Munich, September 22nd, 2025 – On World Car Free Day, Flix highlights how simple choices in everyday travel can make a measurable impact. 

In Europe, passengers switching from car to coach can reduce their individual carbon footprint by up to 83%.  A trip from Paris to Madrid illustrates the effect. By car, one traveler emits around 207 kg CO₂ (164 g/km). By coach, emissions fall to just 36 kg CO₂ (27.8 g/km) – more than five times less. [1]

In 2024 alone, Flix customers worldwide saved an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ just by choosing its mobility services over other modes of transport that emit a higher amount of CO2 on a per passenger/km basis, like cars and planes. This proves that affordable collective travel already makes a difference. 

Besides, each coach can replace on average 30 private cars on the road. [2] This not only reduces emissions, but it also relieves traffic and noise – a direct benefit for local communities. 

«Sustainability must not be a privilege for the few. For over a decade, we have been proving that affordability and responsibility can go hand in hand. With technology, we will continue to enhance convenient travel worldwide to make better choices available for as many people as possible,» says André Schwämmlein, CEO and Co-Founder of Flix. 

The comparatively low emission factor per passenger/km of the FlixBus service, which in Europe is overperformed only by intercity trains, is made possible by a modern fleet predominantly equipped with Euro 6 coaches. In addition, while zero-emission solutions for coaches are still hard to scale up, over the years Flix has been engaging with diverse partners to pilot alternative drives and fuels to reduce its impact. A full overview of the projects activated is available here. 

While technological advancement is paramount to making travel by coach more sustainable, better infrastructure is key to encouraging collective travel today. In 2024, close to one third of interviewed Flix passengers rated public facilities at coach stops as poor in quality or safety. [3]Ensuring adequate terminals and stops is essential to fully unlock the benefits of collective travel. 

[1] For a comparison of emission factors for different modes of transport, see Flix’s Avoided Emission Methodology Document 2024, pp. 8-9.
[2] ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association), Buses: what they are and why they are so important 
[3] Flix data, Post-Ride Survey – Stop Ratings, January 2024-September 2024. Total sample size is 803,000 passengers. 15% of Flix travelers rated facilities as their departure stop as “poor” throughout the data collection period, 13% as “very poor”.