FlixBus doubles its bookings to Germany due to strike

Twice as many passengers are taking the bus to Germany now that train workers in that country have gone on strike, reports bus operator FlixBus. Due to the six-day strike, the longest ever on German railroads, a FlixBus spokesperson said that there is more demand for alternative means of transport than during previous work stoppages on the railways in Germany.

“This time the demand is even higher than the previous two strikes in Germany, probably due to the length of the strike,” he said. During the work stoppage, extra buses will run between Amsterdam and Berlin, the spokesperson said. If necessary, more additional trips will be added. He emphasized that there are still enough tickets left and that the carrier is running as many double-deckers as possible to create more space.

Public transport operator Arriva said that the buses between Heerlen and Maastricht in the Netherlands and locations in Germany are slightly busier than normal. “This of course concerns short distances and probably also concerns passengers who are used to traveling between the Netherlands and Germany,” he says. Arriva is not running extra buses during the German train strike.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bahn (DB) drivers started their passenger train strike. Freight train drivers stopped work a day earlier in a drawn-out conflict between rail union GDL and DB. The union is demanding its workers receive the same amount of money for a shorter work week. Dutch national railway NS, NightJet and Arriva previously announced that they were canceling trains during the strike, which will last until Monday.

The strike caused massive disruptions with the high volume of trains cancelled on Wednesday, the German news agency DPA reported. Hardly any trains are expected to run in Germany on other days either. DB trains are running on a very limited emergency timetable, and companies are seeing losses because their shipments of goods are arriving late.

DB warned that freight transport to Dutch and Belgian ports is also affected by the strike. The same applies to freight trains passing through the Alps, Poland and Scandinavian countries. On Wednesday, rail transport policy advisor Geert van Eijk from Evofenedex warned that Dutch industry could come to a standstill due to the major train strike.