Long-distance bus company FlixBus expanding service to Oregon, Washington, Idaho
Travelers will have a new option in the Pacific Northwest beginning in late November.
Long-distance bus company FlixBus expanding service to Oregon, Washington, Idaho Travelers will have a new option in the Pacific Northwest beginning in late November. Check out this story on statesmanjournal.com: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2019/11/13/flixbus-bus-company-new-service-pacific-northwest/4178839002/
David Davis, Salem Statesman Journal Published 10:52 a.m. PT Nov. 13, 2019 | Updated 12:49 p.m. PT Nov. 15, 2019
German bus company FlixBus has partnered with Seattle-based charter operation MTR Western to expand their long-distance bus service into the region, according to a company statement.
Four trips per direction are planned between Portland and Eugene with stops in Salem, Albany and Corvallis. Stops in Corvallis and Eugene will be directly on university campuses.
Other connections will be available to Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia on the Interstate 5 corridor and Ellensburg, Spokane and Coeur d'Alene to the east.
Service is scheduled to begin November 21.
Buses from FlixBus will soon be a familiar sight on Northwest highways as the company rolls out new service to the region. (Photo: courtesy FlixBus)
Comparing prices, times
The company boasts a technology focused service with claimed lower travel times compared to existing carriers on some routes.
A check of available trips on a weekday in early December on the company's website between Eugene and Portland showed direct travel times between two hours and two hours, forty-five minutes depending on the time of day. Fares for the one-way trip start at $9.99 before a service fee.
A similar trip on Greyhound's BoltBus service showed similar travel times of two hours, twenty minutes, with one stop in Albany, and fares starting at $15 before service fees.
A trip by train from Eugene to Portland on Amtrak Cascades takes a scheduled one hour nine minutes with fares running from $18 to $33 before service fees based on a search of their website this week.
The company says it plans to introduce electric buses into its fleet by 2021 after a long-distance pilot program between San Francisco and Sacramento.
In addition to booking via the company's app, tickets can be booked using Google Assistant voice control, the first long-distance bus company to do so in 2018, according to the company.
The company first rolled out service on the East Coast in 2018.
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