Swebus Express AB, trading as just Swebus between 2009 and 2018, was one of Sweden's largest long distance coach operators. Swebus had a "seat guarantee" for journeys bought at least 24 hours before departure, meaning it promised to bring in the necessary extra coaches in case of extensive booking on a departure.

Swebus Express
A Scania OmniExpress in Swebus livery in 2010
ParentFlixbus
Commenced operation21 April 1997
Ceased operation27 August 2018
HeadquartersSolna, Stockholm
Service areaSweden
Service typeIntercity coach service
Destinations150
Websitewww.flixbus.se
MAN Lion's Top Coach in old Swebus Express livery in Jönköping in March 2007.

Swebus Express' was focused in southern Sweden, with Uppsala and Stockholm in the north, Norrköping, Linköping and Kalmar on the east coast. Malmö and Blekinge in the south and Helsingborg, Halmstad and Gothenburg on the west coast and Jönköping in the middle, and some lines extended to Oslo in Norway and Copenhagen in Denmark. It also offered tickets to Germany via Eurolines and the Czech Republic via Bohemian Lines.

On 2 May 2018 Nobina AB sold Swebus to Flixbus.[1] All buses have been rebranded to Flixbus and the Swebus name is no longer in use.

History

edit

After Swebus was acquired by Stagecoach in October 1996, Swebus' long distance routes were branded as Swebus Express from 21 April 1997.[2] In the beginning it had the same livery as Stagecoach, just with a different logo.[3] A large marketing campaign between April and August, which included free return tickets, led to some routes quintuple their passenger rates in the period. This again led to Swebus ordering 65 14.7-metres coaches to be bodied by Van Hool on Volvo B10M-70B chassis and two Neoplan Megaliner.[4]

On 1 January 1999 the long-distance coach market in Sweden was deregulated, which led to several new Swebus Express routes, including Stockholm - Uppsala - Gävle, Växjö - Jönköping, Västervik - Jönköping, Växjö - Malmö and Kalmar - Karlskrona - Hässleholm - Helsingborg from 25 January 1999.[5]

Swebus was sold to Concordia Bus in late 1999, with the orange stripe from the Stagecoach livery removed, and later the blue and red stripes were softened at the "Z" section. In 2001/2002,[citation needed] Swebus Express was made into a separate operating company, named Swebus Express AB.

Swebus AB was renamed Nobina Sverige AB in December 2009, and Swebus Express started trading as just Swebus, and also received a new logo and an all-white livery.

On 2 May 2018 the company was acquired by FlixBus, and in September 2018 the brand name ceased to be used.

Routes

edit

Former routes

edit

Some routes were season-specific.[6]

Number Route Notes and history
820 Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport-Malmö-Gothenburg-Oslo Formerly also known as E6-Expressen
830 Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport-Jönköping-Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
832 Uppsala-Arlanda Airport-Stockholm-Jönköping-Malmö
835 Uppsala-Stockholm-Kalmar-(Öland)
855 Stockholm-Liljeholmen-Vadstena-Jönköping
857 Jönköping-Vimmerby-Västervik-Oskarshamn
866 Örebro-Västerås-Enköping-Arlanda Airport Airport transfer
888 Stockholm-Örebro-Karlstad-Oslo Formerly 845
899 Stockholm-Västerås

Partner routes

edit
Number Route Notes and history
901
902
Copenhagen-Berlin/Hamburg
920 Stockholm-Malmö-Prague-Brno
  • Operated by Bohemian Lines
940 Stockholm-Östersund/Funäsdalen
  • Operated by Härjedalingen
950 Stockholm-Umeå/Sollefteå
  • Operated by Ybuss.
991 Stockholm-Borlänge-Mora
  • Operated by Jensen Buss

Former routes

edit

This list is not complete.[7]

Number Route Notes and history
800 Göteborg-Karlstad-Falun-Gävle
831
777
Göteborg-Jönköping-Linköping-Stockholm
833 Stockholm-Jönköping-Malmö
838 Örebro-Karlsborg-Skövde-Uddevalla
839 Jönköping-Skövde-Mariestad-Karlstad
840 Örebro-Motala-Jönköping
842 Örebro-Eskilstuna-Stockholm
843 Örebro-Karlskoga-Kristinehamn-Karlstad
846 Stockholm-Enköping-Västerås
849 Köpenhamn-Malmö-Göteborg Now part of line 820
855 Skänninge-Vadstena-Motala-Stockholm
856 Uppsala-Västerås-Örebro
862 Halmstad-Jönköping
865 Uddevala-Mariestad-Örebro
874 Uppsala-Västerås-Örebro
890 Mora-Borlänge-Falun-Stockholm
892 Stockholm-Uppsala-Falun-Borlänge
897 Gävle-Uppsala-Stockholm

References

edit
  1. ^ "Swebus säljs till FlixBus – Nobina ger upp". 2 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  2. ^ "Årsredovisning 1/1 1996 — 30/4 1997" [Annual Report] (in Swedish). Swebus AB. 1997. Archived from the original on 15 October 1997. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Två Swebus Express-vagnar som numera är historia" [Two Swebus Express coaches that are now history]. Bussnack (in Swedish). 1 December 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Årsredovisning 1/5 1997 — 30/4 1998" [Annual Report] (in Swedish). Swebus AB. 1998. Archived from the original on 2 February 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Årsredovisning 1/5 1998 — 30/4 1999" [Annual Report] (PDF) (in Swedish). Swebus AB. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Tidtabeller" [Timetables] (in Swedish). Swebus Express. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Tidtabeller" [Timetables] (in Swedish). Swebus Express. 14 August 2000. Archived from the original on 19 September 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
edit

  Media related to Swebus Express at Wikimedia Commons