[dandlift]

Source? I had a few trip with blablacar and I always paid in person. There was this legend that this was the case only for the Italian market, but you had to pay through the app in other countries. But as far as I can tell the platform works the same in Italy, UK and France. I once had a trip from London and again, I paid the driver directly.

[seren]

This is from hearsay, but from what I understand from the (french) site you are paying Blablacar when reserving, and then you give a code to the driver IRL before the ride, so that he/she can redeem the payment. So you don't pay "directly" the driver.

Here is a link to the UK site : https://www.blablacar.co.uk/faq/question/how-are-the-booking...

So the booking fee perceived by Blablacar is about 10% of the cost of the ride.

It is possible you used an earlier iteration or that different market have different prices. It is very possible booking is free in new markets.

[Fradow]

Source: using the service every month.

In the beginning, you would pay the driver in person.

After a while, they added the option to pay on the site directly, with a fee (or perhaps without, I can't remember).

Lately (a few years ago, can't recall the exact moment), this is the only available payement option. You cannot book a trip without paying via credit card, at least in France.

[dandlift]

Seren and Fradow you are right, checked again now. Seems like the Italian site is still in the process of introducing the booking fee, while for the majority of the trips you can still contact the driver directly. This all makes sense now.