Night bus –
The couchebers disembarks in Switzerland to conquer Europe
From October, Twiliner will offer night trips from Switzerland to Barcelona or Amsterdam. For around 150 francs, passengers will travel in real approved beds.
The Twiliner buses offer 21 berth places for night trips to Amsterdam, Barcelona and other European capitals.
DR
- The new Twiliner buses offer comfortable berths to several destinations.
- The journeys from Switzerland cost around 150 francs.
- Special sleeping bags guarantee passenger safety.
- The company targets a hundred European cities with high tourist potential.
Lengthen, sleep and wake up the next morning in the heart of Barcelona or Amsterdam is the promise of Twilinera Swiss start-up that will launch a new night bus offer from October. Unlike classic long distance cars, the company only offers 21 places. They turn into real berths, as in Business class on a plane.
Twiliner: from Zurich, Bern and Basel
From October, Twiliner will offer several night links from Switzerland to European cities. According to the website, Zurich’s trip to Barcelona will cost 156 francs (departure at 7:30 p.m., arrived at 9:45 a.m.). For the Basel-Amsterdam route, Twiliner will require 150 francs (11 p.m. to 9 h 45). It will be necessary to pay the same amount of 156 francs for the Berne-Barcelona link (9:15 p.m. 9:45 a.m.). The other proposed destinations are Rotterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg and localities in northeast Spain.
Contrary to Flix busTwiliner occupies a market niche, with much higher comfort. While Flixbus is focusing on attractive prices and a high filling rate, Twiliner aims to pay more customers to benefit from a more comfortable bed and night trip.
The two companies apply a similar commercial model. They do not exploit the buses directly, but collaborate with established transport companies, such as Staf Cars. The latter roll both for Flixbus and for Twiliner. Competition therefore remains rather indirect. It is not aimed at the same customers, but meets different needs on identical journeys.
When the comfort of a bed bus rhymes with safety
The Twiliner bus beds have been developed for several years, in collaboration with the Haute École specialized Bernese. Passengers are comfortably elongated and safely in a special sleeping bag designed to protect them in the event of an accident.
Bertone on the Twiliner bus: the seats turn into beds, a safety bag included.
DR
According to Twiliner, the seats meet strict approval criteria. They come from the Swiss LANTAL company.
The transport company has tested different target groups. If tourists should be the first interested in the link to Barcelona, business travelers could also be seduced by the line to Amsterdam. The company identifies a hundred European cities with high potential, each generating at least 2,000 travelers per day.
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Referral questions on the Twiliner model
Despite the innovative nature of the concept, we remain cautious. The duration of the journey, more than thirteen hours until Barcelonarisk of discouraging travelers, especially businessmen. It is also more difficult to guarantee punctuality on roads than in rail or air transport. The founder of the company, Luca Bortolani, is confident, but with a few reservations: “We must grow quickly, otherwise the business model will not be viable.”
Translated from German by Emmanuelle Stevan
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