RegioJet is a Czech private transport group headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic, operating passenger rail and bus services in Central Europe and across the EU.
Founded in 2009 by entrepreneur Radim Jančura, the company began operating commercial passenger rail services in the Czech Republic in 2011. It became one of the first private operators to compete with the state-owned České dráhy on major long-distance routes.
RegioJet operates passenger rail services in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Poland, and provides domestic and international bus services.
Corporate structure The RegioJet group is headed by RegioJet holding a.s., which is wholly owned by its founder Radim Jančura. Passenger rail services in the Czech Republic are operated by RegioJet a.s., while RegioJet Pool a.s. manages and maintains rolling stock and leases locomotives to other operators. RegioJet ÚK a.s. operates regional rail services in the Ústí nad Labem Region, and Student Agency k.s. operates domestic and international bus services under the RegioJet brand.
The group also has subsidiaries in Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Poland.
History RegioJet was founded in 2009 by a Czech entrepreneur Radim Jančura as a new venture into passenger rail transport, before that Radim Jančura already had a successful business Student Agency that started out by mediating au-pair stays for students, eventually branching out into Bus transport, selling air tickets and selling whole holiday packages.
On 24 February 2006, Student Agency was recognised in the TTG Travel Awards of 2005 as "Best flight (IATA) agency in the Czech Republic" and "Best bus transporter". In the same year, CEO Radim Jančura expressed his intention to extend Student Agency's bus transport within 3 years and to also become a provider of rail.
The company RegioJet a.s. was incorporated in the Companies Register on 20 March 2009 with the subject of enterprise "production, business and services not stated in attachments 1 to 3 of the Trade Licensing Act" and on 6 October 2009 the subject of activity "operator of railway and railway transport" was registered. A sister company of the same name, RegioJet a.s., with its registered office in Bratislava was established in 2010 and is nowadays an operator of rail and bus transport in Slovakia.
Occasional public rail transport under the brand RegioJet was operated for the first time on 24 April 2010. The operation of the first railway line of regular passenger transport began on 26 September 2011.
In 2016, bus transport, still under the Student Agency brand, was incorporated under the RegioJet brand for the first time. The decision to include bus transport under the marketing brand RegioJet, which was originally used only for rail transport, originated especially because of the company's interest to unify all transport activities under one brand and also because of the lack of understanding especially for foreign clients – the history of Student Agency was not as well known abroad, so the name appeared to be incomprehensible and impractical for a transport company. The Slovak company RegioJet had started to operate bus transport under the brand RegioJet even earlier, since February 2015.
Bus transport
SInce 1996, Student Agency operated international bus transport – the first line was from Prague to London, and in the following years buses operated to other European countries, including cities in Germany, Switzerland, Benelux, lines connecting the Czech Republic with cities in Sweden, Norway, Italy, Hungary, Austria and the Slovak Republic, and later in France and elsewhere.
Since 2004, the company Student Agency has operated on domestic lines in the Czech Republic. Within the Czech Republic, yellow buses started on the route Prague - Brno for the first time in January 2004, and other lines soon followed. The lines of these yellow buses connected Prague and Brno with 36 cities in the Czech Republic.
On 4 April 2016, the rebranding of bus transport was started in the Czech Republic, as the name Student Agency was considered to be incomprehensible outside of the Czech Republic.
Fleet In the early stages, during the operator's time as Student Agency, bus transport was provided by vehicles of Spanish brand Ayats Atlantis on the MAN chassis. Afterwards, the company started to use Spanish Beulas buses on the Scania and Volvo chassis. In 2006, the company further invested into five Mercedes-Benz Travego buses, particularly for lines heading to Vienna.
In 2012, the fleet owned by the company amounted to approximately 110 buses, out of which 5 were of a white colour, as the company operated them on the routes between Prague – Nuremberg and Prague – Munich on behalf of Deutsche Bahn, with the other vehicles painted in a noticeable yellow colour.
In 2013, the size of the fleet had increased to 152 buses. The most common type was the Spanish Irizar PB on the Scania or Volvo chassis – the company owned 93 of the type, out of which 67 were equipped with Fun & Relax equipment.
In April 2016, 45 super modern Irizar i8 buses of the newest generation arrived as part of the company's fleet. The first of these buses were introduced on the route between Prague – Dresden – Berlin. The number of buses operating under the brand RegioJet grew to reach 210 as a result of the new vehicles.
In September 2023 RegioJet showed off new Setra S 531 DT double decker buses for international routes, they only have 58 seats, the upper deck has a 2+1 configuration which gives you more space all around you and is marketed as Relax class, while the lower deck has the more standard 2+2 layout with both forward and rear facing seats and is marketed as Standard Class, there is also a free self service coffee machine, a water tap for both still and sparkling water as well as a vending machine with snacks and drinks, a toilet is also located on the lower deck. All the airline style seats are also equipped with seatback displays. All seats also have at least a USB A and USB C power socket, some also have regular European schuko power sockets In 2026 the same buses with a new interior configuration for domestic lines entered service, they have most of the same amenities but the upper deck is no longer in a 2+1 layout, opting for the regular 2+2 layout albeit with still more room than usual. this new configuration can carry 72 passengers, 14 more than the version for international lines.
Rail transport In 2006, Student Agency began to consider operating rail transport. The intention was to start with trains on the Prague-Ostrava route which would compete with the EC/IC trains and SC Pendolino from state-owned operator České dráhy. In June 2007, owner Radim Jančura announced that a tender procedure for a producer was underway. The transport was meant to be cheaper and more luxurious than the Pendolino from České dráhy, with a design resembling the ICE 3 trains operating in Germany.
In March 2009, the subsidiary company RegioJet a.s. was incorporated. The first train started on 24 April 2010 within the advertising event Žluté jaro na železnici ("Yellow spring on the railway"). The price of a return ticket between any stations was a symbolic CZK 5. This advertising operation was described by a representative of the company as the following: "We want to show how modern vehicles can contribute to the simplification and improvement of transport service".
In the following years, the company participated in selection procedures, submitted offers for operating subsidised transport to various regions and the Ministry of Transport and negotiated with these regions.
Routes
Prague – Ostrava – Havířov – Žilina (SK) – Košice (SK) – Humenné (SK) Route Since 26 September 2011, RegioJet has operated, at its own business risk, regular rail transport without an order from the Ministry of Transport, only receiving compensation for student and senior discounts from public funds. The beginning of the operation was accompanied by great media coverage.
The company started with three pairs of lines between Prague and Havířov, and in December 2011 the trains also began operating in a regular two-hour interval to other stations in the Ostrava Region (Český Těšín, Třinec) and one pair of lines started to make its way to Žilina.
On 29 September 2011, state-owned operator České dráhy reduced some fares within the campaign ČD Promo, especially the full fare on the routes between Prague–Ostrava, Prague–Brno and Prague – Hradec Králové. The new fare price between Prague and Ostrava was similar to the price set by RegioJet. RegioJet declared this step as unfair competition and a misuse of the dominant position of České dráhy on the market.
In December 2012, RegioJet announced a CZK 30 – 50 mil loss for 2012, which was justified according to the "predatory pricing" by České dráhy on the route between Prague-Ostrava. Train occupancy was approximately 80%. RegioJet blamed the pricing policy of České dráhy for its negative business results, and after raising a challenge before the Antitrust Authority, RegioJet decided to challenge České dráhy before the Court for this connection. The losses would be covered from other activities, as the whole Student Agency group showed gains of CZK 110 mil at earnings over CZK 1.6 billion.
In October 2014, the operator introduced services on the Prague-Košice route, and in December 2015 the operation was enlarged with sleeping cars added. , Noční vlaky RegioJet mezi Prahou a Košicemi využilo za první čtvrtletí provozu téměř 43 tisíc cestujících, Regiojet, 22 January 2010
Bratislava (SK) – Dunajská Streda (SK) – Komárno (SK) Route On 27 December 2010, RegioJet acquired a nine-year contract with the Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic to operate subsidised rail transport on the route between Bratislava – Dunajská Streda – Komárno, with service beginning on 4 March 2012. Before commencing transportation on this route, RegioJet reportedly invested approximately €60,000 into the modernisation of waiting shelters and other furniture at stations, as well as adding security cameras. From 2019 until 2023, this route has been returned to the national operator, ZSSK, who used Class 754s and ÖBB Class 2016s on this route. Since December 2023, another Czech private carrier Leo Express has been running regular trains on this line.
Prague – Brno – Bratislava (SK) Route Since 11 December 2016, the company has launched trains on the Prague – Brno – Bratislava route. At present (since 2 September 2018), RegioJet trains run 4 times a day to Bratislava, and the other two lines on this route ensure transportation with the terminal in Brno.
Prague - Brno – Vienna (AT) Since December 2017, the transporter has cooperated with Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH to operates four pairs of trains from Prague through Brno to Vienna. The trains terminate at Wien Hauptbahnhof with an intermediate stop at Wien Simmering.
R8 Line Brno - Přerov - Bohumín Regiojet also operates domestic long distance (Rychlík) trains between south Moravian city Brno, Moravian-Silesian cities Ostrava and Bohumín. However, due to the monopoly Regiojet is having on this line the level of service tends to be lower in comparison to the others. Trains runs every hour in both directions, 17 times a day. Regiojet uses locomotives Siemens Vectron 193 or occasionally Bombardier Traxx 386 with 2x Low cost Bmpz (ex Swiss SBB Bpm), 2x 2 class Bmz + Bistro section (ex DB Bvcmbz249 couchettes) and 1x 1 class Amz (ex Swiss Am). The stops on the route are Brno Královo Pole - Brno hlavní nádraží (Brno main station) - Vyškov na Moravě (- Nezamyslice-only 2 trains -) - Kojetín - Přerov - Hranice na Moravě - Suchdol nad Odrou - Studénka - Ostrava Svinov - Ostrava hlavní nádraží (Ostrava main station) - Bohumín.
Praha - Bratislava - Budapest - Rijeka/Split