Paco, a young company founded by two former BlaBlaCar Bus employees and a former Japhy employee, is selling its first long-distance coach tickets for departures from 15 January 2027. It intends to take over some of the routes BlaBlaCar is dropping in January, according to Maddyness and TourMaG. For travellers, what is at stake is preventing FlixBus from being left alone on the French intercity coach market.
Why BlaBlaCar Bus is shutting down
In April 2026, BlaBlaCar announced the end of its coach business, inherited from Ouibus, the former SNCF subsidiary. The last departure is set for 4 January 2027, TourMaG specifies. The platform cited heavy and repeated losses: its costs were rising faster than its revenue in a highly contested sector, Connexion France reported on 15 June 2026. According to analysts quoted by the same outlet, the surge in fuel prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East probably made matters worse. The company also felt that running coaches was moving away from its core technology business.
The withdrawal is significant. According to Maddyness, the service generated €115 million in annual revenue, carried more than 6 million passengers each year and served more than 300 cities in around fifteen countries. TourMaG mentions the loss of 40 jobs and 400 routes. Carpooling, however, is not affected.
An already highly concentrated market
Opened to competition in 2015, long-distance coach transport remains a low-margin business. According to Connexion France, citing in June 2026 the latest figures published by the French transport regulator (Autorité de régulation des transports), France recorded 18 million coach passengers in 2024, 94% of them for BlaBlaCar and FlixBus combined, and operators earned on average only €6 per passenger, without the article specifying whether this refers to revenue or margin. Without a new entrant, FlixBus would become the only national operator. That is Paco’s central argument. For its co-founder Olivio Bugosen, quoted by TourMaG, the closure deprives both passengers of an affordable option and coach operators of part of their revenue.
Paco’s model: a commission rather than a flat fee
Like BlaBlaCar, Paco does not own any vehicles. The startup designs the routes, sells the tickets and entrusts operations to independent coach companies, several of which already drove for BlaBlaCar Bus; around a dozen others are in talks, according to TourMaG. The difference lies in remuneration. BlaBlaCar Bus paid carriers per kilometre, regardless of occupancy; Paco takes a commission on each ticket sold. The operating risk therefore shifts to the carrier, which considerably lightens the young company’s structure.
The three partners have not raised any funds and are financing the launch from their own contributions, according to TourMaG. Maddyness points out that a coach costs around €300,000, an expense Paco does not have to bear. A funding round remains possible once the first sales have been made.
What changes in practice for travellers
- A modest network at the start: around ten coaches according to TourMaG, around fifteen vehicles according to Maddyness (two per route, i.e. seven or eight routes at launch), for around fifteen major cities, including Lyon, Rennes, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nice. The first routes announced are Rennes–Marseille, nearly 1,000 kilometres, and Bordeaux–Nice.
- No Paris at launch: the capital is not served for now, but it is among the priorities, TourMaG indicates.
- Low prices: tickets are offered between €5 and €30, according to TourMaG; Maddyness says they are in line with the competition.
- A slow ramp-up: Paco is aiming for 20% of BlaBlaCar Bus’s former network, its most profitable routes, within four to five years, and hopes to operate 20 routes by December 2027, according to Maddyness. TourMaG mentions longer-term journeys to Geneva, Barcelona or Brussels.
In practice, some of the major cross-country routes, those that bypass Paris, should survive the closure. Most of the journeys operated by BlaBlaCar Bus until 4 January 2027 will not, however, be taken over in January.
The uncertainties
The bet remains fragile. Paco is starting without outside capital, in a sector where each passenger brings in little, against a firmly established competitor. Its success will depend on the reliability of its partner carriers and its ability to fill its vehicles from the very first weeks. The timing is also a factor: between BlaBlaCar Bus’s last departure on 4 January and Paco’s first on 15 January, travellers will have to turn to FlixBus or another mode of transport, and the network will only expand over the first quarter of 2027.
Frequently asked questions
When will Paco’s coaches start running?
Tickets have been on sale since 3 November 2026 and the first journeys are scheduled for 15 January 2027, with a gradual roll-out during the first quarter.
Is Paco taking over all of BlaBlaCar Bus’s routes?
No. It is aiming for around a fifth of the former network within four to five years, targeting the routes considered the most profitable, and hopes to operate around twenty routes by the end of 2027.
Who founded Paco?
Arthur Bertrand, former head of operations at BlaBlaCar Bus, Olivio Bugosen, former head of business development at the same company, and Louis Carron-Cabaret, former head of technology and product at Japhy.
Sources
- Des anciens de BlaBlaCar lancent une startup pour reprendre les lignes de bus bientôt stoppées par la plateforme de covoiturage — Maddyness, 2026-11-03
- D'anciens de BlaBlaBus lancent PACO pour concurrencer FlixBus — TourMaG, 2026-11-04
- Bus Macron : un nouvel acteur se lance pour pallier l'arrêt de BlaBlaCar Bus — TourMaG, 2026-11-03
- BlaBlaCar's intercity coach service to shut in France — Connexion France, 2026-06-15