A coach company is selling tickets to London on Coronation day for £2 in a bid to boost the attractiveness of long-distance bus travel.
FlixBus, which celebrates its second UK anniversary today, is offering the cut-price tickets on new routes from Peterborough and Stevenage and on its Bristol to London route, which is being increased from four to seven buses a day.
Passengers on other routes – the firm has 50 in the UK – can claim a 20 per cent discount. The cheap deals apply on tickets booked by the end of April, for journeys made up to July 31.
FlixBus marked its second birthday today by giving passengers free coffee and cake at Victoria Coach Station. It will start operating 19 new routes across the UK on April 27.
Andreas Schorling, managing director of FlixBus UK, told the Standard: “We are now expanding our services thanks to the high demand. We are offering more destinations and higher frequencies. Our UK network is going to double, compared with last summer.”
He believes passengers have been attracted by fares being far cheaper than comparative train journeys – though the travel time is often more than twice as long – and because of the disruption caused by nine months of rail strikes.
FlixBus also operates buses from London to the Continent, including Italy, Portugal and Poland. In the US, it has acquired the famous Greyhound buses. Overall, FlixBus offers travel to over 5,000 locations around the world.
It has a five-year plan to become the market leader in the UK inter-city bus market. Mr Schorling declined to reveal the firm’s current market share but said it attracted its millionth passenger last September.
Earlier this week, rival operator National Express reported an 87 per cent annual increase in UK scheduled coach revenues between January and March, due to the post-pandemic recovery and impact of the rail strikes.
Mr Schorling said: “We would argue it’s much more comfortable than travelling by low-cost airline or by train. In most cases, it’s less than half the price of the train.
“Because of the cost of living crisis, a lot of people are very careful about how they’re spending their money. That makes it a fantastic opportunity to try the coach.”
