Pricing of the long-distance bus service in Europe: The case of Flixbus

Abstract

We study empirically the price dynamics in the long-distance bus market using posted fares by Flixbus, the market leader in Europe. We find that, at a given point in time, the fare increases with the number of sold seats. This result largely explains, why the lowest available fare increases as the departure date approaches. No evidence is found in favor of intertemporal price discrimination, probably because of low consumer-heterogeneity throughout the entire booking period that characterizes the long-distance bus market.