With their reputation for skid row stations, grueling rides, and stinking toilets, intercity buses have long been the travel option of last resort. But in Europe, a startup called FlixBus has given buses a trendier, eco-friendly, sharing-economy vibe. Now it’s aiming to take on Greyhound Lines Inc. in the U.S.
Since introducing a handful of routes in Bavaria when Germany liberalized its long-distance bus market five years ago, Flix has become Europe’s biggest network, serving 1,700 destinations in 27 countries. More than 100,000 people board one of the company’s 1,500 bright-green coaches every day, embarking for destinations as far-flung as Kiev, Lisbon, and Oslo. With backing from private equity companies General Atlantic LLC and Silver Lake Management LLC, Flix in March added train travel in Germany and is experimenting with long-distance electric buses—an escalating ambition reflected in the change of its name to FlixMobility in 2016. “We didn’t win because we had the most money, and we’re not always the cheapest,” says André Schwämmlein, the company’s co-chief executive officer and one of three founders. “We focused on the customer, the brand, and the technology.”
