How to Find Innovation Opportunities in Your Intercity Bus Business
Most intercity bus companies follow the same playbook—buying new buses, hiring good drivers, opening more branches etc. At first, it works. Customers get excited about the fresh fleet and better service, and your business grows.
But then something happens.
A new competitor enters the market with even newer buses, more locations, or better prices. Some of your customers leave. Growth slows down. You find yourself caught in a cycle where success depends on constantly spending more money just to stay competitive.
To build a long-term successful intercity bus business, you need to stop focusing only on supply-side improvements (new buses, better drivers, more branches etc). Instead, real disruption happens when you focus on the demand side—customer experience and convenience.
So, how do you find these customer side opportunities? That’s where the Customer Value Chain (CVC) Framework comes in.
The Customer Value Chain (CVC) Framework
The CVC framework helps you break down the entire journey a customer goes through when using your bus service. This helps you spot weak links—things that cost customers unnecessary time, money, or effort—and create innovations that improve their experience.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Map Out the Customer Journey
List out everything a customer must do to use your bus service. Think from their perspective.
- How do they find your service?
- How do they book a ticket?
- How do they board the bus?
- What happens during and after the trip?
Step 2: Classify Each Activity
Every step in the customer journey falls into one of three categories:
- Value-Creating Activities – These add value to the customer. (e.g., comfortable travel, entertainment onboard)
- Value-Charging Activities – These require customers to pay. (e.g., ticket fees, luggage charges)
- Value-Eroding Activities – These waste time and effort. (e.g., traveling to the bus station just to buy a ticket, long waiting times)
Step 3: Find the Weak Links
Identify bottlenecks between activities where customers waste money, time, or effort. These are the biggest opportunities for innovation.
Step 4: Break the Weak Links & Steal the Activity
Once you find weak links, fix them before your competitors do by exploring innovative solutions. Here are some innovative options to consider.
Step 5: Anticipate Competitor Reactions
Once you introduce an innovation, competitors may try to copy or counteract it. Be ready. Continue to focus on your customers and improve your service so you stay ahead.
Key Takeaway
The intercity bus business is highly competitive. If you want long-term success, you need to stand out through innovation. The best way to do this is by focusing on the customer value chain—finding ways to reduce the time, money, and effort customers spend when using your service.
Customer behaviour is constantly evolving, and companies that adapt will thrive. While supply-side improvements like new buses, more branches, and better drivers are important, true disruption happens on the demand side—by improving the customer experience in ways others haven’t.
What’s Next?
Winning in the intercity bus industry isn’t just about having newer buses, more routes, or better staff. It’s about innovating along the customer value chain.
If this were easy, every bus company would already be doing it. But most aren’t. That’s why we created the Transport Innovation Hub—a community where bus business owners like you can learn from industry experts and gain:
- Proven strategies to increase passenger occupancy and profitability.
- Customer loyalty techniques to keep riders coming back.
- Financial insights to cut waste and maximise revenue.
- Real-world case studies from successful bus businesses.
For a limited time, you can join this exclusive community.
Click HERE to join the transport innovation hum.
Note: Only qualified bus business owners are accepted.