Starting from Wednesday the leading bus company in the Baltic Sea region, Lux Express Group, will start operating the domestic Hourly Express bus routes in Estonia that were previously operated by the bus operator SEBE. Customers will benefit from more departure times as well as discounts and benefits as part of the new customer loyalty programme.
“For years the Lux Express Group has been a trendsetter on the international bus transportation market, offering public transportation services of the highest quality throughout the Baltic region – from Russia and the Baltic States to Poland and Germany,” said Hugo Osula, the chairman of the management board of the Mootor Group (the enterprise that owns both Lux Express and SEBE). “With the Hourly Express service SEBE has raised service quality on domestic Estonian lines up to the international level, so it’s only logical to unite such services under a common trademark.”
From Wednesday, Hourly Express busses connecting the Estonian capital Tallinn with Tartu, Narva and Pärnu will run under the Lux Express trademark. “For passengers the biggest change is that Hourly Express is joining our customer loyalty programme and international line network,” explained Hannes Saarpuu, chairman of the management board of the Lux Express Group. “We’ll be adding more departures to Narva and Pärnu and providing additional benefits and options in buying tickets.”
There are 14 daily Hourly Express departures between Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia’s second biggest city – on the hour every hour from 7:00 to 20:00. On the Narva line (combined with current international lines) Lux Express is to increase the number of departures, depending on the day of the week, from the current seven to ten. On the Pärnu line the number of daily departures is to be increased from four to six. Among the new convenience options to be offered are the possibilities of boarding the bus solely on the basis of ID, purchasing tickets up to a month in advance and making use of the discounts offered by the Baltic Miles program, owned and operated by Coalition Rewards, a leading loyalty management company in Northern & Eastern Europe and Russia and owned by airBaltic.
According to Kuldar Väärsi, the chairman of the management board of SEBE, during the last few years the transportation company has evolved into a group that, on top of everything mentioned above, operates public transportation in two counties in Estonia and in Tartu and possesses remarkable competence in terms of the maintenance of and repairs to heavy and military machines.
Eesti Buss OÜ, a 100% subsidiary of the company, will continue to operate the domestic long-distance bus lines of SEBE.
“The major challenge for Eesti Buss for the years ahead is to make domestic lines attractive and as convenient for passengers as possible – for instance by simplifying the IT solutions used to purchase tickets and providing real-time arrival and departure monitoring for each bus stop,” Väärsi explained.
Over the last five years the companies of the Mootor Group, which offers transportation services on the international market as well as in Estonia, have invested more than 30 million euros in the development of public transportation. The turnover forecast for the group companies involved in passenger carriage for 2013 is 37 million euros. In 2013, the companies will provide services to ca three million passengers on commercial lines.
The Mootor Group includes the market leaders in Estonia and the Baltic States SEBE and Lux Express, the courier and parcel service company Cargobus and Busland OÜ, which offers bus repair services. Tallinna Bussijaam OÜ (Tallinn Coach Station), which specialises in bus station and ticket vending services, is also a member of the group. The total forecast turnover of the group for 2013 is 50 million euros.