Evgenia Koptyug
Research expert covering the German market
Long-distance bus market in Germany - statistics & facts
Long-distance buses are a type of long-distance transport which connects different cities and regions with each other. In Germany, long-distance bus transport was liberalized in the beginning of 2013. Before that, long-distance bus lines were not allowed, barring a few exceptions. This was done for the protection of the Deutsche Bahn. Currently this ban applies only to bus lines that would directly compete with regional train transport.
The number of passengers on scheduled long-distance buses amounted to 21 million in 2019. 16.7 million passengers used domestic bus transport in 2018.
While numerous players were still active on the long-distance bus market after its liberalization, in recent years the dominance of the Flixbus company (previously MeinFernbus/ Flixbus) was obvious. The market share, measured by schedule kilometers offered by Flixbus, was 85 percent in 2019. The second-largest long-distance bus company at that time, BlaBlaBus, had a market share of 7.4 percent. Lastly, in the summer of 2016, Flixbus took over the European bus lines of British Megabus and the long-distance bus segment of Postbus.
A long-distance bus line is otherwise similar to local transport: during the regularly taken route from city A to city B stops at various locations take place, where passengers can disembark and board. Flixbus dominates in this field as well, with the largest number of long-distance bus lines in the country.
While numerous players were still active on the long-distance bus market after its liberalization, in recent years the dominance of the Flixbus company (previously MeinFernbus/ Flixbus) was obvious. The market share, measured by schedule kilometers offered by Flixbus, was 85 percent in 2019. The second-largest long-distance bus company at that time, BlaBlaBus, had a market share of 7.4 percent. Lastly, in the summer of 2016, Flixbus took over the European bus lines of British Megabus and the long-distance bus segment of Postbus.
A long-distance bus line is otherwise similar to local transport: during the regularly taken route from city A to city B stops at various locations take place, where passengers can disembark and board. Flixbus dominates in this field as well, with the largest number of long-distance bus lines in the country.
