Close to one third of coach travelers are dissatisfied with bus stations and infrastructure that are managed by local authorities.¹ The importance to challenge this unsatisfactory status quo has been addressed by the travel tech leader Flix ahead of the European Mobility Week, the yearly awareness-raising campaign set up by the European Commission to encourage behavioral change in travel and thus enhance sustainable mobility.

Although most passengers seem appreciative of facilities at their stop, close to one third of Flix travelers have rated them as “poor” or “very poor” throughout the data collection period.²

A particularly pressing issue is considered missing personal safety (22%) at their arrival stop. Further reasons for dissatisfaction concern basics like weather shelters (21%), toilets (16%) or seating areas (11%) at the departure station being missing or in bad conditions.

Far from being a secondary aspect, passengers’ disappointment with the facilities and infrastructure they come across during their journey does have the power to impact on their choice of transport.

Both institutions and researchers regard infrastructure quality as an important driver of collective travel. For example, the EU stresses the importance of high-quality waiting facilities to increase attractiveness for travelers.³ Additionally, research shows that the overall quality of bus stations and terminals can play a role in determining a passenger’s choice to travel by coach.⁴

In the light of this, it appears even more important for local authorities who generally own and manage bus stations to provide safe, effective infrastructure to increase the chances that passengers choose a collective means of transportation and thereby strongly reduce their impact on the environment. The goal fully resonates with this year’s theme of the European Mobility Week, ‘Shared public space’, referred to as “a place where people, transport modes and activities all have their own space”.

«Every passenger lost to the private car is a defeat for the environment and the communities. Safe high-quality stations can play a huge role in keeping travelers on board of collective means of transportation, and thus support our vision of sustainable travel», said André Schwämmlein, CEO and Co-Founder of Flix.

«Ensuring the best possible customer experience has always been a priority for us, and bus stations also make an important part of this journey. While we call on country authorities to examine steps towards greater investment in coach infrastructure, of course we expect the EU to ensure higher standards and a level playing field across countries», concluded Schwämmlein.

Long-distance coaches as a sustainable travel solution for both the planet and the communities

Flix calling on authorities to invest in coach infrastructure falls within its vision to drive sustainable and affordable travel for all, collective transport being a key catalyst in this respect.

While the company is aiming for net zero within 2040 in Europe and 2050 globally by pursuing a progressive transformation of its partners’ fleet through a variety of alternative drives and fuels, it has long made a point of helping people make more sustainable choices already today, by just providing them with collective travel solutions that allow them to reduce the carbon footprint of their journey.

To concretely quantify this contribution of collective travel to sustainability, Flix compared emissions per passenger kilometer of several modes of transport and calculated resounding savings over the past year. According to this analysis, 1.1 million tonnes CO₂ were avoided in 2023 alone thanks to travelers choosing Flix services over other modes of transport.⁵

Especially long-distance coaches rank as an extremely sustainable travel solution compared to individual transport: in Europe, FlixBus coaches equipped with state-of-the art Euro VI technologies – building 98% of the European fleet in 2023 – only emit 27.8 g CO₂ per passenger/km on average, more than five times less than a private car (166 g CO₂ per passenger/km).

Along with the environmental benefit, an effective network of long-distance coaches can positively impact the communities in the territories reached. On one side, it can support connectivity of residents where there is no collective alternative available. On the other side, it can enhance opportunities for environmentally conscious tourism by helping visitors reach these areas without driving.

Flix itself has acknowledged the importance of connecting remote areas: in 2023, 31% of the FlixBus network destinations worldwide had populations of fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.

¹ Flix data, Post-Ride Survey – Stop Ratings, January 2024-September 2024. Total sample size is 803,000 million passengers.

² 15% of Flix travelers have rated facilities as their departure stop as “poor” throughout the data collection period, 13% as “very poor”.

³ European Platform on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, Planning for Attractive Public Transport, September 2022

⁴ A. Cartenì, I. Henke, M. Picone, The value of waiting spaces: Tourists’ willingness to pay for high-quality bus terminals in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, July 2024

⁵ The indicator was subject to external independent assurance by ERM Certification and Verification Services Limited. For more details, please refer to ERM CVS assurance report and Flix’s 2023 Reporting Criteria.