BlaBlaCar, the leading long-distance ride-sharing platform which started its operation in India in January 2015, bets big on connecting smaller cities.
“Till now, three million seats have been put up on our ride sharing platform and we are present in 700 cities. Our focus is on connecting one big city with another, and small city with another small city, as well as big city with small city.
“By next year, we are expecting 5-10 fold increase in the seats offered, and small cities will have a major share in this,” said Raghav Gupta in an interaction with Deccan Herald.
Among its 22 global locations, India is the only Asia Pacific country where Paris-headquartered BlaBlaCar currently operates. “We are charging in seven countries globally. India will become a matured market by the middle of next year, and then we will charge for the ride,” he said. Of the total charge from customers, the company gets a commission of 10 to 15% for using its platform.
Once its small city connectivity increases, the company will have its presence in 1,200 cities, said Gupta, adding that travellers across India are understanding the benefits of ride-sharing, as it provides unique experience, cost saving and greater flexibility.
The company believes that trust and safety are important to get more traction of users. “We have been adding more features to our BlaBlaCar users and integrated it to our desktop website, mobile website and app. We have already opened the booking feature, women-only ride and road side assistance in India. We are also planning to increase the meeting points for our travellers and linking many hoteliers on the way,” he said.
When asked about the busiest routes in the country, he said the Bengaluru-Chennai, Bengaluru-Hyderabad, Pune- Mumbai, New Delhi-Yamunanagar and New Delhi - Chandigarh are the busiest ones.
“We are witnessing more rides on the Bengaluru - Hyderabad sector in the big city to big city segment and Bengaluru-Salem in the big city to small city segment,” he said.
Besides intra-city operators like Uber, Ola, Meru and local players, the Indian travel market is witnessing ride-sharing apps like Pool Circle and CoYathri.