Busforfun interview, Italian startup of bus sharing

Experiential tourism is one of the faster-growing trends in the Travel & Tourism industry. As we have already reported, OTAs are developing new tools to complete their supply, combining it with the experiential component. Even the transport service providers are organising to satisfy this demand, which is led by interesting targets such as millennials and families. The mobility company Busforfun has developed inside this scenario. Their web portal allows customers to purchase a transport service by bus from many Italian cities to musical, cultural and sport events venues in every part of the Country, but not only. Experience is the result of the bus ticket combined with the ticket of the event.

Twissen interviewed Davide Buscato, Co-Founder and Sales Manager of Busforfun.

Twissen: How was the idea of Busfrofun born and what makes the difference between your company and a normal mobility company?

Buscato: Busforfun was born from the idea of giving a door-to-door service to every big events consumer, be it a trade show, a music festival, a sport event or even a theme park. Our offer is characterised by the agreements with the events management, which allow us to sell the bus ticket along with the ticket for the event itself.

Tw: Which is the advantage for the customer?

B: The advantage is the simplicity of using the service. The user connects to our website, chooses an event, the bus stop which is more convenient to him/her, the date of the event and the number of tickets to be purchased. The booking takes place on our website.

Tw: In which areas do you cooperate with travel agencies?

B: We have created a network with more than 500 travel agencies in Italy to reach the important segment of users which prefers the offline channel to complete the payment. All the agencies are geolocalised and georeferenced: in this way, our passengers can choose the event on our portal and then reach the nearest travel agency to complete the payment.

Tw: Which are the criteria to select the event to serve?

B: We select events with a high turnout of people, but inconvenient to reach, that is to say outside the main roads. With our buses we provide a door-to-door service to our customers and, in many cases, we are able to ease congestion in the main roads that lead to the location of the event, bringing benefit to the traffic control.

Tw: Which countries do you serve, beyond Italy?

B: In 2016, we served more than 2000 passengers towards 64 events in Italy. In 2017 we have already integrated our supply with some international destinations in Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Germany.

Tw: How many buses does your company own?

B: No, Busforfun does not own any bus. This allows us to be flexible in choosing the starting point and the arrival destination, be it in Italy, Austria, Croatia or Slovenia. The important factor is the presence of an event which is able to interest our target.

Tw: Which target of customers do you serve?

B: Our customers are mainly young people aged 15-25, Millennials and Z Generation. People aged 38-50 are another importatnt segment, who are usually parents who travel with groups.

Tw: How important are the payment methods?

B: We provide to our customers every payment method: credit cards, PayPal and alternative payment methods such as PostePay. In travel agencies it is possible to pay also by cash.

Tw: Which services do you offer on board?

B: Our buses are of the latest generation, having selected almost a hundred transport service companies. We are planning to install a WiFi connection system in every bus, to which customers will be able to access for free.

Tw: How important technology is in your sector and, in particular, to your activity?

B: We’re an innovative startup which is heavily investing in research and development, cooperating with the most important Italian universities, as we strongly believe in new technologies to stay one step ahead.

Tw: Which are the plans for the future?

B: We want to keep on developing our supply, in a sustainable perspective. In fact, we also have our little forest. We planted a tree for every event that we served, giving our help to cut CO2 emissions.

Twissen