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BlaBlaCar has made an offer to acquire Ouibus, a subsidiary of SNCF and market-leading French bus operator.
The move will allow BlaBlaCar to broaden, for the first time, its mobility offer beyond carpooling.
BlaBlaCar has also announced a €101 million investment involving SNCF and existing BlaBlaCar investors.
BlaBlaCar has built a long-distance carpooling community of over 65 million members in 22 countries.
Since August 2017, it has helped to transport 50 million passengers worldwide, growing 40 per cent year-on-year.
The platform now wishes to complement its vast carpooling offer with buses, and become the go-to global marketplace for intercity road travel.
Over three years of strong growth, Ouibus has built a bus network connecting 300 large cities in France and Europe, and has transported more than 12 million passengers.
BlaBlaCar connects more than 30,000 meeting points across France alone.
By combining these two complementary travel solutions, BlaBlaCar will further develop shared mobility across all axis, optimise vehicle occupancy rates for buses and cars, and offer a convenient door-to-door solution for travellers.
The acquisition project would enable BlaBlaCar to widen its offer, which will also be open to other local bus partners and operators across Europe.
Roland de Barbentane, chief executive of Ouibus, said: “This is an exciting time in the history of Ouibus, and a project that could take us further in our international expansion.
“We are very proud to hit the road at BlaBlaCar’s side.
“They have been pioneering a new vision of mobility for more than ten years, and have played a huge part in taking French innovation to the world.”
Investment
BlaBlaCar is also announcing a €101 million investment involving SNCF and existing investors.
This investment supports BlaBlaCar’s ambition to become the go-to global marketplace for road travel.
Together, SNCF and BlaBlaCar will look into building an intermodal travel solution in France, spanning carpooling and buses together with trains.
BlaBlaCar and SNCF share the ambition to develop shared mobility at scale whilst limiting the single-occupancy of vehicles, and both are uniquely placed to deliver a speedy and convenient door-to-door experience for travellers.
Nicolas Brusson, co-founder of BlaBlaCar, said: “We are excited to consider joining forces with the OuiBus team to enable travellers to find diverse mobility solutions on BlaBlaCar that suit their range of needs.
“This project supports our ambition to grow a broad mobility offer across Europe, combining cars and buses.
“The collaboration with SNCF would also be a promising turning point in the development of intermodal and door-to-door mobility, a common ambition which we are uniquely positioned to deliver together.”
Source: breakingtravelnews.com
