Farewell Megabus. The European expansion interrupted by Brexit.

The German company FlixBus bought the entire continental network of coach connections from the British competitor megabus.com. Thereby one of the youngest operators has grown into the largest coach carrier in Europe. This move is another echo of Brexit. This sale does not include PolskiBus, OnniBus.com, and superbus.com, who like megabus.com is owned by Sir Brian Souter Stagecoach Group.
The British operator - Megabus also retain the entire route network in the UK and North America. There are no changes here. All megabus.com reservations remain valid and will be executed by FlixBus.

megabus.com was the youngest competitor in the German market for FlixBus. Since last year, the British carrier had tried to convince the Europeans by offering tickets for EUR 1.50, but without much success. In April 2016 studies have shown that megabus.com’s share of the European market was only two percent. Given this result and the lack of significant recent successes in other countries, Megabus decided to sell the European branch to the largest competitor which is FlixBus. Certainly, this decision is very accelerated because of Brexit, the UK’s exit from the European Union structures. Probably as predicted by Sir Brian Souter, will give the British transport companies additional burden that will increase operating costs and above all will lengthen the trip. Hence quick decision - sell. The sale agreement will enter into force on 1st July. After this date, Megabus forward their lines and vehicles to FlixBus. We know nothing about the amount of the sum they had to pay.

Megabus in the last two years strongly expanded its continental network, leading to the release of coach market in France. The characteristic blue coaches we could see for example in Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, where they support regular connections to/from the UK. It seemed that the blue-green rivalry would continue in Europe, at least for a few years - with positive results for European passengers. Brexit apparently crossed the plans.

On the other hand FlixBus, after the acquisition of the capital fund in 2015 and the merger with MeinFernbus, it is on the path of dynamic development. The platform dominated the German market for express coach connection with the participation of about 70 percent. This move allowed the "green" a wider entrance to foreign markets and the rapid deployment of a dense network of international connections. FlixBus is now present in 19 countries, transporting annually approx. 20 million passengers. This 100,000 services per day to 800 cities! FlixBus wins!

Existing customer bookings for megabus.com Europe journeys remain valid and these services are continuing to operate as normal.

Please check information at www.megabus.com