Short-distance carpooling: Is Klaxit soon to be acquired by BlaBlaCar?

Klaxit is in talks with BlaBlaCar, the carpooling specialist, regarding a possible acquisition by the latter.

BlaBlaCar has announced its intention to expand its offering dedicated to local authorities and businesses in addition to its public offering. As such, it is leveraging Klaxit’s expertise, whose business model is based on providing services to companies and local authorities. 

Founded in 2012 by Julien Honnart and Cyrille Courtière, Klaxit offers short-distance carpools subsidized by companies and territorial communities. BlaBlaCar also offers short-distance carpooling via its BlaBlaCar Daily app.

This discussion aims to offer even more carpooling opportunities to the French. Both companies estimate that more than 10 million drivers still take their cars alone every day. 

What impact for carpoolers?

The French carpooling giant BlaBlaCar already encourages its users to make use of its services by offering a “Double Carpooling Bonus” of 100 euros. This follows the government directive to encourage road users to share their vehicles and thus reduce congestion in city centers. 

BlaBlaCar’s bonus allows drivers to earn 100 euros after completing 3 long-distance trips within 3 months, or 10 short-distance trips within 3 months. All of this is, of course, applicable only to trips made using the BlaBlaCar and BlaBlaCar Daily apps.

This potential merger between BlaBlaCar and Klaxit could be detrimental to carpoolers, as they would no longer be able to rely on competition to find the best prices. Karos, another short-distance carpooling company, will be one of the few remaining apps on the market in this case. 

However, in a period of high inflation and low purchasing power, carpooling seems to be an ideal solution to boost one’s finances and contribute to cleaner air in cities.

Also read: In which region is carpooling most successful?