Till this my last trip, I haven’t used FlixBus. Before using it, I read reviews and found that statistically there are about 50% very bad reviews, and only 10% good ones.Even taking into account very well known psychological effect that people with bad experience tend to leave their review more frequently, this was too much.After traveling now with in total 5 FlixBus routes within my last trip, I must say this disbalance is not justified, the company is not that bad.So, the purpose of this my review is to correct the situation a bit, to try giving objective review and simply to share my current vision and impression about FlixBus service.So, I travelled now 5 routes in the end of July – beginning of August 2023. The routes were:Rotterdam – LionLion – ChamonixChamonix – GeneveGeneve – ParisParis – RotterdamWhat can I say? First positives, then negatives, and then my conclusion.Positives: The buses start and finish on time, unless there are circumstances that are beyond their control. For example, the bus arrived to Geneva late, because there was a traffic jam in the tunnel on Italian side from where it started. The bus back to Rotterdam started later, as there was a mess with one of the passengers, that had a problem with his ticket. In principle, the timing is OK.The drivers are quite polite, sometimes more, sometimes less, but not harsh or rude, and always try to help passengersThe toilets, where applicable, were OK. In the bus back to Rotterdam, there was indeed a problem with the toilet, and the driver tried to fix it himself. This was also partly a reason why the bus started later. Finally, this succeeded, so there was no problem with the toilet anymore. But in any case drivers stop from time to time at some places, like fuel stations, where there are toilets and also small shops to buy food and drinks.The app works fine, shows the progress of the trip and updates (besides something which is described in Negatives)The drivers do not check the weight and the dimensions of your luggage, except one case (see Negatives)Negatives:On the bus from Geneva to Paris, which starts in Italy, the driver noticed that my hand bag is too big. Well, I came to Chamonix to climb Montblanc, and the day after the ascent and the descent I had a lot of wet things including my mountain shoes. These shoes are quite large, and before that I was just wearing them in the bus, but this time I placed it in my main baggage, so they occupied a lot of place and therefore my hand rukzak (back bag) became also big.Here, I must say that I did pay for additional, special baggage when purchasing the ticket. However, in the ticket in the app I could not find it.But anyway, the problem was that the driver did not speak any other language besides Italian, which I do not speak. So, it was not possible to explain him anything.I first thought that he means that the second bag should be also stored inside the bus and not taken to bus salon, so I removed most necessary things from my hand bag to a small packet and tried to enter the bus, but he did not give me to do so.Finally, somehow I understood that I need to pay. When I expressed my readiness to pay, the problem was solved. It was just 10 Euros in cash.But here I would like to emphasize that despite the problem appeared indeed, it was possible to solve it on spot and this I find as most important.Another thing – the last bus to Paris, which departed late, also arrived late (of course), but also the total travel duration was longer, 9 hours vs 8 expected. Of course, here I also can mention that before the trip there were cancellations of buses and I needed to rebook, and sometimes what I got was less convenient, but this is another story not related to the travel process itself.Conclusion:In principle, FlixBus is quite good company, that gives you more or less what you can expect from them, so I would recommend to use it, at the bottom line.Another thing is that it is quite tiring and exhausting, of course. Travelling 8-9 hours between Paris and Rotterdam seems to me too much. You spend a lot of time on it and arrive tired. But this is not a problem of the bus itself. And yes, it is much cheaper than trains.Thank you all for reading and your attention.
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FlixBus is een Europese intercitybusdienst die elke dag grote en middelgrote steden met elkaar verbindt. Sinds het einde van het spoorwegmonopolie en de privatisering van de intercitybusmarkt biedt FlixBus moderne mobiliteitsmogelijkheden aan tegen scherpe prijzen. De FlixBus dienstverlening is van start gegaan op 13 februari 2013 in Duitsland. Met meer dan 10.000 dagelijkse busreizen door 15 europese landen, een sterk partnernetwerk en een innovatief boekingssysteem heeft FlixBus het tot een van de meest toonaangevende intercitybusmaatschappijen van Europa geschopt.See more
