Talk:Intercity buses in Europe

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Operators[edit]

While this is a field that is necessarily in flux and operators east of the Oder-Neiße line have been historically terrible at maintaining anything close to a well designed website, this will be an attempt to list some further operators I can find on the internet. Feel free to add to the list or add comments about operators no longer in existence or otherwise not worthy of inclusion in mainspace. Hobbitschuster (talk) 18:02, 25 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Bus operators that also run trains or vice versa[edit]

Should we mention when one company runs buses and trains? Hobbitschuster (talk) 23:51, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

For Sweden, it is solved by combining the themes; Rail and bus travel in Sweden, as many public transport companies operate both. /Yvwv (talk) 00:18, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
If it is relevant e.g. because of easy transfers or interesting e.g. because it affects the competition pattern, yes. Otherwise I am not sure. Oddities can be mentioned sometimes, but they easily make the disposition awkward. --LPfi (talk) 06:34, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Where tickets are interchangeable, or for the reasons stated by LPfi, we can list them. But the information I removed didn't say any of that, it just mentioned there was a train run by that company. How can we demonstrate the relevance of that info? ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 07:17, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Flixbus has since expanded to two routes and their ticketing is integrated between bus and train. Hobbitschuster (talk) 11:43, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
So that's worth mentioning then. And indeed you've reminded me that Megabus have a similar deal with East Midlands Trains (both owned by the Stagecoach company). --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 12:26, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Route planners[edit]

A section was added on route planners. I tried busradar.com, and while it found some connections, it did not find others. It seems it gives information only on companies with which it has an agreement, and the terms are not publicly available, neither, it seems, what companies or company networks that are included in its searches. It just says there is no connection.

I suppose we could make an exception about not using aggregators in this article, as we do for Deutche Bahn for train searches, but I'd prefer such search engines should be reasonably complete, or at least open with what routes/companies they cover.

Unfortunately the user who added the section does not respond to requests for communication, so I have no idea whether they know something more about these route planners, apps etc. than what is evident from their web pages.

--LPfi (talk) 15:35, 26 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think route planners are generally good additions to country and "bus travel in" articles, as the reader most likely won't know names of individual bus companies, but planners that omit more companies that they include aren't very useful. --Ypsilon (talk) 17:38, 26 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think they are good additions only if they are reasonably complete and we tell the readers about deficiencies (and still link the individual companies or schedules in the city/region/whatever articles). In this case we don't know anything about the completeness. The one adding them should know, and should comment on that in the listing or at least on the talk page when requested, but in this case I have little hope.
--LPfi (talk) 18:01, 26 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]