Airport shuttles or buses might not be for everyone, but are often cheaper options than taxis and trains. After spotting the potential in having bus content in traditional distribution channels, Berlin-based Distribusion has been connecting bus operators to agencies and even the GDS. BTiQ spoke to its head of marketing Pierre Becher to find out more.
When were you launched?
Distribusion started in 2013 as a B2C platform to compare fares and routes; it was a typical comparison site. Then we found a different problem which is that buses want to connect to existing portals whether that's travel agents, Kayak or online travel agents. So we changed the business model to B2B and relaunched in 2015 with a distribution model.
How many people are working for the company?
There are 35 of us split between Berlin and Bonn.
Sum up what your company/product does in one sentence.
Distribution connects bus companies with travel retailers worldwide.
Why is it unique?
There's no system available that covers what we do on a global scale. Some competitors aggregate bus content but it's more locally or they are B2C where we connect bus companies around the world with retailers around the world.
What problem does it solve?
There has always been two problems. Bus companies are not technically advanced enough with the exception of big corporations and there's no access to other distribution channels. On the commercial side they have no partnerships or contracts. At the same time, the retailer has the task of going to thousands of bus companies to partner with individually. So both parties are not really working together, where we can now provide the technology to do this.
We're also bringing standards to the industry. Standards like those offered by IATA for airlines are not in place for buses; data and booking processes vary for each company. But this is standardised when they connect to our platform.
The bus industry has been neglected in distribution but it's changing slowly. In 2016 we processed bookings for 6.4 billion bus passengers and generated $85 billion in ticket revenue.
What platforms is it available on and can integrate with?
We have partnerships with 40 online portals and are connected to 15,000 travel agencies in Europe. These are more leisure focused at the moment especially in Germany but in the future we would look to work with TMCs.
We've also just announced a partnership with Amadeus that brings 300 bus operators in 2,500 destinations to the GDS. This is initially available in central, Eastern and Southern Europe covering content, search, booking, payment, ticketing and settlement.
What markets is it available in?
Our focus market is Europe but we've started to spread, particularly into Latin America and South East Asia. This is an expansion in both bus operators and travel retailers.
What benefits could it bring to business travel?
For business travel agencies they will be able to book bus travel out of one engine and they receive one invoice at the end of the month.
Travellers will be able to book a bus as easy as they can book a flight including airport shuttles which means less stress when they are on the road.
What are your growth plans?
We're closing more strategic partnerships with global brands and continuously integrating more operators globally starting with the market leaders. There are plans to grow our team to 50 by the end of the year.