Thanks to a recent investment by the French rail operator Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), European ride-sharing company BlaBlaCar is set to acquire Ouibus, SNCF’s long-distance bus subsidiary.
In November, BlaBlaCar confirmed plans to buy Ouibus, a French coach service that connects roughly 300 cities across Western Europe with competitively priced tickets. The move positions BlaBlaCar as a stronger competitor to established intercity bus networks such as FlixBus, which operates an even broader route network that includes services beyond Europe.
Founded a decade ago in Paris, BlaBlaCar has grown into one of the world’s largest carpooling platforms. Since August 2017, BlaBlaCar drivers have transported some 50 million passengers across 22 European countries. The platform allows travelers to reserve a seat in a private car already heading to their destination, creating an affordable and community-driven alternative to conventional transport.
Supporting this expansion, SNCF invested $113 million in BlaBlaCar, enabling the company to broaden its offerings beyond carpooling into coach services. SNCF’s investment reflects a strategic shift to integrate different modes of surface transport—trains, buses and shared cars—under a more connected travel ecosystem.
As these integrations progress, passengers may soon be able to search and purchase combined travel options—rail, coach and carpooling—through a single interface, simplifying long-distance planning and offering more flexible, cost-effective journeys across Europe.