flixbus exist, which i don’t even understand how they have ridership when they run routes parallel to railways that take like twice as long while obviously being less comfortable…
so the way public transport generally works —in sweden at least— is that the bulk of it is managed by the regional government and uses a zone system (like the oyster cards in london i think). Then ontop of that there’s SJ, the national train operator, which has its own generally separate ticket system that is more traditional where you book a specific departure between two stations.
Then outside of this you also have fully private public transport companies, of which the major ones are VR trains between stockholm-gothenburg, snälltåget which runs night trains from the north to south (sometimes down to hamburg/berlin), and flixbus which runs a bunch of routes throughout sweden.
so the strange thing about flixbus is that it runs a bunch of routes that take you between the same places as the trains can, in a less comfortable vehicle, and absolutely fucking hilariously slower.
For example gothenburg-stockholm is 3-4 hours by train and flixbus takes 6-7 hours.
There are some reasons i can see to opt for flixbus, most obvious being that it does serve places where getting to the trains is otherwise inconvenient and it can be like half the price, but it still astonishes me that a completely for-profit company finds that a sensible thing to operate here.
so the strange thing about flixbus is that it runs a bunch of routes that take you between the same places as the trains can, in a less comfortable vehicle, and absolutely fucking hilariously slower.
For example gothenburg-stockholm is 3-4 hours by train and flixbus takes 6-7 hours.
Brussels to Amsterdam and back:
2h45 each way by Flixbus (about 5 min longer each way than the slow train, which has more stops)
<€20 on Flixbus; >€40 by train
Flixbus allowed Tor users to see schedules and fares until just recently. Now both Flixbus and Train vendors block Tor. The train ticketing sites are still a more shitty experience, at least in Belgium.
Buses are more reliable than trains. We never hear about road works disrupting the trip. But back when I used the train it was a regular shit-show of delays and cancellations because you cannot easily route around maintenance on the tracks.
So you pay at least €20 more to get there ~5 min faster. Or you can pay even double the slow train fare if you want to shave off ~30min using the fast train.
The buses often have Wi-Fi and power. Do trains? IIRC, it was quite rare for trains to have either.
see you’re talking about routes that are 5 minutes slower, that’s not what i’m talking about
Look at my example again, 7 hours vs 4 hours, that’s an insane time difference and i can’t imagine many people would choose the bus even if it has more amenities (which it doesn’t, the gothenburg-stockholm route is very high quality)
Scandinavia has those long-haul bus trips. I recall checking on a bus to Denmark. The time difference was substantial. In my case a flight made the most sense. But in any case, this is not a Flixbus issue generally. It’s the routes which are likely intended for shorter travel, like people getting on and off in just a small segment of the overall route.
Would you mind explaining more? How’s Flixbus?
so the way public transport generally works —in sweden at least— is that the bulk of it is managed by the regional government and uses a zone system (like the oyster cards in london i think). Then ontop of that there’s SJ, the national train operator, which has its own generally separate ticket system that is more traditional where you book a specific departure between two stations.
Then outside of this you also have fully private public transport companies, of which the major ones are VR trains between stockholm-gothenburg, snälltåget which runs night trains from the north to south (sometimes down to hamburg/berlin), and flixbus which runs a bunch of routes throughout sweden.
so the strange thing about flixbus is that it runs a bunch of routes that take you between the same places as the trains can, in a less comfortable vehicle, and absolutely fucking hilariously slower.
For example gothenburg-stockholm is 3-4 hours by train and flixbus takes 6-7 hours.
There are some reasons i can see to opt for flixbus, most obvious being that it does serve places where getting to the trains is otherwise inconvenient and it can be like half the price, but it still astonishes me that a completely for-profit company finds that a sensible thing to operate here.
Brussels to Amsterdam and back:
So you pay at least €20 more to get there ~5 min faster. Or you can pay even double the slow train fare if you want to shave off ~30min using the fast train.
The buses often have Wi-Fi and power. Do trains? IIRC, it was quite rare for trains to have either.
see you’re talking about routes that are 5 minutes slower, that’s not what i’m talking about
Look at my example again, 7 hours vs 4 hours, that’s an insane time difference and i can’t imagine many people would choose the bus even if it has more amenities (which it doesn’t, the gothenburg-stockholm route is very high quality)
Scandinavia has those long-haul bus trips. I recall checking on a bus to Denmark. The time difference was substantial. In my case a flight made the most sense. But in any case, this is not a Flixbus issue generally. It’s the routes which are likely intended for shorter travel, like people getting on and off in just a small segment of the overall route.