Cheap trip to D.C.
Euro bus giant takes on Mega, Bolt
One of Europe’s largest private bus networks is setting up shop in New York.
Germany-based FlixBus, which operates in 28 countries, Thursday is launching a route between Manhattan and Washington, D.C. The service will make as many as 11 runs a day and will make stops in Baltimore, Richmond, Va., and Rockville, Md.
They’ll run out of two locations in the city — one at Seventh Ave. and 33rd St. and another at 28 Allen St. in Chinatown.
The company is offering $5 rides along the route in June, provided they are booked by June 10. FlixBus representatives say the company will have a $15 option to Washington after that, setting it up to be stiff competition for other discount regional bus companies like MegaBus and BoltBus, both of which sell tickets to the nation’s capital for $20 or less.
FlixBus doesn’t actually own any buses — they partner with local operators who manage fleets that are adorned with the company’s bright-green branding.
“We’re not a bus company,” said FlixBus co-founder André Schwämmlein. “We’re just a service. Like a tech platform.”
FlixBus manages the schedules for the buses, as well as the ticketing and app technology for the network. Schwämmlein says its technology sets it apart from competitors.
“The image of buses in Europe was a disaster seven years ago,” said Schwämmlein. “People would look at you on a bus and say, ‘Oh, you could’t afford a train ticket, you poor guy.’”
He said FlixBus helped change that image.
The company launched in California last year, which has a strong car culture, and now does more rides than any bus network in the state aside from Greyhound.
“It’s still a bus,” Schwämmlein conceded. “But it’s going to be the new fleet in the market.”