BlaBlaCar Drivers Repeatedly Ignore or Reject Student Passenger With No Reason

June 21 9:16 AM

I had used BlaBlaCar about 3 years ago for a trip from Istanbul to Konya, and back then I had an extremely positive, smooth experience with a very polite driver. After a long gap, as a student wanting to travel from Istanbul to Aydın, I tried using the app again in June, but what I experienced left me disappointed and made me feel like the platform has drifted from its original purpose. I applied to many listings on the Istanbul–Aydın route. Some drivers never responded at all, some rejected me outright with no reason given, and others said "I'll get back to you," never did, and then rejected me later. There's nothing negative on my profile, I've never had any issues on previous trips, I'm a polite person and a student — yet getting rejected and ignored repeatedly like this has left me feeling excluded and disrespected. I also noticed cases where some male drivers were only accepting female passengers, which makes me think the platform has strayed from its purpose into something uncomfortable. On top of that, I witnessed some drivers asking for higher prices than what was listed, and using the app for commercial purposes or to interact with the opposite sex. Having an apparently open seat, yet getting no response, being rejected with no reason, and being treated with indifference and a lack of communication, isn't acceptable. What I expect from BlaBlaCar is much stricter oversight of driver profiles and listings, strengthened profile verification processes, and warnings or, if needed, sanctions for drivers who consistently ignore passenger communication or reject without reason. I'm also requesting that the reporting system be improved so that drivers using the app for commercial or inappropriate purposes can be tracked more effectively, and if possible, that an AI system analyzing driver and passenger behavior in the background be used to detect negative patterns and generate more thorough driver/passenger reports accordingly. If I, as a regular user and student, can spot this many issues and come up with this many ideas, I believe the app's developers and management should be taking on more responsibility in this area as well. I'd appreciate it if these negative experiences I've had could be reviewed and the system improved to better serve its intended purpose of ride-sharing.

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