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I paid in euros: 11.49 for the ticket, 2.99 for the seat reservation and 2.87 for the extra seat, a total of 17.35 (£14.80). The prices in pounds were slightly dearer, £9.99 for the ticket, £1 service fee, £1.99 seat reservation, £2.99 extra seat, making a total of £15.48. That's the fare quoted when I search for a booking for 26 July right now.
I paid in euros: 11.49 for the ticket, 2.99 for the seat reservation and 2.87 for the extra seat, a total of 17.35 (£14.80). The prices in pounds were slightly dearer, £9.99 for the ticket, £1 service fee, £1.99 seat reservation, £2.99 extra seat, making a total of £15.48. That's the fare quoted when I search for a booking for 26 July right now.
It's not very likely that they will sell extra seats for token amounts on services that they could sell the same seat to an actual passenger for considerably more.
I expect they will be using their demand predicting software to adjust the extra seat price as well as the fares. On a service likely to be fully booked the only sensible thing would be to charge the same for a second seat as for an extra passenger.
It's not very likely that they will sell extra seats for token amounts on services that they could sell the same seat to an actual passenger for considerably more.
I expect they will be using their demand predicting software to adjust the extra seat price as well as the fares. On a service likely to be fully booked the only sensible thing would be to charge the same for a second seat as for an extra passenger.
I've just experimented with journeys in Germany where services are advertised as 'mostly empty', 'half full' or 'almost full'. It appears you can get a discounted second seat unless it it 'almost full'. For example, Frankfurt to Cologne is 'almost full' for all journeys this afternoon and so the option for buying the second seat does not appear as a choice. You can only make a seat reservation. In most cases, there is no spare seat next to you, but if you do pick a seat reservation where there is a spare seat next to it, you can click on it and you can buy it for full price. This makes sense, Friday afternoon is normally a busy time to travel. However, if you select the same service next Friday, they are 'mostly empty' and you can buy a discounted second seat.
Maybe next Friday is forecast to be less busy anyway, so Flixbus have priced it accordingly. I'll monitor this over the next week to see if the second seat gets more expensive as the service fills up.
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The London to Glasgow route appears to be doing well already. There are only 13 spare seats available for tonight's northbound trip. There is only one pair of seats available, but you can still get an extra seat for £5.74, on top of the £15.99 fare for one seat without a reservation.
Here's v7 of my PDF schedule for the Flixbus UK routes - including the new routes starting next Thursday, 1st July to Newcastle, Leamington and Bath plus all of the enhancements that started yesterday on various other routes.
Whippets were covering Thandi work but have now ceased with their new work starting yesterday, Thandi now have Ridleys and Star Tours covering today whilst they're still short of coaches, and it appears Turners are helping Whippets out now with at least two Van Hools on their runs today. Rapid expansion at the minute...
Hello all, new on this forum. Wanted to ask the sole question of how on earth do Flixbus manage to offer such ridiculously low fares on its UK routes? I've travelled on their European routes several times but only noticed that they offered a wide range of UK routes recently, and took up on one, London to Coventry a couple days ago. It was £2.99 there and I believe £1.99 back. I noticed quite low fares for other longer routes too. So how do they manage to do it? Do they receive subsidies of some sort? The coaches all seem to be new, clean, drivers seemed polite, and there were only a handful of people travelling with me. Surely they're losing money on this venture?
I understand its being run under a franchise type system but money must be being lost somewhere along the line, this can't be sustainable can it? Then again its entirely possible to catch a Ryanair flight to European destinations for £5 so maybe this isn't too outlandish at all.
Hello all, new on this forum. Wanted to ask the sole question of how on earth do Flixbus manage to offer such ridiculously low fares on its UK routes? I've travelled on their European routes several times but only noticed that they offered a wide range of UK routes recently, and took up on one, London to Coventry a couple days ago. It was £2.99 there and I believe £1.99 back. I noticed quite low fares for other longer routes too. So how do they manage to do it? Do they receive subsidies of some sort? The coaches all seem to be new, clean, drivers seemed polite, and there were only a handful of people travelling with me. Surely they're losing money on this venture?
I understand its being run under a franchise type system but money must be being lost somewhere along the line, this can't be sustainable can it? Then again its entirely possible to catch a Ryanair flight to European destinations for £5 so maybe this isn't too outlandish at all.
It is usual for companies to have a loss leader when you try to promote a new product. Coaches in England as a rule don't have subsidies and in this case it would make no sense because there are existing coach and rail services. Flixbus tried to develop a Dutch network a few years ago with low fares but that didn't last long. It remains to be seen whether there is room for a third national coach network in England.
Hello all, new on this forum. Wanted to ask the sole question of how on earth do Flixbus manage to offer such ridiculously low fares on its UK routes? I've travelled on their European routes several times but only noticed that they offered a wide range of UK routes recently, and took up on one, London to Coventry a couple days ago. It was £2.99 there and I believe £1.99 back. I noticed quite low fares for other longer routes too. So how do they manage to do it? Do they receive subsidies of some sort? The coaches all seem to be new, clean, drivers seemed polite, and there were only a handful of people travelling with me. Surely they're losing money on this venture?
I understand its being run under a franchise type system but money must be being lost somewhere along the line, this can't be sustainable can it? Then again its entirely possible to catch a Ryanair flight to European destinations for £5 so maybe this isn't too outlandish at all.
They are going to have to put fares up at some point. I agree it isn't sustainable and have my doubts there is enough demand for 3 long distance coach operations.
Hello all, new on this forum. Wanted to ask the sole question of how on earth do Flixbus manage to offer such ridiculously low fares on its UK routes? I've travelled on their European routes several times but only noticed that they offered a wide range of UK routes recently, and took up on one, London to Coventry a couple days ago. It was £2.99 there and I believe £1.99 back. I noticed quite low fares for other longer routes too. So how do they manage to do it? Do they receive subsidies of some sort? The coaches all seem to be new, clean, drivers seemed polite, and there were only a handful of people travelling with me. Surely they're losing money on this venture?
I understand its being run under a franchise type system but money must be being lost somewhere along the line, this can't be sustainable can it? Then again its entirely possible to catch a Ryanair flight to European destinations for £5 so maybe this isn't too outlandish at all.
They are probably operating it as a loss leader, to gain experience of operating the routes (what routes / times are popular), to gain customer awareness and market share, with the intention of either growing the market, or running one of the established operators off the road (possibly Megabus?). Then when there is less competition, they can jack the prices up.
It also depends what sort of contract they have with the operators - is there a risk/profit share arrangement to spread the losses?
As a long term rail user and only once previously using a coach I’m now a convert. Dirt cheap fares and reliable on my last 10 trips compared to late and unreliable trains where you rarely have a ticket check leaving you even more pissed off.
I would currently recommend this over rail to anyone at the mo as FlixBus seem much more reliable
No, it hasn’t changed. The operators still work as partners on the network. It’s not quite as simple as a 50/50 split, but it certainly isn’t like the National Express model where operators simply supply coach/driver at an agreed rate, with no share of the risks ...or profit.
I think it needs to be remembered that only about 6 seats are being sold at rock bottom prices and the fares then creep up by about £2 each time the limit is reached. Some fares are going for £20+ Given that some coaches are allegedly taking 40 plus passengers and so some of those will be paying £10-£20 each for the journey one way. When you think about that, the routes probably aren't that bad money wise. It's only really bad if there are only a few passengers and they are all paying the lowest fare but then it depends what the situation is with the return trip. Could it be a placement trip running just to get a bus into the right place? If so, profits may not matter as much.
I think it needs to be remembered that only about 6 seats are being sold at rock bottom prices and the fares then creep up by about £2 each time the limit is reached. Some fares are going for £20+ Given that some coaches are allegedly taking 40 plus passengers and so some of those will be paying £10-£20 each for the journey one way. When you think about that, the routes probably aren't that bad money wise. It's only really bad if there are only a few passengers and they are all paying the lowest fare but then it depends what the situation is with the return trip. Could it be a placement trip running just to get a bus into the right place? If so, profits may not matter as much.
It answers the question though of 'how do they cope with low fares', well, people who buy last minute or buy the last 20 seats on the coach help to counteract those who only paid a few pound for their fare.
It answers the question though of 'how do they cope with low fares', well, people who buy last minute or buy the last 20 seats on the coach help to counteract those who only paid a few pound for their fare.
As others have said earlier, it's simply using loss-leader tactics to effectively subsidise passengers until volumes increase sufficiently to make it profitable in it's own right. Any operator just needs deep pockets - as Stagecoach did when launching Megabus.
As others have said earlier, it's simply using loss-leader tactics to effectively subsidise passengers until volumes increase sufficiently to make it profitable in it's own right. Any operator just needs deep pockets - as Stagecoach did when launching Megabus.
You say it as if it's a short term thing. Most intercity coach operators as then they can legally claim to sell seats from 'as low as £x.xx'. Once so many seats are sold, staircase the fare and the trip makes a profit at so many seats. Instead of selling all seats at £15 to make a profit, it sells the first few at £5, next few at £10, next few at £15, next few at £20, then £25. The people paying £25 make up for the people paying £5.
It’s known as yield management, and was largely pioneered by the low cost airlines, which is where Brian Souter took his inspiration for the megabus venture. Technology has advanced considerably in the last 20 years, so the techniques available are clearly much more sophisticated than they were in the early days.
I used Flixbus last month from Victoria Coach Station to Manchester and only booked it half an hour before departure. The fare was only £2.99, yet the coach was relatively full (this was during social distancing). I've never seen a fare above £6.99 on their app.
I can’t see the demand at all for three coache operators. Maybe from the odd city here and there such as Bristol, Birmingham etc. But on the whole, no. They’re very good at clogging up the arrivals hall at Victoria Coach Station, though!
If Flixbus wanted to start operating down in Devon and Cornwall, are there any operators they could use? I’m hoping that soon Flixbus start operating through or from Exeter, as I would definitely use them if they run at an appropriate time for me. It would be good to have some competition on the London run, as Megabus seems to have stopped running Exeter-London direct at the moment, including the overnight runs since Covid.
If Flixbus wanted to start operating down in Devon and Cornwall, are there any operators they could use? I’m hoping that soon Flixbus start operating through or from Exeter, as I would definitely use them if they run at an appropriate time for me. It would be good to have some competition on the London run, as Megabus seems to have stopped running Exeter-London direct at the moment, including the overnight runs since Covid.
I guess in theory they could partner with any operator that was willing to, if they want to begin operations further west. Turners of Bristol already operate some Flixbus services, and they already have an operating centre around 5 miles west of Totnes. There are of course a number of other well established local coach operators though.
It would be good to have some competition on the London run, as Megabus seems to have stopped running Exeter-London direct at the moment, including the overnight runs since Covid.
As a long term rail user and only once previously using a coach I’m now a convert. Dirt cheap fares and reliable on my last 10 trips compared to late and unreliable trains where you rarely have a ticket check leaving you even more pissed off.
I would currently recommend this over rail to anyone at the mo as FlixBus seem much more reliable
I tried Flixbus for the first time last week and I've rarely used long distance scheduled coaches in the past. Given the price (£3.99 each way Sheffield-London plus booking fees) I wasn't expecting much.
For my bargain fare I got a comfy seat on a modern, clean coach with air conditioning, a toilet on board, and friendly drivers. The outward journey arrived in London early and the return journey was bang on time. Other than a driver change en-route, it was pretty much non-stop to/from London.
Contrast this with making the same Sheffield-London journey with East Midlands Railway later the same week which cost £84 Super Off Peak Return in Standard Class. For that, I got a little flexibility and faster journey on the outward leg compared with the coach. On the day of my return I checked the National Rail Enquiries app and found my planned return train was cancelled so I had to dash to St Pancras for the previous train 1.5 hours earlier and got there just in time with the platform operative blowing whistles and gesturing me to hurry up and get on. That train stopped all stations and wasn't even much faster than the coach. The class 222 Meridian units seem to be in a shocking state now with threadbare seat upholstery and absolutely filthy walls and ceiling. I had no window by my seat and there wasn't a luggage rack in the carriage I was in! I also noted both ways the only staff encountered are those checking tickets (so not a friendly and welcoming first impression although they are good staff!) and EMR has abolished catering in Standard Class.
Basically, EMR seem to be offering the same no frills service level as Flixbus but with lower standards and much higher prices! The same Value for Money and quality/reliability thought went through my mind!
To be fair on the train reliability EMR are normally decent enough at providing the advertised service as long as you avoid the Sunday cancellations.
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Incidentally Flixbus seem to still be growing the network quite quickly!
Does anyone know how well loaded the N10 from Glasgow to London is? I'm tempted to use it to go down to London as the supplement to ensure nobody is sitting next to you is calling to me.
I can’t see the demand at all for three coache operators. Maybe from the odd city here and there such as Bristol, Birmingham etc. But on the whole, no. They’re very good at clogging up the arrivals hall at Victoria Coach Station, though!
Each operator is currently bringing something different to the table though. Even on routes which are in competition, there generally a difference. For example NatEx being the established one with higher frequency. Megabus now focussing on serving as many places as possible and Flixbus focussing on journey time. I think we could have space for 3 operators as long as each one does keep bringing something different and they don't all just focus on big competition with eachother. (Stoke on Trent for example, Not served well by other operators but Flixbus have 3 trips per day there. Megabus opted for Newcastle Under Lyme. An area which I don't think had any service for a while, now gets a few coaches per day.
If each person tries something new, it may not be as bad. It will be bad though if they all start intense competition.
Victoria Coach Station does need something doing though. I guess it's hard with the space and no layout would be ideal as you need coaches in and out quickly but the current arrangement only permits 4 coaches at a time to drop off which isn't ideal.
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