I wrote about all the ridesharing services in Scandinavia in anticipation of my trip to Sweden and Denmark. It turns out the public transit in Sweden is so easy and efficient that I was never inspired to try out ridesharing in that country. Also I loved Stockholm and was quite happy to stay in the city for the week. However, in Denmark I had good reason to travel around since a friend I wanted to visit lives in Aarhus, about a 3 hour drive from Copenhagen.
Aarhus is a the second largest city in Denmark
In Denmark there is just one main ridesharing service: GoMore. They have an English language version of the site, making it possible for me to browse rides and create an account. While Denmark has a good fast train system, it can be quite expensive if you don’t book in advance and are traveling during popular times. The bus system is also good, and cheap, but it turns a 3 hour trip into 4 hours, and for a day trip I really wanted to avoid the extra 2 hours in transit.
I found that the train from Copenhagen to Aarhus would cost me $54 one way, while I could get a ride through GoMore for $24. The rideshare actually only involves about an hour and a half in the car. Then you drive onto a huge ferry that transports the cars across the North Sea for the straightest line route between these two cities. This makes for a very pleasant trip since the boat includes a cafe, restaurant, plenty of comfy seating and space to walk around, and an outside deck for sightseeing. The prices for rideshares from Copenhagen to anywhere requiring a ferry ride are higher than those reachable via land, presumably because they include the cost of the ferry ticket.
There were a lot of drivers going from Copenhagen to Aarhus on my day of choice, but only a few leaving early in the morning. Most were already fully booked by the time I was ready to commit just a day in advance, but I found one with a few seats open, leaving from a convenient spot, and the driver had a lot of good reviews.
To complete a booking you must enter a local phone number in your profile. I understand why this is required: drivers and riders need to communicate and very few people in Denmark use wifi-based SMS tools like Whatsapp. Fortunately for me I could use my Danish friend’s number. I knew that if the driver tried to reach me through her number it would still work because she could forward the communication to me. I did reach out to the GoMore folks to ask if there was a way around the local number requirement. They suggested I could use a fake Danish mobile number, but that this wouldn’t be ideal since it would limit communication between me and the driver.
Once I set up my account with my friend’s mobile number the booking process was very easy. Payment by credit card is taken online, and once confirmed you get an email with details about the driver including phone number and email address. Pretty quickly after I booked my seat the other empty seat was taken for a full car. GoMore is a popular transportation solution for folks in Denmark.
My only complaint about this trip was the driver’s complete lack of communication with me after I booked. When booking rideshares I’m used to getting a confirmation text or email with some details about our meeting place. But he sent nothing at all. My friend even tried calling him for me and he didn’t answer. However, when I arrived at the metro station he’d designated for pickup I found that there weren’t a lot of options for places to wait and the other two passengers and I quickly found each other. The driver was just a few minutes late but he did answer his phone when one of my fellow passengers called, and he confirmed we were in the right place. After he arrived the ride was very comfortable and everyone in the car was friendly and pleasant.
Buffet available on the ferry (not very popular with the 9:30am travelers)
I ended up taking the train back to Copenhagen because I found an “orange” fare, which is a discounted seat. It only cost $2.50 more than the rideshare and enabled me to get some work done on the return trip home.
Bottom line: get a local phone in Denmark and use GoMore to save some money (and time) traveling around that country. Also, you can see this sculpture if you visit Aarhus:
Ron Mueck’s famous Boy sculpture in Aarhus art museum
Is it much more cheaper than car renting? As I know, you can rent a car for 15-20$ per day.
Considering that I would have had to pay to take the car on the ferry, it sounds like this would be more expensive than my ride share even if I had found a car that cheap. Especially when including the cost of gas. And there’s also the paperwork, international drivers license requirement, and hassle of car pick up and drop off. But most important for me: I hate driving so I’ll opt for a ride share rather than a car rental even if the price is comparable.