Tripda: carpooling with strangers could be quite fun #TripdaBlogAwards

I have been hearing Tripda for quite a while and I decided to check it out last Saturday.

What is Tripda?
Basically Tripda is a carpooling platform whereby drivers post up their rides and passengers can choose if they want to join a particular ride. Drivers will determine the fee they want to impose on the passengers and it is usually a low cost ride. Hence, it benefits both parties. This would be helpful for university students as this can help them to lower down the petrol and toll expenses.

How do I post up or join a ride?
- You can use their mobile app (available on iOS or Google play) or you can use their        website http://www.tripda.com.my/

I booked mine through their website because I personally preferred the website:

How secure is it?

It might look quite scary to go on a ride with somebody you do not know at all but you have the flexibility to cancel if ever you are not comfortable. Tripda will show you the driver or passenger profiles.

Based on the information and the activities and number of facebook friends available, you can roughly gage whether somebody might be suspicious or not. Also, Tripda will not be relaying your phone number until there is approval of a ride. I do recognise that it might be risky, but hey, we are living in the 20th century and what is life without risks? :)

My Tripda experience

Last Saturday, I booked a random trip to Melaka from KL on tripda, just to experience Tripda and blog about it. I went to meet the driver at TBS. At first, I was a bit nervous. We whatsapped and I knew which carplate number it was and I knocked on the door.

My ride

Knocking nervously on the door of the driver

He welcomed me in and we chatted for a little while. He was waiting for a three more friends whom I did not know at all. So, I was thinking it is going to be so awkward later. But finally, the 3 friends came, we all introduced ourselves and broke the ice. I learnt that they were high school friends, meeting after such a long time and they were roughly the same age as me. So, there was no issue to communicate. I told them that I was on the trip to have my personal experience about Tripda and blog about it later. They did not know about this carpooling platform but they were very supportive and asked questions. The conversations were not awkward at all. We became friends and we took selfies together.

In the car selfie

This enabled me to increase my network of friends as well and I roughly know in which line of business each of them is. So, if I need advise in the future, I know where I can go also. Initially my plan was just to go Melaka with them and take the bus back. However, they asked me if I wanted to join them for the rest of the day. After a while of thinking, I said why not since I did not have much to do and it would be a partial waste to have gone this far just to return back. So we went around melaka, had very good Nyonya food in Jonket street, walked around A-Famosa and so on. There were places that I did not go to before as well. So, it was a day of discovery also. Here are a few selfies (or groupfies or whatever you call it whahah):

 

Nyonya Food selfie

While walking selfie

Deciding where to eat

Nyonya Food

Christ Church Melaka and the high school friends

Christ Church

A Famosa

At 5.30 pm, they dropped me at the bus sentral for my ride back to KL. I paid the driver for the trip from KL to Melaka. He did not charge me for going around with them. We enjoyed each other's company and bottom line is I had a very random, spontaneous and good experience with Tripda along with new friends made. Looking forward to my next random Tripda trip.

After the trip, I made a video on "8 reasons why you should use Tripda". Tripda can eventually help to lessen jam and create a greener environment. Watch the video and find out:

Share the post and let everybody know about Tripda.

To follow updates of Tripda, you can visit the following social media:

1. Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TripdaMalaysia

2. Instagram: @TripdaMY

3. Twitter: @TripdaMY