BlaBlaCar is the world’s biggest
ride-sharing service and has 20m users in 19 countries from Mexico to Russia.
The idea behind BlaBlaCar, a French
startup, is simple: the driver “sells” empty seats to cover gas and road tolls,
but not at a profit; the passenger gets a cheap trip, even last-minute. The
business model is that of Airbnb: BlaBlaCar takes an average 10% cut on
transactions once it is established in a market; trust is built through peer
review. Investors seem to bet that it could do for transport what Airbnb has
for accommodation. Last month BlaBlaCar raised €180m ($200m), taking its
valuation to €1.4 billion, making it one of the rare European
billion-dollar-plus technology startups.
For now, BlaBlaCar has avoided
Uber-style collision with regulators and incumbents. This is chiefly because it
is not competing with taxis: its average trip is 320km (200 miles). Rather, it
is undercutting trains and coaches, proving popular among young people and
students, short of cash and allergic to forward planning. A road trip from
Paris to Marseille using BlaBlaCar, for instance, would cost half that of a
high-speed TGV train ticket. Frédéric Mazzella, the founder, says
diplomatically that it is disrupting the mobility business, by opening up the
inventory of empty car seats, not any particular transport sector.
Originally called Covoiturage
(carpooling, in French), BlaBlaCar is focusing now on building a global brand,
rather than on profitability. The firm has expanded both by buying competitors,
such as Germany’s Carpooling, which it acquired in April, and launching in
emerging markets less familiar with the concept, such as India and soon Brazil.
The service does well where public transport is chaotic, or driving costs high.
In Europe, over 72% of kilometers travelled are by car, but gas is expensive so
drivers are keen to cover costs.
“When you start from France,” Nicolas Brusson,
the firm’s co-founder, joked at a technology conference earlier this year,
“everything looks simple.”
edited from The Economist
