Has anyone used Flixbus?

[BanburyBlue]

Hi, has anyone got any experiences of Flixbus?

to be frank I’d never heard of Flixbus until 2 days ago. But I saw an advert for them on Facebook the other day and I thought their routes looked interesting. Something to think about. Then, bizarrely, there was an article on BBC South Today about a couple being abandoned by Flexibus in Lille on a trip to Paris, which made me think perhaps not as good as the advert suggeste?

thoughts?

 

[peterblue]

Flixbus is more mainstream in Europe, and lesser known in the UK. They usually subcontract routes out on a lowest cost basis so the operators you will get will be a mixed bag. That said, however, I have used Flixbus over 10 times without any cancellation. As is typical with long distance coach travel, make some allowances in case your journey gets slightly delayed as traffic can be unpredictable.

 

[HBP]

FWIW. I used them for the first time last month from Heathrow to Leeds through the night. Can’t say it was luxurious, but they delivered me on time the next morning for under a tenner which saved me a £ hotel room which I didn’t really need on my flight arrival.

Cheap and un-cheerful but certainly an option I would consider again.

 

[citycat]

Used them many times between London and Rotterdam. The coaches are comfortable for the price which can be quite cheap at times. There has never been a delay so far but the passport checks at the tunnel can be a pain.

I used to drive the Eurolines London to Amsterdam service back in the day. It’s certainly more comfortable driving the coach than being a passenger on it, but you don’t get much sleep unfortunately as the driver.

 

[duesselmartin]

a lot of Flixbus lines run very long distances . If you travel from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam, you may find that the bus is serverly delayed because it started its journey in Poland.
So yes it is a mixed bag but generally I find costumer service has room for improvement.

 

[Greenheart]

I have used Flixbus on occasion for the relatively short journey from Luxembourg to Metz and have found them to be reliable and comfortable enough.

 

[dutchflyer]

And now also i the USA-they have also bought the formerly so glorious and well-known Greyhound Bus.
They have taken over more or less all of the long-ditsance (we say bus, you say coach) network of formerly EuroLines and many other operators, to the extent that in West-Eur in fact only BlaBla Bus (French, likely you also have never ever heard of these) remains. National Express also had a fairly big share in Eur-ls for routes to/fro that island in the NorthSea, but have since withdrawn for that (I posted that =some weeks ago in the buses subforum).
FLIX grew big due to their at the time innovative fare-system, as airplanes also do based on demand and the then also new easy to use app on your fone. But they have also been quite succesfull in opening totally new lines and also abandoning old-age lines that lost interest. F.e. they have taken over the PolskiBus, set up by Brian Souter after a successfull British dito. Another stimulator was the then at the time opening up of many countries to long-0distance buses, prohibited often to protect their railways- EU ruling.
They have just for some legal reasons themselves only 1 or 2 coach-units, all routes are run by local operators. Routes with N run overnight. it is in fact not that easy to find a complete overview of the network. Also every now&then rumours come on the ground about apparently in some cases bad relations ith these operators-as in real life this is always, always about money. it may even explain -if it indeed happened- this abandoning of pax. Which I myself also once experienced when an at the time new operator suddenly ceased (forgot the name, was also international and british based).

 

[route101]

I have Flixbus several times now.
Paris to London
London to Leeds
Leeds to Bristol
Manchester to London
Glasgow to London ( Day and night)
Glasgow to Perth
Glasgow to Aberdeen

The Scottish services run by McGills are better run than the inter English services I have used.

 

[urpert]

I’ve used them in Croatia, largely because it was possible to book online well in advance and get an (Apple wallet compatible) e ticket. It was fine, comparable to my experiences on Eurolines in the 00s.

 

[Merseysider]

Used them in England, and whilst a little cramped inside they were cheap, clean and on time.

 

[Acfb]

I tried to use Flixbus with a companion at the beginning of February in Dresden to go back to Leipzig (and then travel onto Leipzig/Halle airport). It was such a faff however as the ticket office was closed so couldn't get the ticket in advance and then they were very unhelpful on the bus when we tried to get the tickets on the morning (said it would be €19.99 instead of €9.99) so we just got the Sachsen ticket again to travel back - which was €35 for two of us (which obviously included the S Bahn to the airport as well which the flixbus ticket would not have done).

I have also seen Aberdeen bound Flixbuses travelling through Edinburgh in Bruntsfield a few times recently but I don't think I'm likely to use it now.

 

[skyhigh]

Mixed bag. Some journeys have been good. The last journey (in Spain) - on time, but driver using a mobile while driving, large crack in the windscreen, plug sockets dangling with exposed wiring and the toilet overflowing making the whole bus stink of urine. In addition the seat numbering was wrong so reserved seating suspended. As above, it's contracted out so depends on the standard of the operator you get.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I'm terrible with road transport, I get carsick by being in a car or bus for more than .1 of a second. Any journeys shorter than that and I should be okay, so it's pretty surprising that I have been on Flixbus.

I got it from Graz to Vienna once, as getting the coach was half an hour quicker than the train (I know). It seemed to me the most popular service, only 2 hours from Graz to Vienna and people seemed to be using it for day trips seeing as many had no luggage. It was okay; fast, clean, as comfortable as you can be on a coach etc. If I HAD to do coach travel again I'd do Flixbus, but of course, I would always opt for the train.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

And now also i the USA-they have also bought the formerly so glorious and well-known Greyhound Bus.

Given the sorry state of Greyhound at present, this can only be an improvement.

 

[306024]

Just once, Riga to Vilnius earlier this year. Easy to book ticket on line, comfortable coach. 15 mins late from Riga, but nearly an hour late into Vilnius, all down to traffic congestion. We arrived Vilnius in the middle of the evening rush hour.

Some slightly more ‘enthusiastic’ driving than we are used to in the UK, especially overtaking on the single lane road in Latvia. Glad when we reached the dual carriageway in Lithuania.

 

[mikeg]

Used Flixbus from Leeds to Eindhoven and back, with a change at Victoria Coach station. My experience was largely positive, though was concerned by the number of cancellations that seem to happen it's no worse than the railway by the look of it and in any case it didn't happen to me. Something that surprised me is there's still a noticeable deterioration in ride quality when you cross the border from the Netherlands into Belgium, but that's not Flixbus' fault and it's no worse than the UK nowadays

I'd still pay a slight premium for National Express, but given they don't do international routes anymore, this wasn't an option on this journey.

Given the sorry state of Greyhound at present, this can only be an improvement.

Actually from what I've heard it's largely been put down to Flixbus' ownership.

 

[BeccaOnATrain]

I have used them a few times in Europe travelling between Netherlands and Germany. Comfortable enough - I prefer them over National Express. Was pleasantly surprised to find wi-fi on one journey too!

I remember one once turned up a bit late for a trip from Amsterdam though - was around half an hour, but I guess these things happen from time to time with any coach service.

 

[Jamesrob637]

A couple of times in 2018. Once from Köln to Frankfurt and once from Zagreb to Zadar. Both times were very good: comfortable coaches that ran more or less to time.

 

[DeverseSam]

but driver using a mobile

What is best practice for this - they can’t necessarily pull in on the motorway to call their control to report bad traffic? (I’ve also witnessed European bus drivers doing this on rural routes)

 

[deltic]

Just once, Riga to Vilnius earlier this year. Easy to book ticket on line, comfortable coach. 15 mins late from Riga, but nearly an hour late into Vilnius, all down to traffic congestion. We arrived Vilnius in the middle of the evening rush hour.

Some slightly more ‘enthusiastic’ driving than we are used to in the UK, especially overtaking on the single lane road in Latvia. Glad when we reached the dual carriageway in Lithuania.

Just done the same trip. Enthusiastic driving meant I just made the once a day train from Vilnius to Mockava and on to Krakow. There is presently major road works on the route which meant we were about half hour late in each direction.

Couldn't fault the service really.

I'm amazed at the length of some of their journeys 24hr plus in some cases.

 

[thaitransit]

Flix bus seems to be more like a bus coordination service as they essentially contract out each route to random private bus companies. Rather than own and operate there own fleet of buses. Given its a contract out operation they really needed water tight contracts that outline the standard of buses and services operated.

But this would make them more like Vline or NSW Trainlink in Australia where the buses are run on contracts but unlike flix bus, Vline owns the buses and leases the buses to the contract operators. Thus can specify the exact standard of the bus as they had them built to order not the contractor. If they breach the contract they lose the contract and the bus too.

However the Vline/NSWTrainlink model is government backed and the contracts are a pay per kilometres travelled per year regardless of whether the bus has 1 passenger or totally full they get same amount. In fact Vline as a whole is subsidised to between 90% and 97% of the actual operation costs. As the fares are fixed at $5 to $10 per day unlimited travel! The vline network covers an area similar to the entire UK.

I suspect Flixbus is a totally private operation and does not receive direct government subsidies. Which makes it hard to have such tight contracts. Really if they want better standards they would need to operate most routes directly themselves.

 

[johncrossley]

I suspect Flixbus is a totally private operation and does not receive direct government subsidies. Which makes it hard to have such tight contracts. Really if they want better standards they would need to operate most routes directly themselves.

National Express, who operate a nationwide network of long distance buses ("coaches" in British English) in England and Wales, contract out nearly all their services but the service offered to the public is very consistent. Even the vehicles used are nearly all the same model and specification.

As a general rule, long distance coach operation in Europe is fully commercial and primarily exists to offer a cheaper alternative to trains. Flixbus didn't even exist until the liberalisation of coach travel in Germany about 10 years ago. Before then, commercial long distance coaches were not allowed on domestic services in many European countries, with some minor exceptions, for example to airports. As well as Germany, France has also started to allow coaches to compete against long distance trains in the last 10 years or so. Some European countries still don't allow such services, for example Belgium and Switzerland.

 

[Feuillesmortes]

Some European countries still don't allow such services, for example Belgium

Is that why Charleroi airport coaches are operated by a Luxembourg company?

 

[Blindtraveler]

I've read too many horror stories to feel comfortable using them alone as a passenger with a disability but would use them with someone as long as we had a rock solid tight backup plan in place. I think my long distance coach traveling days are probably over after a truly uncomfortable experience back in the summer, short and mid distance journeys are still absolutely fine and indeed I currently commute by coach

 

[johncrossley]

Is that why Charleroi airport coaches are operated by a Luxembourg company?

There is a direct coach from Antwerp city centre to Brussels (main) airport, run by a Belgian firm called De Decker Van Riet. This has been going for decades, formerly known as the Sabena bus.

 

[AdamWW]

National Express, who operate a nationwide network of long distance buses ("coaches" in British English) in England and Wales, contract out nearly all their services but the service offered to the public is very consistent. Even the vehicles used are nearly all the same model and specification.

Does anyone know if Flixbus operates in this manner (i.e. chooses the services and sets fares, but contracts out actual operations) or whether individual operators can choose to operate as a Flixbus franchise, paying for the branding and booking system but choosing when and where they run - and maybe also their own fares?

I get the impression it's the latter but I don't know.

They don't seem to provide a route map for their "system".

 

[Prime586]

Does anyone know if Flixbus operates in this manner (i.e. chooses the services and sets fares, but contracts out actual operations) or whether individual operators can choose to operate as a Flixbus franchise, paying for the branding and booking system but choosing when and where they run - and maybe also their own fares?

I get the impression it's the latter but I don't know.

They don't seem to provide a route map for their "system".

It's the former. If you sign up to become a Flixbus franchisee, they control the fares and the timetables, and you supply the coaches (which have to meet or exceed thier set standards) and the drivers. They have a revenue-sharing agreement with the franchisees, with a minimum agreed payment that's supposed to cover the operator's costs if there aren't enough passengers (but they hope to move away from this as their market share increases). This hasn't always worked out with the UK operators, and they have had a fair bit of turnover of franchisees in the UK, at least. They are aslo looking at providing the 'last mile' of a journey, which probably means potential expansion into franchised private hire taxi operations like Uber or Veezu.

The 'Route Map' page on their website just shows all the main destinations, not the links between them. However, I found this visualisation of their network that was produced by a database coding consultant from their publically-available timetable data:

 

[AdamWW]

It's the former. If you sign up to become a Flixbus franchisee, they control the fares and the timetables, and you supply the coaches (which have to meet or exceed thier set standards) and the drivers.

Interesting. Thanks.

I do find it frustrating that these days so often companies won't provide a route map or timetable and just offer a system where you can ask whether you can go from A to B at a particular date and time. It's good that third parties can generate useful information from GTFS data and the like but it would be nice if they didn't have to.

 

[route101]

Interesting. Thanks.

I do find it frustrating that these days so often companies won't provide a route map or timetable and just offer a system where you can ask whether you can go from A to B at a particular date and time. It's good that third parties can generate useful information from GTFS data and the like but it would be nice if they didn't have to.

Same with Megabus. I guess most people booking Flixbus want to get from A to B as cheap as possible.

 

[AdamWW]

Same with Megabus. I guess most people booking Flixbus want to get from A to B as cheap as possible.

Sure, but if you want to go somewhere but haven't decided exactly when it's nice just to see a timetable rather than interrogate one set of dates and have to hope that it will be the same for the next few weeks or more. It's great these days not to have to rely on timetables with complicated footnotes, but there are times when they are useful.

And quite possibly there is a regular timetable that can be accessed by GTFS. It would be nice if there was a web based GTFS browser. It shouldn't be hard to write. Maybe someone already has...