A few years ago, Germany liberalized long-distance bus traffic, triggering a real boom not only nationally but throughout Europe. The comeback of long-distance coaches on European motorways was sealed. Air travelers also benefit from this, because many important airports are included in the route networks of the providers and thus inexpensive and reliable feeders are available.

Direct cooperation between airlines and long-distance bus operators is rather the exception. The German Postbus worked for some time with Lufthansa and offered, for example, a route from Salzburg to Munich Airport. This has already been discontinued and the German Postbus has been taken over from competitor Flixbus. This swallowed up many start-ups, but also offers from heavyweights such as the Austrian Federal Railways. Others, including the Berlin Linien Bus of Deutsche Bahn AG, gave up. Even before the corona pandemic, the market consolidated on Flixbus and a few smaller providers such as Regiojet.

At the moment there are a few things to consider when traveling by long-distance bus, especially if you want to catch a flight on time or need a reliable connection at the airport. It is particularly important to find out about the offer, because the route networks of the long-distance bus operators are not yet fully operational again. Due to numerous restrictions, many international connections are still suspended. At Vienna Airport, for example, this applies to the bus routes to Hungary, which were used very actively in the past. The tough entry regulations mean that no economically viable line operation is possible.

At other airports, such as the Warsaw-Chopin and Warsaw-Modlin airports, the long-distance bus lines continue to pause. However, the public transport buses run according to the regular schedule, so that alternatives are available. As a result, travelers should definitely find out whether a long-distance bus line is currently available at or to the desired airport. If not, you should definitely consider possible alternatives and, if necessary, also check the prices for rental cars. It is strongly recommended to reserve both bus tickets and rental cars online in advance, because in many places the stations of the rental car providers are also less staffed or only at all when customers have placed orders.

The frequencies of long-distance buses are very much thinned out on almost all lines that are currently served. This even applies to traffic within Germany and Austria. According to reports, it is due to the rather low demand, because not only air traffic suffers from a lack of willingness to travel and tough entry regulations, but also international rail and bus traffic. This means that open tickets can become problematic if you missed the only bus on that day. This also applies to fixed tickets. For this reason, it is essential to plan enough “air” for any delays or for finding the stop. It is also currently to be expected that individual courses may be canceled due to insufficient occupancy or short-term travel restrictions. For this purpose, a mobile phone number should be deposited with the long-distance bus operator so that he can provide information by phone and / or SMS and organize replacement transport.

It is currently particularly important that mouth and nose protection must be worn on board long-distance buses throughout Europe. Similar to air traffic, this can only be removed for a short time while eating and drinking. If you do not have it on, the transport can be refused. Some providers are also reducing the number of bookable seats in order to provide more distance. At peak times, despite low demand, this can mean that the bus driver no longer offers tickets. Therefore, reservations should be made online or via the app. It is also advisable to plan enough time when using long-distance buses, because the punctuality of the connection depends primarily on the traffic situation. If the bus is stuck in a traffic jam, delays can occur. This would also happen with a private car, but it is always advisable to plan a generous amount of time in order to be able to reach the flight or the appointment on time.