The market assumption: there is a totally unexpressed demand. Which does not allow to fully satisfy the multimodality. Above all, there is a part of the country that is totally devoid of connections. Especially from Salerno down where the high speed aborts in thin air. And on the connections between the two opposite sides of the peninsula. The Apennine routes to connect the Tyrrhenian coast with the Adriatic coast are very tiring. Commuter trains are few and far between. And the only mode of travel is likely to be the car. It is no coincidence that in recent years Flixbus has entered heavily on the market by positioning itself on a low cost market segment with a very flexible model: simply a platform linked to an algorithm that uses buses not owned by road transport companies (and drivers) who were disappearing from long distance travel.
Itabus’s approach is different, unveiled to the press and to the market because the tickets – through the website, the application, the thousands of tobacconists around Italy and points of sale in the main transit points such as stations, ports, airports – are on sale today. The buses are all owned, there are 300, hired – with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo – by Mann, a Volkswagen group, which will also take care of all maintenance with a turnkey service contract. The entrepreneurial initiative is somewhat similar to that of Italo. The same sheet of paper, the same crazy idea of covering an unrelated question. And almost the same partners: Flavio Cattaneo, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the Seragnoli family, Gianni Punzo. This time the intuition of Cattaneo, grounded with a few months delay due to Covid but ready to intercept the recovery from May 27th when the first buses will circulate on the motorway network and the regional transit finally opened with the vaccine green pass. When fully operational, 300 buses will be used for 350 daily services. Double-decker bus with over 50 seats, with a wi-fi with Lte technology and 5g router on board thanks to the support of Tim which, in the intentions, will allow to satisfy the simultaneous bandwidth demand of 50 people also for the streaming services of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
An entrepreneurial investment of 200 million over the course of three years, an operation managed by Sanpaolo, the same sponsor of Italo, which will allow the total renewal of the bus fleet every two years to always provide a premium service but with low cost rates considered entry level to intercept the demand of students, young people, immigrants, people of the middle class who have more time to devote to travel and fewer spending possibilities. Rome-Naples starts from € 1.99, Rome-Florence 4.90 with an intermediate stop in Siena. Sustainable buses powered by Eni biodiesel, which reduces emissions, but will also be able to support hydrogen and electricity based on the progress of the manufacturer.
There will always be a double driver. They will take turns driving. They will communicate in real time with the Itabus operations room which will monitor all movements in real time to probe for any delays or failures on the network or excessive traffic. Satisfaction on the part of Cattaneo and Montezemolo according to which the commercial offer will be integrated with that of Italo’s high speed but also Trenitalia’s. The ticket distribution network will also tend to be enriched by travel agencies, but it is expected that 70% of tickets will be purchased through digital methods. There is also the possibility of value-added transport services, such as equipment for skiing or cycling, appropriately booked by recognizing an additional expense.