Money is the one thing that can make a pleasant shared trip awkward. The fix is to agree on the number before anyone gets in the car, and to work it out the same way every time. Here is a method that is simple enough to do on a phone and fair to both the driver and the passengers.
Step 1: work out the fuel
You need three numbers:
- Distance of the trip by road, in kilometres. Use the road distance from your maps app, not the straight-line distance between two cities, which is always shorter.
- Mileage of the car on the highway, in km per litre (or km per kg for CNG). Use what the car actually does, not the brochure figure.
- Fuel price per litre today, in your state. Prices differ between states, so check the price where you will fill up.
Fuel cost = distance ÷ mileage × fuel price.
Step 2: add tolls and parking
Add the tolls you will actually pay on the route you are taking, and any parking. If you have FASTag, the amounts are in your FASTag statement from the last time you drove it.
Step 3: divide by everyone in the car
Divide the total by the number of people in the car, including the driver. The driver is travelling too, so they pay a share like everyone else. What you get is a fair share per person.
A worked example
Here is an example with round numbers. Replace them with your own.
- Distance by road: 280 km
- Mileage: 15 km per litre
- Petrol: ₹95 per litre
- Tolls and parking: ₹400
Fuel: 280 ÷ 15 = 18.7 litres, × ₹95 = about ₹1,773.
Total with tolls: about ₹2,173.
Four people in the car: about ₹543 each.
The driver pays the same ₹543 out of their own pocket, and three passengers cover the rest. Nobody makes money on it, and the trip costs every person a fraction of driving alone.
Do it in a few seconds with our fuel cost split calculator.
What about wear and tear?
A car costs more than fuel: tyres, servicing, insurance. Some drivers round the share up a little to cover that, and many passengers are happy with it. Keep it modest. A shared ride works because it is about sharing the cost, not making a profit.
Agree before the trip, not after
- Say the price up front. On Tezzo, the driver sets the seat price when publishing the ride, and the passenger sees it before booking. There are no surprises at the end.
- No platform fee. Tezzo adds nothing on top of the driver's price, so the seat price is the whole amount.
- Agree on cash or UPI in the chat before you leave.
- Stopovers have their own price. A passenger getting off halfway pays for their part of the route, which is shown when they book.
For drivers: setting the seat price
When you publish a ride on Tezzo, the app suggests a price per seat from the route's length and keeps your price within a fair range of it. Use the method above to sanity-check it against your real cost. A price close to the real cost fills seats faster.
Ready to go? Offer a ride or search for one.