An overview of amendments und market shares

An important bill of the French government, which attracted only little international media attention, came into force on August 10, 2015: the liberalization of the intercity bus market in France.

With this new legislation, the French government aims to facilitate travel, by allowing the development of inter-regional public transport and, of course, having an impact on the price of this travel. Up to now providers of intercity buses that pass France were obliged to prove that more than half of their passengers are on their way to international destinations. Thanks to the intercity bus market liberalization the transport is also allowed on national bus routes for distances of at least 100km. 

There is a similar regulation in Germany to protect the local public transport system: In fact the authorised limit in Germany is with 50km considerably lower, but with an application of exemption to the french Railway and Road Activities Regulation Authority (ARAFER) short distances will be possible as well. In 2013, 8.2 million Germans travelled by intercity bus, which represents an increase of 180% compared to 2012 when the intercity bus market was not liberalized [ref.0]. 

„In the near future we expect a sharp increase in the bus routes in France, since the long-distance bus providers above the 100km limit can start right away", says Martin Rammensee, CEO of the intercity bus search engine busradar.com, and carries on: "Short distances are expected in October, as soon as the ARAFER approves the applications of exemption for short distances after a processing time of two months.“

The liberalisation of the French intercity bus market is likely to result in an increase in bus connections to and from France. In the year of 2013 there were only 110.000 passengers using intercity buses [ref.1], starting in 2016 however the French government expects up to five million passengers per year [ref.2]. As in Germany, the intercity bus could quickly become a most favorable alternative on the French transportation market, which used to be a train and car sharing dominated market -up to now.

Market shares of the intercity bus providers in France

Currently, there are six long-distance bus providers competing with each other in France. The chart below illustrates the relative market share of these providers, based on the number of offered bus routes (whereas bus route in this case means: a bus connection between two cities for which a ticket can be bought).  (Status as of 08/10/15, methodology: [ref.3]).

1. Eurolines/Isilines (59.6%)
2. Starshipper.com (22.7%)
3. Alsa (13.9%)
4. iDBUS (1.9%)
5. megabus.com (1.2%)
6. FlixBus (0.7%)

Relative market shares on the basis of bus routes in France - chart CC-BY busradar.com

Eurolines France, a brand of the Transdev-group, offers international bus lines already since 2011. Starshipper.com, an association of French bus companies, and iDBUS, a subsidiary of SNCF, followed in 2012. In the scope of its international bus routes, Alsa offers already domestic bus routes in France – however not very frequently.

Whereas Alsa keeps a low profile regarding the French intercity bus market, the remaining long-distance bus providers are hilghly ambitious. Since July 2015 Transdev runs under the new brand Isilines a national scheduled service, which operated a bit "unregular" because of the legal situation until the official liberalisation in August. Referring to Transdev there will follow 40 more bus lines [ref.4]. In the meantime Megabus.com announced new lines and will presumably open the existing, international bus routes in France. iDBUS also plans to let 80 more buses hit the road by September 2015 [ref.5]. Additionally, the leading German bus transport operator FlixBus wants to develop its route network in France and offers three bus routes in France already since 2015.

Reference

• REF. 0: Reference: http://www.sustainable-mobility.org/innovating-for-tomorrow/public-policy/gearing-up-for-the-liberalisation-of-long-distance-coaches.html
• REF.1: Reference: Autorité de la Concurrence http://www.autoritedelaconcurrence.fr/pdf/avis/14a05.pdf
• REF.2: Reference: French government via press related material http://www.economie.gouv.fr/files/files/PDF/DP_loi-activite_091214.pdf
• REF.3: methodology: only French routes considered, routes only counted once (even if both directions are being operated), several bus stops in one city are sumed up. Routes, which are operated by Alsa and Eurolines in cooperation (e.g. Aix-en-Provence <-> Perpignan), are added to Eurolines routes. Result in absolute numbers: Eurolines/Isilines 257, Starshipper.com 98, Alsa 60, megabus.com 5, iDBUS 8, FlixBus 3
• REF.4: Reference: http://bfmbusiness.bfmtv.com/entreprise/autocars-transdev-va-lancer-une-quarantaine-de-lignes-des-que-possible-851925.html
• REF.5: Reference: http://www.europe1.fr/economie/idbus-la-sncf-lancera-80-autocars-le-2-septembre-1358674