Train disruptions drive record passenger numbers to buses

Train disruptions have prompted record numbers of passengers to switch to buses this summer, DR reports. Coach operators Kombardo Expressen and FlixBus say they have seen significantly higher passenger numbers during weeks when rail services were severely affected.

DSB figures show that 61.5 percent of passengers on its long-distance and regional trains arrived on time in June, meaning no more than three minutes after their scheduled arrival. The punctuality rate was lowest between Copenhagen and Odense, at 34.6 percent.

Under DSB’s contract with the state, at least 75 percent of passengers must arrive on time. DSB has not yet published punctuality figures for July, when track work also caused delays. In the first half of the year, the company paid out more than twice as much compensation to delayed passengers as during the same period last year.

Kombardo Expressen, operated by Molslinjen, recorded its best July ever, according to Jesper Maack, Molslinjen’s head of press and communications.

The company carried 43 percent more passengers from January through July this year than during the same period last year. In week 29, it carried 19,383 passengers, compared with 14,889 in the same week last year. In week 30, the figures were 14,856 and 11,589 respectively.

FlixBus also reported a sharp increase in demand, particularly during week 29, when extensive track work was underway.

“There is a clear connection between problems on the railways and demand for our services. When we see an increase of more than 30 percent from one week to the next, we can assume that it is primarily because of DSB’s problems,” said Arijan Muratovic, FlixBus’s press officer for the Nordic region.

Some passengers said they had chosen buses to avoid uncertainty on the railways. Laura Gherlan travelled from Odense to Copenhagen before continuing to the airport for a flight to Prague.

“This is the safest form of transport these days. I am going to the airport to fly to Prague, and I do not trust the train. I do not want to risk missing my flight, so I am taking the bus,” she said.

Maia Meier Brahe, who was travelling from Gammel Rye near Skanderborg to Copenhagen, also decided against taking the train.

“There has been so much trouble with DSB that I did not actually dare to travel with them. I can simply feel that today is not the day I want to get stranded somewhere,” she said.

DSB acknowledged that the summer’s problems had been frustrating and had caused a temporary decline in train passenger numbers. However, the company said trains still carried considerably more passengers across the Great Belt than buses.

“We have 26 to 30 percent of those travelling across the Great Belt by train, while buses account for perhaps 3 to 4 percent. So we are not worried that buses will take over,” said Tony Bispekov, DSB’s head of information.

He said the disruptions were linked to necessary railway work, comparing it with the need to maintain roads.

Banedanmark, the railway infrastructure manager, acknowledged that it shared responsibility for DSB’s difficult summer and the frustration experienced by many passengers. Traffic director Peter Svendsen said normal conditions on the railway were expected to return once the major track work was completed as planned on August 16.