Twiliner Night Bus Lines

AI Quick Summary

Twiliner will introduce Intercity Night Bus Lines with innovative lie-flat seats as a sustainable and convenient alternative to inner European short-haul flights. Our key innovation is Europe's first lie-flat bus seat. This innovation enables the mode shift from plan to bus. We have completed the development of the seat and safety concept and are now preparing for the launch of our pilot. Twiliner will introduce Intercity Night Bus Lines with innovative lie-flat seats as a sustainable and convenient alternative to inner European short-haul flights.Twiliner’s motivation is climate impact: A 600-1200km journey in a Twiliner Bus has up to 93% less climate impact than the same journey in a plane would have. (Please note: This impact has been calculated using Switzerland official database for mobility emissions (www.mobitool.ch) and the calculations have been verified by myclimate (www.myclimate.org).)If Twiliner is successful and more and more passengers take the bus instead of the plane, Twiliner will enable the switch to an environmentally friendly means of transport. Twiliner will contribute to the Federal Council’s Climate Target to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, this mobility modal shift – from airplan to bus - would contribute to SDG 9 (Innovative Transport Solution) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities). Finally, by establishing a viable alternative to short haul flights, Twiliner would allow for policy shifts and create public awareness for the climate burden of aviation.The problem Twiliner solved is that today’s overnight buses are not comfortable over a long distance and therefore no viable alternative to flying. Twiliner solved this problem by developing Europe’s first and only lie-flat bus seat, which is safe and can be approved for road passenger transport. The seats unique feature is the safety concept, which Twiliner has developed in collaboration with Fachhochschule Bern and the affiliated Dynamic Test Center DTC. The safety concept is so new and effective that it will receive patent protection (patent pending). Twiliner’s target customer group are the 500 million annual short haul flight passengers in Europe. (European Commission Flight Database)We believe we have good chance for success in this target market for four reasons:We are offering our customers a time-efficient (overnight trips spare productive day time), convenient (comfortable and relaxing), economical (passengers save on hotel costs) and of course sustainable (up to 93% fewer climate emissions) alternative to flying.We are planning to adapt the proven and scalable business model of FlixBus to our service and our customer segment. The key to this model is that we will work with established bus operating companies, just like FlixBus does.We are a strong team which is very experienced in venture development, finance as well as business management in general. Plus, with Joel we have an award-winning industrial designer (James Dyson Award) on board who has worked in cutting edge seat and interior design projects for Deutsche Bahn and Stadler before. With Ivan we have a marketing and communication expert on board that will be critical to develop a successful product.We have successfully collaborated with partners in industry and academia alike and we are constantly looking for opportunities to co-create, partner, and collaborate. We believe this openness and ability to collaborate is a key strength.Twiliner is about to complete its R&D phase and is now preparing the launch of its pilot. Our goal in the pilot is to show that we can fill the capacity in our first buses and customer feedback is positive. After a successful completion of this pilot, we can grow quickly with establish players in the bus sector. We will partner with leading airline seat manufacturers, premium bus brands and bus operating companies. At the same time, we will ramp up our marketing activities and further improve our booking platform.The Innovation Booster Award would be critical for us at this stage. The 25'000 CHF will support the launch of our pilot and we would use proceeds for to raise customer awareness (marketing activities) but also to lay the foundation of a successful fundraising campaign which we plan for June. Beyond the money, we could benefit significantly from the recognition that comes with the Innovation Booster Award and the many partners of the New Mobility Lab: form industry partners (Postauto, SBB, Porsche, etc) to Investors (AMAG, etc), academia (ETH and HSG mobility programs) and individuals with expertise in the Mobility sector. Thank you for your consideration of Twiliner.

Project Idea Metadata

• Project Idea Name: Twiliner Night Bus Lines
• Date: 4/1/2024 5:57:15 AM
• Administrators:
  • Dirk Muench

Project Idea Description

Twiliner will introduce Intercity Night Bus Lines with innovative lie-flat seats as a sustainable and convenient alternative to inner European short-haul flights.

Twiliner’s motivation is climate impact: A 600-1200km journey in a Twiliner Bus has up to 93% less climate impact than the same journey in a plane would have. (Please note: This impact has been calculated using Switzerland official database for mobility emissions (www.mobitool.ch) and the calculations have been verified by myclimate (www.myclimate.org).)

If Twiliner is successful and more and more passengers take the bus instead of the plane, Twiliner will enable the switch to an environmentally friendly means of transport. Twiliner will contribute to the Federal Council’s Climate Target to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, this mobility modal shift – from airplan to bus - would contribute to SDG 9 (Innovative Transport Solution) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities). Finally, by establishing a viable alternative to short haul flights, Twiliner would allow for policy shifts and create public awareness for the climate burden of aviation.

The problem Twiliner solved is that today’s overnight buses are not comfortable over a long distance and therefore no viable alternative to flying.

Twiliner solved this problem by developing Europe’s first and only lie-flat bus seat, which is safe and can be approved for road passenger transport. The seats unique feature is the safety concept, which Twiliner has developed in collaboration with Fachhochschule Bern and the affiliated Dynamic Test Center DTC. The safety concept is so new and effective that it will receive patent protection (patent pending).

Twiliner’s target customer group are the 500 million annual short haul flight passengers in Europe. (European Commission Flight Database)

We believe we have good chance for success in this target market for four reasons:

1. We are offering our customers a time-efficient (overnight trips spare productive day time), convenient (comfortable and relaxing), economical (passengers save on hotel costs) and of course sustainable (up to 93% fewer climate emissions) alternative to flying.
2. We are planning to adapt the proven and scalable business model of FlixBus to our service and our customer segment. The key to this model is that we will work with established bus operating companies, just like FlixBus does.
3. We are a strong team which is very experienced in venture development, finance as well as business management in general. Plus, with Joel we have an award-winning industrial designer (James Dyson Award) on board who has worked in cutting edge seat and interior design projects for Deutsche Bahn and Stadler before. With Ivan we have a marketing and communication expert on board that will be critical to develop a successful product.
4. We have successfully collaborated with partners in industry and academia alike and we are constantly looking for opportunities to co-create, partner, and collaborate. We believe this openness and ability to collaborate is a key strength.

Twiliner is about to complete its R&D phase and is now preparing the launch of its pilot. Our goal in the pilot is to show that we can fill the capacity in our first buses and customer feedback is positive. After a successful completion of this pilot, we can grow quickly with establish players in the bus sector. We will partner with leading airline seat manufacturers, premium bus brands and bus operating companies. At the same time, we will ramp up our marketing activities and further improve our booking platform.

The Innovation Booster Award would be critical for us at this stage. The 25'000 CHF will support the launch of our pilot and we would use proceeds for to raise customer awareness (marketing activities) but also to lay the foundation of a successful fundraising campaign which we plan for June. Beyond the money, we could benefit significantly from the recognition that comes with the Innovation Booster Award and the many partners of the New Mobility Lab: form industry partners (Postauto, SBB, Porsche, etc) to Investors (AMAG, etc), academia (ETH and HSG mobility programs) and individuals with expertise in the Mobility sector.

Thank you for your consideration of Twiliner.

Twiliner will introduce Intercity Night Bus Lines with innovative lie-flat seats as a sustainable and convenient alternative to inner European short-haul flights. Our key innovation is Europe's first lie-flat bus seat. This innovation enables the mode shift from plan to bus. We have completed the development of the seat and safety concept and are now preparing for the launch of our pilot.