4 ms·

More like the bus version of Uber, they don't own the buses (well, since they've just bought Greyhound, maybe they do now) but instead rely on "partner" compani

More like the bus version of Uber, they don't own the buses (well, since they've just bought Greyhound, maybe they do now) but instead rely on "partner" companies to own, maintain and drive the buses.

blntechie 5y ago
Interesting. In India, there is a similar bus company called IntrCity which partners with other bus owning and operating companies and just apply their name to the service.
cheschire 5y ago
In Germany they have buses labeled with flixbus logos. It didn’t seem like partnerships. Perhaps partners are how they established a foothold in America?
- mschuster91 5y ago
  > In Germany they have buses labeled with flixbus logos. It didn’t seem like partnerships. Take a careful look at the front side of the bus, driver side, and the front door. There will be the logo of the partner operating the route. Flixbus and the various companies they bought up over the years requires the partners to decorate their buses in the Flixbus CI (green/orange + logo). Exceptions apply for peak-capacity / spare buses, these however have to be decorated with a magnetically attachable Flixbus logo if in service for Flixbus.
- KingOfCoders 5y ago
  The buses with the logos are the partners, they are not owned by them.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  Amazingly there are bus-sized vehicle wraps: https://www.wrapstation.it/project/flixbus/ https://www.wrapstation.it/project/flixbus/ If you have your journeys saved on the mobile app, they also say "Operated by [partner name]".
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    Is this amazing? It's not unusual to see an all-bus (or all-train) wrap with advertising, or the logo of the bus (or train) company.
- manderley 5y ago
  They're all operated by partners. Flixbus only owns a single bus they use for PR purposes.
  - hef19898 5y ago
    True, they own one bus and employ one bus driver. Not for PR, but to fulfill legal requirements to be allowed to run a vast network to transport people (as opposed to goods, freight forwarders have no such requirement). Not that the owned and employed driver where ever used on an actual route, at least not to my knowledge. That is one of the differences between Uber and FlixBus, the latter actually respects regulations. They doing so in creative ways, but they don't ignore them.
- arrrg 5y ago
  As others said, all bus partners. That’s also one reason why they could survive the pandemic relatively unscathed. They could scale down their networks pretty well and pretty quickly, for a long time down to zero. Sucks for the bus partners, but FlixBus didn’t even have any layoffs, at least not in Germany. (Inside info, I can tell you that FlixBus has been mighty proud of their ability to scale up and down their networks during the pandemic and at least the internally communicated credo has always been that while this is all hard and challenging they might even leave the pandemic strengthened and in stronger position than their competitors, something this acquisition also hints at.)

blntechie 5y ago

Interesting. In India, there is a similar bus company called IntrCity which partners with other bus owning and operating companies and just apply their name to the service.

cheschire 5y ago

In Germany they have buses labeled with flixbus logos. It didn’t seem like partnerships. Perhaps partners are how they established a foothold in America?

mschuster91 5y ago
> In Germany they have buses labeled with flixbus logos. It didn’t seem like partnerships. Take a careful look at the front side of the bus, driver side, and the front door. There will be the logo of the partner operating the route. Flixbus and the various companies they bought up over the years requires the partners to decorate their buses in the Flixbus CI (green/orange + logo). Exceptions apply for peak-capacity / spare buses, these however have to be decorated with a magnetically attachable Flixbus logo if in service for Flixbus.
KingOfCoders 5y ago
The buses with the logos are the partners, they are not owned by them.
bellyfullofbac 5y ago
Amazingly there are bus-sized vehicle wraps: https://www.wrapstation.it/project/flixbus/ https://www.wrapstation.it/project/flixbus/ If you have your journeys saved on the mobile app, they also say "Operated by [partner name]".
- Symbiote 5y ago
  Is this amazing? It's not unusual to see an all-bus (or all-train) wrap with advertising, or the logo of the bus (or train) company.
manderley 5y ago
They're all operated by partners. Flixbus only owns a single bus they use for PR purposes.
- hef19898 5y ago
  True, they own one bus and employ one bus driver. Not for PR, but to fulfill legal requirements to be allowed to run a vast network to transport people (as opposed to goods, freight forwarders have no such requirement). Not that the owned and employed driver where ever used on an actual route, at least not to my knowledge. That is one of the differences between Uber and FlixBus, the latter actually respects regulations. They doing so in creative ways, but they don't ignore them.
arrrg 5y ago
As others said, all bus partners. That’s also one reason why they could survive the pandemic relatively unscathed. They could scale down their networks pretty well and pretty quickly, for a long time down to zero. Sucks for the bus partners, but FlixBus didn’t even have any layoffs, at least not in Germany. (Inside info, I can tell you that FlixBus has been mighty proud of their ability to scale up and down their networks during the pandemic and at least the internally communicated credo has always been that while this is all hard and challenging they might even leave the pandemic strengthened and in stronger position than their competitors, something this acquisition also hints at.)