In September, 80% of trips on the VTC Bolt application were on promotion: this is what Heetch, the third player in the sector, says, suspecting its Estonian competitor of selling at a loss to catch up with the leader Uber, the latter using also promotions, to a lesser extent. “This illustrates the absence of rules among VTCs. It is time for a debate to emerge to regulate these promotions, which have exploded since the start of the school year at Uber and Bolt”estimates Simon Dabadie, general manager of Heetch Europe.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Comin and Maze, two new VTC platforms which claim to be advantageous for drivers
Read later
Based on an analysis of data from Foxintelligence, a company that extracts data from users' mailboxes, Mr. Dabadie establishes that 20% of Bolt's business volume since the start of the school year is devoted to these promotions, which are the more often discount codes benefit customers, and more rarely bonuses for drivers. Ultimately, 20% is a little less than the commission that Bolt charges for each race (around 22%). Impossible then, according to Heetch's boss, for Bolt not to lose money. As it stands, the Estonian company has never been profitable, and Uber only became profitable in 2023, after thirteen years of losses.
According to Simon Dabadie, this massive market subsidy, due to significant fundraising, would have consequences on the viability of other players, particularly French, who cannot keep up with the two global groups: “When platforms sell at a price that does not allow profitability on the business and driver side, it is harmful. » “It’s true that we can’t fight the promotions of the giantsconfirms Dany El Oubari, co-founder of the young Comin application. We prefer to rely on word of mouth to retain customers and drivers. »
“Guarantee quality service”
“It’s difficult to stand out, and that pushes prices down, because the two big ones are constantly responding to each othercomments Brahim Ben Ali, general secretary of the FO-INV union, which launched the Maze drivers cooperative. I contacted the Competition Authority several times, with no response. »
The abuse of promotions could also accustom users to very low prices, despite the existence of minimum prices for a trip since 2023 (today 9 euros net for the driver). “It does not serve the sector, because we continue to make the customer believe that the market value of the service is negligible, that transporting someone in a private vehicle costs nothing”judge Fabian Tosolini, national delegate of Union-Indépendants (CFDT).
You have 43.22% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
