Didi Kuaidi remains the leading car-hailing firm in China. (Photo : www.marsdigest.com)
The bus ride sharing market of China will facing a tougher competition as the leading ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi is set to enter this markef in late July.
The plan comes after the Chinese firm recently completed what is regarded as the world's largest round of fund-raising by a private firm.
Didi Kuaidi was able to raise a total of $2 billion worth of investments, the company announced on July 8. The figure has pushed its reserves upward, reaching $3.5 billion.
The said funds will be used to expand its business into other public transportation segments, which include bus services.
This particular service, according to Didi Kuaidi, is expected to reach 100 billion yuan. The bus ride sharing market was first started over a year ago.
Data Bus, the current leader in the market, runs operation in seven major cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. It has 800 buses and 100 operators.
Buses in this market offer choice to passengers who look for direct transportation between their work and home. Though they offer higher fares, bus ride sharing services offer transportation with no stops.
It estimated that the market could post an annual revenue of more than 10 billion yuan from fares.
With the entry of Didi Kuaidi, a price war is expected to begin. In early July, it introduced lower fares when it unveiled a trial run. Two tickets were sold for 1 yuan.
The trial run operated on 11 routes in Beijing. On the other hand, Data Bus has over 50 routes in the Chinese capital.
