A new milestone in BlaBlaCar’s multimodal strategy
BlaBlaCar began its multimodal strategy in 2019, expanding its mobility offerings beyond carpooling by allowing bus operators to distribute their available seats to the BlaBlaCar community and launching its own bus network across Europe.
Since then, BlaBlaCar has distributed ticket options from over 5,000 bus operators throughout Europe and in Brazil, with this activity now accounting for 20% of all passenger bookings.
In 2023, with 32 million passengers, high-speed rail traffic in Spain rose by more than 33% since 2019, illustrating Spaniards’ growing interest in train travel. By integrating Renfe and Iryo’s train offerings, BlaBlaCar is advancing its goal of bringing together various transport modes on a single platform.
Testing phases showed synergies between train and carpooling
BlaBlaCar focuses on the complementarity of different transport modes to meet the diverse needs and profiles of travelers. While trains and buses connect major routes with options suited to all budgets, carpooling complements this network by serving many localities that often lack transportation services.
For instance, trains serve 1,400 stations in Spain, while carpooling connects 115,000 meeting points across the country.
This strategy proves beneficial for both travelers and transport operators. Following a pilot test conducted this summer on select routes with operator Iryo, BlaBlaCar observed that the addition of train bookings also boosted demand for carpooling. Travelers are increasingly adopting BlaBlaCar as their go-to solution for organizing all their trips.