About Sawarri

What Sawarri is

Sawarri is a carpooling network for Pakistan. It connects people who are already driving somewhere with people who need to get to the same place. The driver lists the trip they were making anyway, passengers take the empty seats, and the cost of the journey is split between everyone in the car.

That is the whole idea, and it is worth being precise about it: Sawarri is not a taxi service and not a ride-hailing app. Nobody here is driving for a living. There is no fleet, no dispatcher, and no fare meter. Every trip on the platform is a trip that was going to happen regardless — Sawarri just makes the empty seats findable.

Where it came from

Long before this website existed, carpooling in Pakistan was already happening — in WhatsApp groups. Someone would post "leaving Islamabad for Abbottabad at 7, two seats", a few people would reply, and the trip would fill. It worked, but it was chaotic: messages scrolled away within minutes, there was no way to search, no way to know anything about who you were getting into a car with, and no record of anything.

Sawarri was built to give that existing habit a proper home. The rides are still posted by ordinary drivers going about their day. What changed is that they are now searchable by route and date, they stay visible until the seats are gone, every person has an account rather than an anonymous phone number, and there are safety tools around the whole thing.

Who it is for

• Regular commuters who make the same intercity run every week and would rather share the fuel than pay all of it.
• Students and hospital staff travelling between a campus and home — on this platform the Islamabad–Abbottabad corridor is the busiest by a wide margin.
• Anyone making a one-off trip who would rather travel door to door in a car than terminal to terminal on a bus.
• Drivers with empty seats who want to bring the cost of a long drive down.

Who built it

Sawarri was founded by Salman Utmanzai, who also writes the carpool guides published here.

How Sawarri makes money

It does not take a cut of your fare. The seat price is set by the driver, shown on the ride before you request it, and paid directly to the driver. Sawarri does not sit in the middle of that payment and does not add a commission on top of it.

What Sawarri does not do

Being clear about the limits is part of using the platform safely. Sawarri does not employ the drivers, does not own or inspect the vehicles, does not set or collect fares, and is not a party to the arrangement you make with a driver. It provides the place where the two of you find each other and the tools that make that safer. Please read Safety and the Terms of Service before you travel.

Get in touch

Questions, problems, or something that needs reporting? The contact page has the fastest way to reach us, and common questions are answered on the FAQ.