Painting the UK green

FlixBus is making waves in the UK express coach market. Richard Sharman takes an in-depth look at its operations in the domestic market and the rest of the world

FlixBus’ mission statement is to ‘paint the world green,’ a strapline that has a dual meaning. It doesn’t just mean painting coaches green, but also refers to the tech company’s efforts to invest in the latest green technology.

The FlixBus story in the UK is longer than you may think. Since 2016, green coaches have been running from France, Germany and the Benelux countries to the United Kingdom. In the same year FlixBus purchased Stagecoach-owned megabus’ continental business, including its cross-border routes to and from the UK, strengthening its position on routes between the UK and mainland Europe.

40th country

Andreas Schörling is the Managing Director for FlixBus UK, and although born in Sweden he moved to London ten years ago. Talking about how FlixBus started in the UK domestic market, he explained: ”I joined FlixBus in October 2019, with the mission statement that FlixBus would launch UK operations in April 2020. I started to recruit a team that would be based in London, as the main hub for our coach services would be Victoria Coach Station, and it was important for us to be located as close to our customers and operations as possible.

“Starting off in the UK, we used our business and operational model, which has worked in 39 other countries to date. The UK was proudly the 40th country and we had no plans to change our partnership model. Our model is not to buy or operate our own coaches; this is why we partner with operators. The strength of FlixBus is the digital offering through the software developers and digital tools we have.

“Whilst we do have our operating model, with exposure to 40 different countries, FlixBus does realise that every market is specific in its own way. The UK uses PSVAR-compliant coaches on its express coach services, but it is not unique in that. We also operate coaches to this specification in many other countries.”

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Pandemic launch

One of the challenges that FlixBus faced when it was planning to launch in the UK was the onset of the global pandemic. Andreas recalls: “Plans were initially going very well, and we were on track to start operations, but in March 2020 Covid-19 hit the UK. This meant that we had to stop all our full-scale launch plans for April of that year. However, operations did commence on 2 July with four routes, but it was then stop-start as the UK went in and out of lockdown, until in the December we were finally able to roll out more routes. This was off the back of the Government’s three-step plan to get us out of lockdown. I think it was a bold decision by FlixBus to go ahead with the launch during a pandemic, but that is what identifies us as a group. We make bold moves. We live by that and then follow through with it.”

“In December 2020, as England was gradually coming out of lockdown and restrictions were easing, people wanted to start travelling to see family and friends, go back to university or college or travel for work and we were able to offer a safe, comfortable and affordable way to do this. We partnered

with local firms, which also gave a boost to businesses that have been hit hard by Covid-19.”

Coming out of lockdown was to be short lived though and on 6 January 2021 England entered a third national lockdown. Operations were once again limited or paused completely and it was to be a few more months until things really returned to some sort of normality. On 15 April, FlixBus returned to the UK with services between 12 destinations, including Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Leicester and Cardiff. Just one week later, increased frequencies were introduced on those routes, a move that FlixBus attributed to fast-growing demand. At that time its busiest corridor was London to Bristol, with up to nine daily departures in each direction.

In the second half of the May of that year, the company extended the number of direct routes to almost 40 by adding services to Liverpool, York, Nottingham, Northampton, Warrington, Stoke-on-Trent, Chester and Bridgend.

In the present day, Andreas enthused: “There was probably more than one person that asked ‘are you really launching a new coach service in lockdown, in a new country?!’ But yes, we’ve done it and I think that looking back, from the launch date to today, that was a brilliant decision. It allowed us to enter the market at a time when passengers were reconsidering their travel habits.”

Ambition

Asking Andreas what his thoughts were on the competition FlixBus UK faces, he responded by saying: “What is unique to the UK market is that the express coach service market has been dominated by two legacy players for many years now, and they have not innovated. It was a classic case of a market being ripe for disruption, and this is what made it so compelling for us.

“When it comes to competition, what we are focusing on is the reception we had when we first launched in the UK, it has been the best launch in FlixBus history. We received phenomenal response from the market in our first full year of operations, and it has been obvious that customers really appreciate the FlixBus offering, the brand resonates very well with the digital generation that wants to share their travels through Instagram and is conscious about the environment. We are also very confident in the digital tools we use, such as the driver and passenger mobile applications. If anyone looks into that you can clearly see that they are years ahead of the competition.

“When it comes to deciding which corridors we are looking to start on, our digital tools have been key to this. We are where the passengers are, and want to travel too, we are able to track and respond to demand by looking at locations people are searching for and act on it if the numbers are there. It is not just about delivering more routes, it is also about delivering the quality that our customers expect from using our services to make them want to return again next time they want to travel.

“What has been fascinating to see is that every time we introduce a new service, the uptake happens more rapidly. For example, when we first started out it took a while for prospective passengers to hear about us, and originally in the first few days passenger numbers were small, but this has completely changed now, and for every new route that we introduce we are seeing the demand for it increase very quickly.”

I asked Andreas if he would consider operating shorter city to city services at a higher frequency. He responded: “We are driven by the passenger. If the demand is there and we can provide a comfortable journey at an affordable price that is both profitable for us and the operator, then of course we will be there.”

Scotland

A further bold move was made by FlixBus on 15 July 2021 when it introduced its first cross border coach services between Scotland and England. “We have seen a tremendous reception for our Anglo-Scottish services, and our partnership with McGill’s Buses has enabled us to offer a great service to our customers in connecting Scotland with England, which has been a great success,” said Andreas.

Just under one year later on 28 April 2022, a second service between Scotland and England was introduced. Operating between Glasgow and Manchester via Preston and Lancaster, the new service provided additional connections to Birmingham and improved access to Scotland as well as destinations on the west coast of England.

McGill’s Operations Director Colin Napier said at the time of the launch: “Our first long-distance routes in partnership with FlixBus have proved to be a terrific success, with passenger numbers and feedback both being very positive. That is testament to the quality service being provided by team members and we’re excited to be able to expand the routes offered.

“Working in partnership with FlixBus has proved even more fruitful than we could have anticipated. Its bold growth targets and sustainable values align directly with ours, and we’re looking forward to being a key partner on the FlixBus network as passenger numbers continue to grow.”

The partnership between FlixBus and McGill’s Buses was further cemented on 8 August 2022 when the next phase of its Scottish network expansion was launched, this time with a service between Glasgow and Aberdeen operating four times a day via Dundee, a route which has strong competition from the Citylink/megabus joint venture, as well as a growing presence by fellow tech upstart Ember.

“The move into the Scottish domestic market was a natural one, but it shows that we can back up our bold statements. We are in the Scottish market and research has shown that our customers like the services; they are using our marketing channels and we are connecting with them. They are also returning frequently and giving us good quality scores.

“At FlixBus we are firm believers in trying out the product ourselves, and when we first launched the Glasgow to London service I took a trip up to Glasgow to try it for myself. The drivers are so important, they are the face of the brand. We left London and I was relaxed and fell asleep as it was a night service, I then woke up in Birmingham to the sound of laughter, and that was because of the relationship that had built up between the passengers and the two drivers on that trip. The drivers had turned a long trip into a fun journey for their passengers, and that is such an important development in this market, for people to feel at ease, enjoy the journey and use us again next time they travel,” enthused Andreas.

“Our partnership with McGill’s has gone from strength to strength and we’ve got some exciting plans for 2023 to share in the coming weeks,” he added.

Wales and the West

One of FlixBus’ original services was the Bristol to London corridor, but Andreas sees it as more than that: “The West of England corridor is very interesting. In our mind it is not just about serving Bristol; it is much bigger than that. We are serving Wales and the South West of England through this corridor and Bristol is the city that connects all of those locations.

“Passenger numbers are high on this corridor and we have managed to build a solid regular customer base, which in such a short time has been great for us. We are trying to build the largest network in the UK and the West of England corridor is an important chunk of that,” Andreas continued.

“A good example is when we strengthened our partnership with Berrys Coaches, expanding our network into the South West of England. Our Plymouth to London route begin operating from 28 April 2022, stopping at Exeter, Taunton and Bridgwater, with coaches running daily, and trips increasing over the summer months to meet the expected high demand.”

The relationship between FlixBus and Berrys Coaches began in July 2021, with Berrys London Superfast services from Somerset available to book via FlixBus’ channels.

Turners Coachways of Bristol has been operating on the Bristol and Wales services since their inception, building the West corridor together. This has been bolstered by additional services in Wales in 2022, with Swansea-based Cymru Coaches joining the network. Cymru’s Managing Director Steve Pearce explained: “We are really impressed with the innovation, energy and ambition FlixBus is bringing to the UK’s coach industry. It’s an exciting time to be joining FlixBus, and we’re looking forward to taking our business into its next phase by becoming a partner to a globally recognised brand.”

Cross-border expansion

Expanding on the previously acquired Europe to UK routes in 2016, FlixBus launched a new direct overnight service between the UK and France on 13 July 2022. Operating five days a week, the new route serves Manchester, Birmingham and Cambridge as well as Stratford and Greenwich in London. The route is operated by FlixBus’ long-term partner Whippet.

The international network operator believes there is a growing desire to avoid potentially long security queues and waiting times in UK airports as well as expensive baggage fees and complicated lay-overs it says are associated with airline travel. “We had really good uptake on the Manchester and London to Paris service. We have regular passengers travelling in both directions, and we have been able to leverage passengers from the rest of the European network too. It is also a natural extension to the rest of the FlixBus network in both directions, as our customers may be curious to travel beyond Paris and vice versa for customers coming into the UK.” said Andreas.

“Having that European network at our customers’ finger tips not just from London, but also from Manchester really fits in with the digital age and people’s ambitions to travel. It should not be underestimated how difficult these services are to operate, but we have the expertise to manage it, and where the airlines and trains have struggled, coach has kept going, like an unsung hero.”

Sustainability

Asking Andreas about possible options for the introduction of zero-emission or reduced-emission vehicles on the network, he said: “On a global basis, FlixBus is trying out more sustainable options when it comes to innovating to reduce vehicle emissions, and Flix’s size and scale globally plays favourably to finding the right solutions.

“It is not just about finding a vehicle, it is about finding a vehicle that can do A to B with the mileage that we require. First of all you need to have a proof of concept that this technology can take you between these two places, then there is the fuelling question, so if you have electric vehicles you need charging stations and if you have hydrogen you need special fueling stations. Then the third question is vehicle planning; how long does that vehicle take to charge or fuel. There are many points to look at when it comes to this issue.

“What we have done, and will continue to do, is to push stakeholders and invest ourselves to contribute to these solutions and that happens in stages. We have operated electric coaches in Portugal, France, Germany and the USA. We have also tested LNG in Scandinavia. So we already know how these vehicles work and what scheduling changes would be needed.

“It is one thing to test a single vehicle, but another to operate a fleet of them, so the next step is to operate small fleets of them. We are currently working with stakeholders and coach operators around the globe on this and of course I would love to do it here in the UK, but from a global prospective it matters less where you do it, as long as you are pushing forward and finding solutions. We are now working on hydrogen-powered coaches with ZF in Germany, with the aim of having a hydrogen coach on the road this year.”

Increasing brand presence

Speaking about FlixBus’ partnerships with operators, Andreas explained: “We are a tech company that has hundreds of software developers based at our head office developing products for the transportation industry. We are very conscious of what we are, and what we are not. We provide the software that supports our operations, but when it comes down to operating the coaches, that is down to the partnerships that we have formed in the UK with some great operators.

“Our operators are fantastic at providing and maintaining coaches, presenting our image and customer facing driving staff out on the road, whilst all our operations are underpinned by our digital layer, for which we have a tremendous amount of data and insight, from when a passenger enters the website to what they searched for, how much they purchased a ticket for and so on. The details are at such a granular level, we can follow this process passenger by passenger. So the combination of all those factors is what allows us to create the magic that we do with operators.

“We had PHD students in statistics to help us wade through all this data, and that is such a powerful tool in the landscape that we are living in today. Combing that information with local operators has been a formulation that has worked globally. We are market leaders across Europe, we are market leaders in the USA following the acquisition of Greyhound, and we are now using that model here in the UK and Brazil.

“I guess the hardest part is finding the right operators to partner with. We have learned that to some operators high standards in terms of both vehicles and maintenance are just second nature, but this is not true across the board. So the hard work for us is to identify those good operators that we can work with which share the same high standards and values as we do.

“If we look at the journey we have been on since 2019 when we first entered the UK market, I will be the first to admit that when we started having conversation here, there were not that many people who knew about FlixBus, not even in the industry, so it has been a journey of building the awareness. At that stage it was us reaching out to operators. What is really encouraging to us is that it has shifted now to operators contacting us. This then put us in a completely different position of selecting the operators we want to work with based upon those we admire and which are strong enough to be part of FlixBus. Inter-city coach services are not super-easy to run, it takes a strong operator to run them consistently.

“We have a process that is undertaken over months to get to know an operator. We establish contact, we go and visit them at their depot or facilities, they visit us at our office and then there is an initial understanding of ‘what are your long term plans, where are you taking your business?’, and of course we will explain where we are heading. Once these things have been established and both parties are happy with each other we will then visit the operator with our operations team to establish how things are done now and what will change if they join the network. Once we feel satisfied that an operator is able to run a service consistently and with the highest level of safety then we will decide if we want to take the conversation to the next step of them joining the network.

“We are looking for coach operators that are ambitious, entrepreneurial, quality obsessed and want to be part of rewriting the history of public transport. We are building the largest inter-city coach network in the UK and once it is in place we are talking hundreds of vehicles on the road that will be there for decades. It is a very rare opportunity to be part of building that and we take enormous pride in having this opportunity. Operators who are interested in this opportunity can contact me directly on LinkedIn or by email at [email protected] to find out more.

“Flix as a group has never pulled out of a market. We have the backing that is necessary. Excluding coach drivers on the network, FlixBus has over 3,000 employees who all believe in the core values of the company and what really unites us on a global level is that we want to bring smart and green transport to everyone, everywhere.

“Whilst it is the coach operator that employs driving staff, we also assist the operator by providing specific FlixBus training. This covers customer interaction, how to handle certain situations, technical training for the driver mobile app, and how to interact with our 24/7 traffic control centre for which we have a UK team based in one of our six call centres in Europe. They are fully briefed on UK routes and coach stops and the operators that we use.”

Final thoughts

The FlixBus UK story is certainly an interesting one and the new green competitor has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time; the global story is even bigger. Ending our interview, Andreas concluded: “We have now more than established ourselves in the market and it is more than clear that we are here to stay. In April 2021 we said that within five years we would build the largest inter-city coach network in the UK. We still stand by that statement, and we are even more confident now that we are established in the market that this will happen.

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