How it works
Passenger and driver journeys, from search to trip day.
TrustTrip is a Canadian platform for planned carpooling and ridesharing for local and long-distance trips across Canada. Drivers publish trips they already intend to drive, passengers reserve documented seats on those trips, and the platform handles discovery, booking, secure payment, and trust in between. This page walks through both journeys from start to finish. Read it once and you know exactly what happens at every step.
The passenger journey
Four steps separate you from a confirmed seat. You can browse without an account. Signing in is only needed when you actually reserve.
- Search published trips — Start on the trips page and search by departure, destination, and date. Because trips are published in advance on real routes, you can also board or leave partway along a route. The search understands segments, not just endpoints. If no published trip matches, you can post a ride request so drivers already planning that route can offer seats. A request is not a booking.
- Review the trip page — Each trip page shows the official route points, the departure schedule, available seats, the driver's profile with review history, and the vehicle context. The full amount for your segment, including the driver's published amount and the platform fee, is broken down right there before any commitment.
- Reserve and pay online — Sign in, choose your boarding and drop-off points, and confirm in secure checkout. Checkout charges TrustTrip platform fees (and taxes when enabled). The driver’s shared amount is paid in person on trip day. Your seat is confirmed when checkout completes and the booking is created. If the last seat is lost after capture, we review a refund.
- Travel, then review — Your passenger space holds the booking record, trip updates, and messaging with the driver for trip-day coordination. After an eligible completed trip, peer reviews open in both directions. Your feedback becomes part of the driver's visible history, and theirs becomes part of yours.
The driver journey
Drivers go through verification once, then publish planned trips within their account’s active and daily trip limits. Publishing stays locked until onboarding is approved.
- Complete driver onboarding — Verify your account, then submit your driver profile: identity, licence, and vehicle details with supporting documents. Our team reviews the submission. Your status is visible in the driver workspace, and publishing unlocks at approval.
- Publish a planned trip — Set your route with its stops, the schedule, the seats you offer, and the shared amounts per segment. You stay in control of what you publish. The platform shows passengers exactly what you set, with the platform fee added transparently on top.
- Receive bookings and run the trip — Confirmed bookings arrive in your driver space with passenger context and messaging for coordination. On trip day you host the ride you planned. Afterwards, reviews work both ways, and drivers review passengers too.
Payment, in one minute
A booking total has two parts: the shared trip amount set by the driver for your segment, and the TrustTrip platform fee per seat. The current fee is $2.50 CAD on short trips and $4.95 CAD on long trips.
Trust, briefly
Drivers are reviewed before they can publish, trip pages expose the full picture before you pay, bookings create documented records, and peer reviews tie reputation to real trips. The Trust & safety page explains each mechanism, including what verification does and does not guarantee.
If no trip matches
No matching trip? Post a ride request
From your account, share your route, date, and flexibility as a ride request. Drivers already planning that route can see it and publish a matching trip. You are notified when one appears. A request is not a reservation. The ride requests guide covers the full flow.
Booked, but details moved? Request an adjustment
After booking you can request a different boarding or drop-off along the published route. You see acceptability and driver amount impact before you send. The driver decides, and nothing changes until acceptance. Details are in the booking adjustments guide.
Need to cancel? Know the rules first
Cancellation consequences depend on timing and role, and refunds follow a documented review. They are never automatic. Read the cancellation policy before you cancel, so there are no surprises.
Common questions
Browsing is open to everyone. You can search trips and read trip pages freely. Reserving a seat, messaging a driver, posting a ride request, or publishing a trip requires a signed-in account, because each of those creates a documented commitment between members.
When checkout completes and the booking is created. Your seat is then confirmed on the trip, the booking record appears in your passenger space, and the driver sees your confirmed booking. While you pay, seats may be held briefly. If checkout does not finish, that hold expires and nothing is charged. If capture succeeds but the seat cannot be booked, we review a refund.
Secure checkout on TrustTrip covers platform fees and taxes when you reserve. The shared trip amount for your segment is paid in person with your driver at boarding or when the ride ends, using cash, Interac, or other methods shown on the trip page. If a driver asks you to pay the shared trip amount before you meet, do not send money. Contact support from your booking or trip page. See Pricing: paying your driver for the full breakdown.
It depends on when you cancel and whether you are the passenger or the driver. Early cancellations are treated more leniently than last-minute ones or no-shows, and refunds follow a documented review under the cancellation policy. That page is the authority on every scenario.