For years and years....we did not have long-distance bus travel in Germany. This was mostly due to the law, which gave a unfair advantage to the Bahn (the railway). So in the last decade, that law got dumped.
For a brief while.....a number of bus companies jumped into long-distance travel, with competition fierce, and today....there's basically Flexbus (the company) as the national leader, and a couple of minor players like Pinkbus (they only do four cities).
So I noticed via SWR (public TV for the SW of Germany), another company that has appeared and called 'Roadjet'.
It goes only from Stuttgart to Berlin, and back.....at least here in the beginning.
The difference in their offerings?
If you ride any of the other bus deals.....it's a regular bus with 55 to 60 seats, wi-fi, a toilet onboard, and that's it.
Roadjet intends to be a premium bus ride. More space...only 44 seats...washrooms (meaning two or more)....etc. They say there's a body temperature sensor that checks you out as you enter the bus.
This is a 7.5 hour ride (2 stops along the way, Leipzig and Nuremberg). The one-way cost? A hefty 40 Euro. That's probably 40-percent more than what you'd pay on Flexbus.
The train ride? On a ICE connection, it'd be 5.5 hours, and cost (at the cheaper hour rate around 35 Euro one way). If you tried to leave at a premium-time of 2 PM? It'd be in the 65 Euro range. So that 35 Euro trip only happens if you were willing to leave at 5:30 AM.
It's hard to predict if these guys got smart and figured that premium bus situations were able to attract a certain crowd of folks.
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