RegioJet Falls FlixBus files a lawsuit upon request
FlixBus entered the Czech market last August and Jančura said at the time that a competitor had come to destroy it. It’s worth it even now. “Its goal is not to bring competition and competition for service quality, but to gain a monopoly. This is also the case in other European countries. We will see how it responds to the pre-litigation request,” Jančura said. Evidence is supported by legislation, which is mainly long-term monitoring of average prices on some routes.
However, according to Čmielová, FlixBus can work with a lower price. “The competition is forced to keep prices higher due to the different prices, which, however, necessarily translate into pricing. We are working with a dynamic price that increases over time and the occupancy of connections,” she said. However, according to RegioJet, costs are comparable and free coffee and newspapers do not matter.
In addition to ten years ago on the Prague – Brno and Jančura routes, when he started operating Asiana buses there, he even had to pay a fine for the price war. However, we consider the cases to be different. “We sold part of the tickets for the same price as Asiana, at that time for 50 crowns, which we did not go. Moreover, only on the routes that competed. It was a logical reaction to keep customers, not to push a new player. On other routes we went for higher price and the whole line was in profit. It’s not with FlixBus, “said Jančura.
According to him, if FlixBus wanted to compete and not destroy it, it started running at a price commensurate with the costs after six months at the latest. “With an average occupancy of 80 percent, they calculated that they run on the Prague – Brno line for 35 pennies per kilometer, which will not cover the costs,” Jančura said.
He sees the way to beat FlixBus by heading for the railway. “There are 300 carriers with 3,000 buses running for FlixBus. They don’t have them themselves. However, they don’t have the opportunity to buy such a carrier on the railway, because they are basically not in Europe.
However, Jančura does not want to leave the buses, and as he was not interested in operating with them abroad in the past, he has now changed his mind and wants to play a much bigger role in it than before. “To be successful, nothing more can be revealed,” Jančura said.
Gradually, in recent years, it has opened more new international than domestic routes. One of the novelties is the line from Košice connected to trains from Prague, which will go to Ukraine to Uzhhorod and Mukachevo.