BlaBlaBus
 | |
 BlaBlaBus at Saint-Denis | |
| Parent | Blablacar |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Service area | Western Europe |
| Service type | Intercity coach service |
| Alliance | ALSA National Express |
| Hubs | Paris-Bercy Lyon-Perrache Lille-Europe |
| Fleet | 46 coaches |
| Chief executive | Maria Harti |
| Website | www.ouibus.com |
BlaBlaBus, formerly Ouibus or iDBUS, operates coach services in Europe.[1] Currently, BlaBlaBus serves Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Genoa, Lille, London, Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Nice, Paris, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, San Sebastián, and Turin. The route network is expanding progressively. BlaBlaBus has three major hubs; Paris-Bercy, Lyon-Perrache, and Lille-Europe. Founded in 2012 by SNCF, in November 2018 it was announced that it would be purchased by BlaBlaCar and rebranded as BlaBlaBus.
History[]
iDBUS was launched on 23 July 2012 with services to Amsterdam, London, and Brussels from the original hub at Paris-Bercy.[2] A domestic service between Paris and Lille was launched on 29 August 2012.
A second hub was created at Lyon-Perrache on 17 December 2012 to launch Milan and Turin destinations. On 23 May 2013, iDBUS began operating services between Marseille and Nice, Genoa and Milan. On 28 April 2014 iDBUS launched a service from Brussels to Amsterdam, London and Charles de Gaulle Airport.[3]
On 1 December 2014, iDBUS started operating into Germany, with a service from Paris to Brussels, Aachen and Cologne.[4] From 15 June 2015 iDBUS expanded further in the Benelux region, with Rotterdam and Antwerp added to the network. On the same date, a London to Lyon route started.
On 3 September 2015, iDBUS was rebranded Ouibus.[5] In July 2016, the Starshipper business was purchased.[6]
In February 2018, Ouibus entered a partnership with ALSA and National Express.[7] In November 2018, it was announced the business would be purchased by BlaBlaCar.[8]
Entering the German market in 2020, BlaBlaBus became the first major competitor of Flixbus since that company had achieved a nigh-monopoly in the German long distance bus market through , mergers and acquisition of competitors.
Fleet[]
BlaBlaBus has a fleet of 46 Setra, Mercedes-Benz and Iveco coaches that meet the Euro 5 emission standard. The whole fleet is fitted with Wi-Fi, plug sockets and spaces for disabled passengers.
On a number of the services to/from Spain, a fleet of Irizar i6 coaches operated by Sarfa are used. These operate in the Ouibus livery.
The fleet is equipped with toilets and free WiFi, and offers power outlets at every seat.[9]
References[]
- ^ About Us Archived 5 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine Ouibus
- ^ SNCF Launches its First Coach Service Idbus 4 July 2012
- ^ Article about the launch of new services from Brussels (in Dutch)
- ^ Article about the launch of a new service to Germany (in French)
- ^ Idbus becomes Ouibus Coach & Bus Week issue 1214 10 November 2015 page 14
- ^ Starshipper becomes Ouibus SoBus
- ^ National Express strengthens cross channel and European services National Express 1 February 2018
- ^ SNCF to sell Ouibus to BlaBlaCar in multimodal partnership Railway Gazette International 13 November 2018
- ^ iDBUS Services
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to BlaBlaBus. |
- International bus transport in Europe
- SNCF companies and subsidiaries
- Transport companies established in 2012
- 2012 establishments in France
- 2018 mergers and acquisitions