City-to-city ridesharing app, ‘BlaBlaCar’ has entered into a partnership with travel search marketplace ixigo. The strategic partnership allows BlaBlaCar to advertise its ridesharing services to ixigoers through its website and apps (trains app, PNR status app and bus app). As a part of this partnership, when ixigoers search for travel options between any two cities in India, they will be shown information about available car ridesharing options on BlaBlaCar as well.
BlaBlaCar connects people looking for a city-to-city travel solution with car-owners going in the same direction, so that they can travel together and share the cost of their journey. The service allows users to choose co-travellers in a member community with declared identities and peer-to-peer ratings. ixigo offers travel search and planning across flights, hotels, buses, trains and packages, and has recently entered the taxis and cabs segment.
Over 20 million people around the world connect using BlaBlaCar’s people-powered network which is present in 18 countries. BlaBlaCar members include students travelling to see their friends and family, as well as urban professionals returning to their family on weekends.
Raghav Gupta, India Country Manager, BlaBlaCar said, “India’s response to BlaBlaCar has been great. In our first 100 days, over 100,000 seats have been offered on BlaBlaCar across 700 unique cities and towns. ixigo’s market leadership on travel search & planning apps made it a natural partner for us. This partnership gives us a potential reach of over 60 million travellers across India. BlaBlaCar provides a strong alternative to people for their city-to-city travel needs especially as public transport infrastructure is insufficient.”
Aloke Bajpai, co-founder & CEO, ixigo said, “We are delighted to be bringing Europe’s largest ride-sharing platform closer to Indian travellers. With this partnership we are able to offer ixigoers more choice and convenience over overcrowded buses and hard to get train seats.”
BlaBlaCar is a friendly sharing community, not an on-demand or a professional driving service. Price per co-traveller is limited to a partial contribution towards the cost of the journey and does not allow the car-owner to make a profit. The platform makes a distance-based cost recommendation for every journey that is fair and transparent for both parties.
