# Anyone have the 411 on FlixBus?



## BCL (Jul 25, 2022)

I've been planning a trip to LA and I thought of looking at MegaBus only to find out that they discontinued all service in California and I suppose the western US. Along with who knows what else.

However, I was recently at a McDonald's with my kid, and on the way there we saw a bus with the FlixBus name parked outside. I'm not sure if there were any passengers, but I would think that even some random McDonald's might make for a meal stop. Not sure why they would have chosen this one, or perhaps this was just the driver stopping there on the way to park the bus.

I looked into the prices and it didn't seem to be all that cheap. Amtrak has pretty much fixed prices for all routes between the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, with the exception of the Coast Starlight. However, there are probably people who can't fly, and Megabus is no longer offering bus service.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Jul 28, 2022)

Flix Bus is a European company. There business practices in there rail division have been unkind to those who collaborate with them. The bus side been pretty good.

There operation is a platform where you can purchase tickets, the actual bus are owned and operated by subcontractors. They do require and inspection there bus subcontractors for safety and performance issues. But otherwise ever route is a different service provider with Flex Bus’s branding, and equipment that meets there service requirements.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 28, 2022)

BCL said:


> I've been planning a trip to LA and I thought of looking at MegaBus only to find out that they discontinued all service in California and I suppose the western US. Along with who knows what else.
> 
> However, I was recently at a McDonald's with my kid, and on the way there we saw a bus with the FlixBus name parked outside. I'm not sure if there were any passengers, but I would think that even some random McDonald's might make for a meal stop. Not sure why they would have chosen this one, or perhaps this was just the driver stopping there on the way to park the bus.
> 
> I looked into the prices and it didn't seem to be all that cheap. Amtrak has pretty much fixed prices for all routes between the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, with the exception of the Coast Starlight. However, there are probably people who can't fly, and Megabus is no longer offering bus service.


Everytime I've taken the Emeryville to Santa Barbara Amtrak Thruway Bus which is around a 6-7 Hour trip( crosses the Bay Bridge, uses 101 with Stops in San Francisco and San Luis Obispo) it has stopped for a Rest Stop @ a McDonalds and there have been other Buses parked there also.

Cheapest ticket I've seen on Flix Bus is $26 with $60 being the average Fare.
Amtrak Thruway requires a Train Segment and mine have been Santa Barbara to San Diego on a Surfliner.


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## BCL (Jul 28, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> Everytime I've taken the Emeryville to Santa Barbara Amtrak Thruway Bus which is around a 6-7 Hour trip( crosses the Bay Bridge, uses 101 with Stops in San Francisco and San Luis Obispo) it has stopped for a Rest Stop @ a McDonalds and there have been other Buses parked there also.
> 
> Cheapest ticket I've seen on Flix Bus is $26 with $60 being the average Fare.
> Amtrak Thruway requires a Train Segment and mine have been Santa Barbara to San Diego on a Surfliner.



We took the overnight Santa Barbara to Emeryville bus a few weeks ago and our stop was at a Valero/7-11 on the outskirts of King City. I think I mentioned it in another topic, where we were delayed because a passenger couldn't be found and had left his wallet on the bus. But I guess that may be something that's done for overnights if a McDonald's isn't 24 hours, or just has a drive thru open overnight. We stayed on the bus.

Our booking was also really bizarre because we did it as a round trip on points - EMY-SBA on the Coast Starlight, but then SBA-OKJ-EMY on the Thruway bus plus Capitol Corridor. But the last two bus stops were EMY and OKJ. We asked the driver if we had to stay until the end and he said it was OK and he wouldn't freak out about it (unlike the missing passenger who left his walled on the bus). Not sure why the bus couldn't have been it since we booked it as a round trip, but that's what it did.

We're making a similar trip to Anaheim and LA, but this time I booked each leg separately. It's got EMY-SBA-ANA as a bus-train, and LAX-SBA-EMY as a train-bus, but this time they don't tack on the extra OKJ-EMY train segment.


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## railiner (Jul 28, 2022)

Just-Thinking-51 said:


> Flix Bus is a European company. There business practices in there rail division have been unkind to those who collaborate with them. The bus side been pretty good.
> 
> There operation is a platform where you can purchase tickets, the actual bus are owned and operated by subcontractors. They do require and inspection there bus subcontractors for safety and performance issues. But otherwise ever route is a different service provider with Flex Bus’s branding, and equipment that meets there service requirements.


Almost sounds like “Uber”, but with buses on a fixed schedule, instead of cars on demand…
Note that Flix purchased what was left of Greyhound Lines, from FirstGroup, but doesn’t seem to be making any improvements to that sorry operation…


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## daybeers (Jul 29, 2022)

railiner said:


> Note that Flix purchased what was left of Greyhound Lines, from FirstGroup, but doesn’t seem to be making any improvements to that sorry operation…


This is it. Intercity bus service has declined dramatically in frequency, routes, and customer service for a long time now, but especially since the start of Covid.


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