Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) is divesting its Postbus service to rival bus company FlixMobility.

In its financial results statement (that has shown astounding results for DPDHL as a whole) the group said of its plans to sell the Postbus service: “The Post – eCommerce – Parcel (PeP) division entered the liberalized long-distance bus market in October 2013. Within a short period of time it was able to become the quality leader in the market with its Postbus service.

“However, the Postbus service has not met the company’s financial expectations sufficiently. Therefore, the company has decided to withdraw from the market and has agreed to a sale of its Postbus business to FlixMobility GmbH.”

The service started as joint venture between DPDHL and ADAC, but ADAC withdrew from the operation in November 2014.

FlixMobility owns FlixBus, the market leader.

Postbus Chief Financial Officer Larry Rosen reportedly said that the company’s policy of offering more comfort had not worked in a market where “the main customer base was young people, where price was the most important factor”.

Buses while tenuously linked to logistics are not core to DPDHL’s business that tend to be focused on parcels and larger items on its international and domestic delivery offerings. With the service underperforming this was not a major draw to keep the business. It is likely that Postbus would have had to do extremely well to remain under the DPDHL umbrella in any case, but the competition with Flixbus will have made the divestment a much easier decision to make.