Frequently Asked Questions
What is EkoRoad?
EkoRoad is a community website that allows registered members to share informations on personal vehicle movement and transportation needs. The main purpose of the service is to deliver an Internet powered "auto stop" system.
What are the main features of EkoRoad?
EkoRoad is the only carpooling service to be built on top of a geographical map. Additionally to allow departure/arrival to occur from more than 100,000 locations accross the European continent, the system has full knowledge of the road network, letting drivers find passengers along their way.
Are they any subscription fee to be paid?
Membership to EkoRoad is free for everyone, vehicule drivers may require their passengers to participate in transportation costs without having to pay back anything to the platform.
Are they any restrictions applying to membership?
It is expected that all members are older than the legal age in force in their country of residence. Apart from this, adherence to a simple community chart is expected which emphasizes mutual respect and service quality.
Are they any restrictions applying to vehicules registration?
Members register the vehicules they intend to use to transport others. According to the community chart registered vehicules shall fully comply with local regulations, be properly maintained and have an insurance that allows to transport passengers. EkoRoad however can not guarantee that all listed vehicules comply with local regulations and site community chart.
What kind of vehicles can be registered with EkoRoad?
Well initially we were scheduling to support only cars and constructed an extensive database of what can be encountered on the roads of Europe. We then had demands to add mini-buses and motorbikes, which are now possible options. EkoRoad has something for everyone.
How can I publish a travel offer/demand?
After you have registered with the site, your private interface has a Trip tab, which gives you access to a straightforward announce creation wizzard. You shall define whether your announce is an offer (aka driver) or demand (aka passenger), departure and arrival place and time schedule.
To increase the reach of your announce we advise you to republish it on Facebook, Google and Twitter using the provided buttons.
Shall I publish a new announce each time I go on a trip?
This is necessary only if you intend to travel along a new itinerary. You can schedule the same trip to occur only certain days of the week, be inactive for a certain period of time and modify time schedule when reactivated.
I have published a driver announce, how will it be found?
Passengers searching for offers along your scheduled itinerary will find your announce even though you have not explicitely defined passenger desired departure/arrival.
This is so because EkoRoad has detailled knowledge of the road network in between selected departure and arrival, this is used to index your announce.
To visualize the route that will be considered for indexing your announce, you can use the Preview Route button in the trip announce wizzard. In case the plotted route departs from your planned itinerary, add some intermediary stop to better control indexed route.
How can members contact themselves?
The service provides to its members a private message box that let them responds to published announces. Once an announce response has been received, members may interact over different communication channels (Web, email or telephone) to freeze the details of their real world encounters...
We advise that members always communicate using their mobile phone to facilitate last minute adjustments to travel schedule.
Do you support email messaging?
After an announce response has been received, the platform let users exchange over email without disclosing their personal email address. Email can also be used to approve reservation request...
What are the objectives of the reservation system?
Each trip offer has a reservation table, which let the driver visualize received reservations for a certain day and the passengers see who they will be travelling with.
In case a reservation is approved, the passenger is emailed a confirmation and a unique travel ticket that can be validated by the driver.
The main objectives of the reservation system is to help casual and regular drivers alike to deliver a quality transportation service.
What are the passenger duties/rights?
- Be older than the legal age in your country of residence (18 years normally)
- Disclose your real identity to the driver of the vehicule.
- Timely inform the driver if you are not in position to comply with the agreed schedule.
- Refrain from smoking, talking or eating if the driver ask you so.
- Pay the agreed financial participation at arrival.
- Require the driver to disclose his real identity and show vehicle travel document.
- Refuse to board driver vehicle if you feel unsafe.
- Ask the driver to let you get off the vehicle if you feel unsafe.
What are the driver duties/rights?
- Be older than the legal age in your country of residence (18 years normally) and own a valid driving license.
- Use the vehicule that you have advertised as part of your travel offer and ensure that this vehicle is correctly maintained and properly insurred to transport passengers.
- Disclose your real identity to your passengers and show them vehicle documents.
- Timely inform your passengers of delays you may have in complying with the agreed schedule.
- Accurately define the amount of a possible financial participation to travel costs prior to departure.
- Require your passengers to disclose their real identities prior to departure.
- Refuse a passenger the right to enter your vehicle if you feel unsafe.
- Ask a passenger to get off your vehicle after departure but prior to arrival if you feel unsafe.
- Receive the agreed financial participation from the passenger at arrival.
What is the ranking parameter, that shows on user profile?
You can see it as an average of the received evaluations, however it often differs widely from listed evaluations, because such evaluations are subject to statistical control.
To achieve high ranking level, receive positive feedback and use the system regularily over a long period of time...
What is your privacy policy?
privacy chart around. We try hard to conciliate conflicting goals which are:
- The need to inform members accurately on who they are going to encounter
- The legitimate desire that members have, not to abdicate their privacy just because they need to use this service.
How can I better protect my privacy meanwhile I use the platform?
If you are not confortable having your name and picture listed alongside your announce, just uncheck the public profile option in your profile edition page. Note that your personal informations will be fully disclosed to your contacts.
