FlixBus: Italian fatal collision

[railfan99]

I aim never to travel by long distance coach in Europe (with the exception of rail replacement buses if there's no surface alternative).

This response by budget coach line FlixBus is unimpressive to say the least:

Australian involved in fatal Italian bus crash says company offered $16 meal voucher

An Australian woman who was involved in a bus crash in Italy which reportedly claimed one life, says the company that owned the vehicle offered passengers a meal voucher "for the inconvenience".

www.abc.net.au

 

[185]

A little firm, maybe. But huge German firm Flixbus?! For a nation which applies rules & regulations so strictly, they deserve banning here.

 

[43066]

I aim never to travel by long distance coach in Europe (with the exception of rail replacement buses if there's no surface alternative).

This response by budget coach line FlixBus is unimpressive to say the least:

Australian involved in fatal Italian bus crash says company offered $16 meal voucher

An Australian woman who was involved in a bus crash in Italy which reportedly claimed one life, says the company that owned the vehicle offered passengers a meal voucher "for the inconvenience".

www.abc.net.au

Obviously a terrible incident, but there are plenty of stats to show that coach and bus travel is generally far safer than travelling by private car, so it would seem somewhat irrational to base that decision on safety.

That’s not to say there aren’t other good reasons to avoid it; coaches being far slower and less comfortable than trains, for a start!

 

[railfan99]

That’s not to say there aren’t other good reasons to avoid it; coaches being far slower and less comfortable than trains, for a start!

Inability to move around, tiny and sometimes repulsive coach toilets and a dislike of watching truck or private car red tail lights once the sun sets are three major reasons. Plus many longer distance trains have refreshments available (or in UK, gratis for Eurailpass 1st class holders).

 

[dutchflyer]

FLIXbus-which also runs trains in DE=Germany and did till a few weeks ago in SE=Sweden (and aims to run in more countries) does not own those buses-for legal rights they have set up a 1-bus company somehwere (I think Germany) and the rest is contracted. In USA they acquired those famous Greyhound-or rather what has remained out of it once so big and important intercity transporter.
If a bus-running for them or whatever other, gets in an accident this will not mean as such that the busdriver is at fault.
ON the continent there is effectively only 1 remaining competitor on fairly big scale : BlaBlabus, french, for me not a name that imposes much trust, but I guess is french logic. But in many countries/areas are remaining local operators, of course also depending on local regulations, most often set up to protect national railways.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A little firm, maybe. But huge German firm Flixbus?! For a nation which applies rules & regulations so strictly, they deserve banning here.

I think you need to understand what Flix actually is. It isn't a major transport company with consistent standards like e.g. National Express, it's more of a transport exchange where small to medium coach companies of decidedly mixed repute partner with them on a revenue sharing basis (with the coach company if I recall taking most of the revenue risk). That's how it has expanded so quickly. It could be compared perhaps to the fast expansion of the Subway sandwich chain which is I believe 100% franchised and as a result you get extremely variable quality of service.

National Express of course does a lot of subcontracting, but has a much tighter control on it and does operate some coaches itself.

There are plenty of UK coach companies of lesser repute where I'd expect exactly that kind of unacceptable response, though I don't know if they contract for Flix or not. It's unlikely the member of staff who showed up actually worked for Flix, more likely they worked for the coach company.

Because coaching is, by and large, about the lowest price being the only thing that matters (because if you could afford it why wouldn't you fly or go by train instead?), this approach does extremely well in the market, and makes things hard for companies like NatEx with a view more towards quality both in terms of the soft and hard product but necessarily at higher prices.

 

[DeverseSam]

I think you need to understand what Flix actually is. It isn't a major transport company with consistent standards like e.g. National Express, it's more of a transport exchange where small to medium coach companies of decidedly mixed repute partner with them on a revenue sharing basis

Can I as a passenger compare the reputation of these companies?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can I as a passenger compare the reputation of these companies?

Having had a look at the Flix site I can't see any way to find out who the operator is.

 

[DeverseSam]

Also these things often seem to happen in the early hours. So while there are measures to stop coach drivers driving when tired, the same can’t be said for other road users.

 

[crablab]

Having had a look at the Flix site I can't see any way to find out who the operator is.

I understand there to be an obligation to state who the concession holder is.

They put this on the invoice, but in all the examples I've seen it's just a local FlixBus subsidiary. I don't know that there's the same obligation as with airlines to state who the planned operator actually is.

 

[185]

I think you need to understand what Flix actually is.

I very much do, having worked off and on for a subcontracted NX operator for some years. With revenues of £1.5bn last year, if Flix is the one taking the money, they should be behaving responsibility when things go wrong. Regardless of what pass-the-buck way of trading they think they can get away with, If corporate responsibility is beyond them, they should be banned.

 

[johncrossley]

I aim never to travel by long distance coach in Europe (with the exception of rail replacement buses if there's no surface alternative).

In parts of Europe where the rail service is run down or not well developed, coaches are the main form of inter-city public transport and may be considered more upmarket than the train. This applies particularly to the Baltics and Balkans. Even in Ireland, and Scotland to some extent, because the trains are not particularly fast, it is not that unusual to take the coach instead of the train. In some remote parts of Europe there is no train service, for example Lapland and Iceland, and coach is the only option. Even in Switzerland, the most rail orientated country in Europe if not the world, there are some important and scenic routes that are operated by coaches. They are run as part of the national travel system so maybe you wouldn't put them in the bracket of "long distance coach". In much of western Europe, most domestic long distance coaches were not even allowed to operate until a few years ago. You could generally only use them when crossing borders.