Travelling can be an expensive process, with public transport and petrol costs forming a significant contribution towards this. Many people choose to purchase last-minute bus tickets or travel in carpools to minimize costs and carbon emissions, but these opportunities can be difficult to find and there is no framework to locate them and assess their legitimacy.
BlaBlaCar provides an online marketplace for connecting travelers with carpools and spare seats on buses in order to provide a budget alternative to traditional means of travel. Drivers can sign up to provide a carpool service, and BlaBlaCar verifies the identity and reviews of both carpool drivers and bus companies to ensure that the budget service is fully regulated.
Budget alternatives to traditional public transport and driving routes are nothing new, but BlaBlaCar has taken a unique approach by greatly minimizing costs and encouraging efficiency by providing a regulated framework for carpooling. Furthermore, the company provides last-minute and predetermined bus seats, reducing costs for users whilst preventing buses from travelling wastefully with empty seats. It's this unique business model which helped spring BlaBlaCar into profitability in 2022, and a 2024 debt funding round is being used to acquire other businesses and expand its reach.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle