe, offering trips all around Europe for as little as one euro. This company, based in France, lists journeys between two specific points, with users able to reserve the vehicle for as little as €1. It currently operates in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK and Germany, and already has over one million users around Europe. The company encourages users to its vehicles by means of covering fuel and toll costs (if there are any).
Another type of service is offered by companies such as SocialCar and Amovens, where vehicle owners list their car on the platform when they are not using it, allowing other people to use it.
5. Old-school noticeboards
Whether among your neighbours or workmates or on forums or websites, there are still ways of listing your journey in an old-school way. Many companies, such as Carpling, make it possible to carshare during your commute to work or select the days when you need to make the journey to see which users are making the same trip.
Many Spanish companies also offer what is known as “commercial carsharing”, in which the company possesses a fleet of vehicles that can be used by its employees. Many even have an online tool through which vehicles can be reserved, when required.
