BlaBlaCar — is an online service for finding car companions, it appeared in Europe back in 2006. The idea of a convenient and practical way to travel came to the mind of frenchman Frederic Mazzella.
A Ukrainian start-up Podorozhniki was presented in 2011. Its co-founder and CEO Olexii Lazorenko said that the goal of the project is to sell to a large company, which happened eventually. In January 2014, the French company BlaBlaCar bought the Ukrainian startup Podorozhniki.
Now Lazorenko runs BlaBlaCar in Ukraine and Russia — one of the fastest-growing markets for the service of joint trips.
Traveling with BlaBlaCar means getting to your destination with no transfers and no timetables. There is no need to languish in queues to buy a ticket and worry about their availability. Users can easily find a free seat in the car and book it in advance.
Now BlaBlaCar has 90 million users in 22 countries and Ukraine is one of the fastest-growing markets. Ukraine accounts for up to 10% of all activity, it’s around 7 million users that travel and purchase tickets. Depends on the season and other circumstances.
Over a year in Ukraine, more than a million people joined the service. In Ukraine, the service of joint trips has a multimillion-dollar audience, which is growing very quickly.
The application continues to gain momentum every year because this option for organizing a trip has many advantages over the traditional travel by bus or train such as:
- Lower cost;
- Obvious comfort;
- The ability to get directly to the destination, to the entrance or to the office;
- Variety of directions;
- Opportunity for the driver to save money on fuel;
- Choosing the right time for the trip;
- The ability to get to a settlement with which there is no direct bus or rail link.
