German market leader FlixBus used the legal and market knowledge of Arthur Kamminga for the introduction of domestic services and cabotage within the Netherlands.
The German long-distance coach market was liberalized in 2013, when a monopoly by state-owned Deutsche Bahn was abolished. Nummerous operators jumped in the market: DeinBus, MeinFernbus, FlixBus, City-2-City (National Express), Postbus (ADAC/Deutsche Post) and the existing DB-subsidiaries IC-bus and Berlin Linienbus. First contacts with MeinFernbus were established in 2014. After the merger of MeinFernbus and FlixBus (respectively the nr 1 and 2 in the market), the new company MeinFernbus-FlixBus agreed on a longterm cooperation with Arthur Kamminga.
The agreement contained the provision of knowledge and know-how on the Dutch mobility market, in particular on the Dutch domestic regulations on public transport (“Wet Personenvervoer 2000”) and it’s interaction with European Law (EG Regulation 1073/2009). The domestic long-distance bus operated by a private company without a concession was still unknown to the Dutch and a popular believe among experts was that this kind of services were impossible under the current law. The cooperation resulted in FlixBus being the first operator to acquire permission for domestic long-distance coach services and cabotage within the Netherlands on international routes.
From June 2015 till October 2016, Arthur Kamminga was based at the FlixBus Network Planning Departement in Berlin, Germany. The activities were relocated to the new Benelux office in Amsterdam.