BlaBlaCar suspends its bus services in Ukraine, carpooling service still available
The Ukrainian platform of the world's largest carpooling service BlaBlaCar has temporarily suspended all domestic and international bus services, including on the Busfor platform, from March 18, 2020, the company said on Wednesday.
"Thus means that booking of bus tickets on BlaBlaCar and Busfor will be temporary unavailable for users until further notification. Carpooling trips by BlaBlaCar are private trips by private cars, thus they are still available for those who must travel between Ukrainian cities without obstacles," reads the company's statement.
The company also mentioned influence of the crisis through a decrease in tourism activity.
"We can see that against a sharp decline in bus transportation services in the first weeks of March, carpooling services outstand and demonstrate some steadiness. Such a difference can be explained by the preference to travel by car, thus contacting a minimum number of people, avoiding bus stations and having a possibility to call and talk to passengers before the trip in order to make sure that all participants of the trip feel good," BlaBlaCar said.
The company also recommended its users to observe instructions of the national and local authorities and safety rules.
"They include also a restriction on trips within Ukraine," the company said.