From Croatia, people are mostly traveling to Munich.
FlixBus – a bus service version of Uber has about 250 bus owners under its umbrella and has established a very firm presence in Western Europe. It has now chosen Zagreb as a springboard for Central and Eastern Europe. Same as Uber had instantly picked up a substantial share of the taxi transportation market, German FlixBus has become Europe’s largest bus operator in just a few years, although it does not own a single bus, reports tportal.hr June 26, 2016.
This young tech company represents a unique combination – a start-up, online service and transport business. FlixBus was founded by three young entrepreneurs from Munich in 2013. Using a well-designed business model supported by innovative technological solutions, they have gathered hundreds of small companies under their brand to create a powerful European bus network.
FlixBus develops a network and plans routes throughout Europe for its partners, and it also organizes ticket sales and marketing activities, while providing them support when it comes to financing the purchase of buses. On the other hand, the users of the network can get the information on available routes and fares via mobile applications, and book and buy tickets online. The additional options include free Internet and luggage transport, and the possibility to cancel or change reservations free of charge up to 15 minutes before departure.
In January of this year, FlixBus came to Croatia, and in early June they opened a regional branch in Zagreb, which became a hub for Central and Eastern Europe. Starting from 16 June, the first Croatian bus carriers have entered the Flixbus system. Croatian partners of the German company, with their distinctive green buses, are Brioni Pula, Vincek Prijevoz, Slavonija Bus, Prijevoz Knežević and Samoborček.
They currently connect twenty Croatian cities with 40 cities in Europe (Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland) and plan to connect another 15 cities in eastern Croatia directly with about a dozen European cities, while Istrian cities will be linked with Padova, and Zagreb with Budapest. FlixBus representatives are happy with the initial performance indicators in Croatia. They point out that the capacity of the busses is filled up to 80 percent daily, and the customers mostly travel to Munich, continuing their journey afterwards to other cities across Europe.
As for price comparison, the price of a one-way ticket to Munich usually varies from 195 to 255 kuna, depending on the time and the transportation company, and FlixBus ticket was the cheapest. It is possible to spend even less if you buy a ticket earlier. You can travel to Munich for only 69 kuna if you buy a ticket at least four days before your travel.
