Michal Marek The French service BlaBlaCar is coming to our market, which is the European leader in carpooling. In addition, BlaBlaCar is definitely not starting from scratch in the Czech Republic. The entry into the market took place through the acquisition of the previous Czech number one, the website Jizdomat.cz. The fusion of the two services has already fully manifested itself, and from today it is not possible to offer or request carpools through Jízdomat. BlaBlaCar, on the other hand, is already fully operational.
Users of Jízdomat must create a new account and download a new application, but the positive thing is that from Jízdomat, planned trips and all ratings can be transferred to BlaBlaCar. Drivers and passengers will therefore not lose their already acquired reputation, even if their manual intervention is required, as a result, they can smoothly continue carpooling without major hiccups.
Since its inception in 2010, Jízdomat has already offered 4,5 million free spaces in users' cars, while hundreds of thousands of these spaces have been filled thanks to the service. However, the company never made much profit and it was more of a charity project. The motive behind the acquisition by the French giant is mainly to profit from an already functioning community and "liquidate" the competition, which would be difficult to fight, at least at the beginning.
However, BlaBlaCar is not a small-scale charity, but a pure business of global proportions. The French company, whose value is set at $1,5 billion, brokered over 10 million rides in 22 countries in the last quarter alone. He earns by taking a commission from the paid fare, which is usually set at around 10%. However, Czechs do not have to worry about such fees yet.
BlaBlaCar enters new markets through similar acquisitions quite regularly and always operates for free at least for some time. As Pavel Prouza, head of the Czechoslovak branch of BlaBlaCar, confirmed, the same will be the case in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. "We are not planning to introduce commissions yet," he said Server idle iDnes.
As for the prices of individual journeys, BlaBlaCar sets a recommended price for the route for drivers, which is calculated at 80 pennies per kilometer. The driver can then manipulate the price up and down by up to 50 percent. It may then happen that you also come across a more expensive fare, which is due to the fact that the recommended price is always calculated according to the conditions in the driver's country. So if you go with a foreigner who is just passing through the Czech Republic, the ride will probably be more expensive.
You can use the service through the web interface as well as through quality mobile application, which is already fully localized into the Czech language.
By using the word YET, they confirmed it, but not right away... I fart on them, I can take the bus straight away, and still pay them to pick up a carpool