BlaBlaCar | Launch in the Sale of Train Tickets from Various European Operators

 

BlaBlaCar, a paid community mobility brand developed by Comuto headquartered in Paris, a web - based carpooling platform that operates in 22 countires with over 80 million users, the most used in the world launches itself into the sale of train tickets from various European operators starting from 2025 or 2026.

As revealed by Le Figaro, famous, daily morning newspaper founded in 1826, the oldest national newspaper in France, BlaBlaCar is starting to sell train tickets, an expansion of the services that the company launched in Spain and will launch in France from 2025 or 2026 on a daily basis according to what was revealed by its founder Nicolas Brusson.

The question why start from Spain and not from France has an answer. With a more advanced opening to competition than France, the Spanish market already has three domestic train operators and another advantage is represented by higher commissions on each sale, between 2% and 4%, compared to 0.5% to 2% in France.

The primary objective of BlaBlaCar is to offer an ideal and optimal platform on which users can compare the offers of various operators.

Thanks to a dual train + carpooling offer, the start - up is targeting customer travelling between main lines and small towns that are difficult to access by TGV, the France's intercity high - speed rail service.

However, in the niche there is very strong competition with established companies such as Renfe, Spain's national state - owned railway company and other specialized international platforms such as Trainline, British digital rail and coach technology operating across Europe and Omio, previously known as GoEuro, a German website for comparison of travel reservations based in Berlin. 

Although the presence of these strong competitors BlaBlaCar hopes to leverage its image, reputation and carpooling customer base to encourage them to book their train jounery and in addition to TGVs, the platform also markets Renfe national lines, as the service Barcelona – Girona in Catalonia.

After Spain and then France, BlaBlaCar's strategic shift will then concern other European countries such as Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

The unicorn, which returned to profit in 2023, is projecting growth of 20% per year, with a turnover of €253 million in 2023, up 29% taking in consideration that last spring BlaBlaCar raised €100 million to support its future ambitions.

The main objective is that by 2030, a third of its memners in France and Spain will use its platform for their train tickets, an ambitious but not impossible bet according to its management, for whom selling a few million train tickets in three to five years seems achievable.

Link - https://www.lechotouristique.com/article/blablacar-se-lance-dans-la-vente-de-billets-de-train