Every 30 minutes bus from Hamburg to Berlin – Hamburg evening paper

Every 30 minutes bus from Hamburg to Berlin – Hamburg evening paper

01.10.15, 07:02

MeinFernbus FlixBus plans strong expansion of the fleet of 1000 vehicles. Nationwide, more night lines and direct

Berlin. The merged Fernbusunternehmen MeinFernbus FlixBus wants to have 1,000 buses on the roads by year end. The fleet of 560 buses should be extended to December 1000 buses, said the founder of MeinFernbus, Torben Greve, who is responsible for the supply and network planning in the new company, in Berlin. The new company should be “Europe’s most innovative and most popular long-distance bus suppliers.”

By combining the route networks of the two German market leader for better coordination is possible and thus a denser clocking, said Greve, who presented the plans of the company along with the four other directors. On the main lines are departures every hour, planned on branch lines every two hours. Should every 30 minutes between Berlin and Hamburg operate a bus, Greve. Said

Today there are 560 buses on 178 lines with 289 goals, Greve said. Are planned in the future more Express rides, night more lines, more direct, and new goals in tourist areas. The company also wants to expand into the neighboring European countries and it is also about approach Brussels and Paris, Greve said. By the end of 2015, the company plans with more then 1000 buses carry 18 to 20 million passengers.

Created from the merger of two leading companies will be known as MeinFernbus FlixBus. So far MeinFernbus had a market share of 44 percent and 30 percent of FlixBus. The common color of buses should be green because it is “green travel” passe the slogan, said Jochen Engert, founder of FlixBus. The CEO stressed that it was now a company, but initially remained the two limited liability companies with locations in Berlin and Munich, and made their websites.

The FlixBus-founder André Schwämmlein stressed that the merger was not a step to cut costs. The headcount of 480 was to be held, where the employees in the course of the necessary restructuring of the change of locations or departments should be created, Greve said. New boarded at the company’s US investor General Atlantic, which henceforth is the largest shareholder after the founders of the two companies.

Industry expert Christoph Gipp evaluated the merger as a positive signal to customers. The new company has a lower insolvency risk, said the head of mobility at the IGES Institute. Excess capacity on parallel routes operated could be reduced, thus better timetables and a broader route network offered. However, also the price war will weaken, and so would probably increase the ticket prices, explained Gipp.

According to the IGES market monitoring of bus kilometers currently costs about ten cents. Late last year, it had still been 8.6 cent. Although the low price level is not expected to be preserved, but will remain cheaper than train or car the remote bus.

 
  (AFP)