Long-distance coaches in Germany

[Groningen]

Sunday 2nd of August (my birthday) will see the ending of the Public Express between Groningen, Oldenburg and Bremen. PE blaims it on cheap railtickets, but there are now also other buscompanies present here. 1 bus takes you from Groningen to Muenchen (Munich). Departing at around 15.30 and you arrive at 8 in Bavaria. It is seems to be only on Friday.

 

[dutchflyer]

Just completed a Megabus overnight trip from Munich ZOB (depart 23.00) to Berlin ZOB (arrive 08.45). For €7.50 nothing I could really complain about, however I did think the timings seemed a little long. .

Did it the other way just a few days before you-in my InterRail-for 1,50-introduction. Just a few days ago, Berlin-DOrtmund for EUR8,50. Went to Berlin on a 19 eur special summerdeal on DB-IC.
Its simply a kind of split-off of the long established (and very flourishing-thanks to the high prices and low quality of PKP)- POLSKIbus. Both times had 2 Polski drivers- 1 being the interpreter.
As MEGA is quite unknown in Deutschland, loadings are not very big. It will now however show up on airline-style fare-compares-sites for fernbusse, like fahrtenfuchs.de or busliniensuche.de (I think up till now only in german).
As a complete aside: Mega has now also opened routes into Italy.

 

[radamfi]

Do the drivers of MeinFernbus/Flixbus and Public Express who drive between the Netherlands and Germany speak Dutch or only German?

 

[WestCoast]

Do the drivers of MeinFernbus/Flixbus and Public Express who drive between the Netherlands and Germany speak Dutch or only German?

I think it depends on the operator with MFB-F. I travelled Bad Oeynhausen to Amsterdam on MFB earlier this year and the operator was a German company (the name escapes me). The driver made detailed announcements in German, with decent summaries in English, absolutely sufficient for any Dutch passengers. I believe they have some Dutch operators (like Bakker Reizen on the X31 Amsterdam - Berlin), so that is probably a different story.
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Did it the other way just a few days before you-in my InterRail-for 1,50-introduction. Just a few days ago, Berlin-DOrtmund for EUR8,50. Went to Berlin on a 19 eur special summerdeal on DB-IC.
Its simply a kind of split-off of the long established (and very flourishing-thanks to the high prices and low quality of PKP)- POLSKIbus. Both times had 2 Polski drivers- 1 being the interpreter.
As MEGA is quite unknown in Deutschland, loadings are not very big. It will now however show up on airline-style fare-compares-sites for fernbusse, like fahrtenfuchs.de or busliniensuche.de (I think up till now only in german).
As a complete aside: Mega has now also opened routes into Italy.

Megabus Germany GmbH has opened depots in Munich and Hannover so I'm guessing the plan is to build up the route network even further.

 

[radamfi]

DB has taken over Berlin Linien Bus, which has a fairly substantial network of routes, unsurprisingly radiating from Berlin.

http://www.europebyrail.eu/deutsche-bahn-takes-over-berlin-linien-bus

So DB effectively competes against itself on many routes, unlike the IC Bus which largely avoids direct competition with the main IC/ICE network.

 

[radamfi]

Earlier in the thread the high speed minibus between Munich and Berlin was mentioned, taking advantage of the lack of speed limits on parts of the German Autobahn network:

http://www.matzes-minibus.de/

Postbus are copying the concept, using 9 seat minibuses between Aachen and Frankfurt Airport, making the journey in 2 hours 45 minutes.

https://www.postbus.de/Schnellbus-Postbus-Sprinter/

 

[WestCoast]

Earlier in the thread the high speed minibus between Munich and Berlin was mentioned, taking advantage of the lack of speed limits on parts of the German Autobahn network:

http://www.matzes-minibus.de/

Postbus are copying the concept, using 9 seat minibuses between Aachen and Frankfurt Airport, making the journey in 2 hours 45 minutes.

https://www.postbus.de/Schnellbus-Postbus-Sprinter/

Interesting concept with free Wifi and complimentary refreshments on a minibus. Postbus is the highest quality operator IME.