A Different Kind of Ride-Sharing

The Ubers and Lyfts of the world are often described as ride-sharing services, but that’s not quite what they are. When hailing a ride with those apps, you hop into a car with a more or less professional driver who picks up another fare after dropping you off. Functioning as a taxi service without the same accreditation continues to pose problems for such companies. Uber suspended its cheapest service in France on July 3 after the Paris prosecutor’s office charged its top two executives there with “misleading commercial practices” and “complicity in the illegal exercise of the taxi profession.” The company said in a statement that it wants to continue discussing regulations with the government.

Paris startup BlaBlaCar works differently. Its marketplace matches drivers who have empty seats for long-distance drives with passengers going the same way and makes them arrange how they’ll divvy up fuel and tolls—in other words, a carpool. To avoid provoking regulators in the 19 countries where it operates, BlaBlaCar limits what drivers can charge, ostensibly keeping them from turning a profit. On a recent look, the site offered a seat in a Peugeot from Barcelona to Madrid for €25 ($27.65); and London to Manchester for £15 ($23.01) in a Mercedes. “You have no regulation issues, you have no tax issues, you have no insurance issues, because people are sharing a cost,” says Nicolas Brusson, co-founder and chief operating officer.