Busbud
Travel website
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Busbud is a travel website specializing in intercity bus tickets as well as travel by trains, shuttles, ferries and carpooling.[1] As of 2017 Busbud covered services in North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Oceania and Asia.[2]
 Busbud | |
Type of site | Travel and accommodation services |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2011 |
| Headquarters | |
| Founder(s) | LP Maurice (CEO), Michael Gradek (CTO), and Frederic Thouin (CAO). |
| Industry | Travel |
| Employees | 60+ (2019) |
| Subsidiaries | Recorrido, (Buson), Betterez Inc., and Retality Solutions. |
| URL | www |
History
Busbud was founded in 2011 by Louis-Philippe Maurice, Michael Gradek, and Frederic Thouin after Maurice identified a lack of centralized digital booking options while traveling in South America. The company was established in Montreal, Canada, with the goal of digitizing the fragmented intercity bus industry by connecting local operators to a global marketplace. This infrastructure was designed to resolve logistical and language barriers for international travelers.[3]
In May 2013, Busbud completed a seed round financing of $1.2 million US dollar.[4] In February 2022 Busbud announced an US$11 million funding round.
Still in 2022 Busbud merged with Recorrido, an intercity bus marketplace based in Santiago[5] and acquired Betterez, a reservation and ticketing management platform for ground transportation operators.[6]
In March 2024, the company acquired Buson, one of Brazil's largest bus booking marketplaces. This was noted as their largest M&A transaction at the time.[7] In May of the same year, Busbud acquired the South African software provider Ratality. This added demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, and fleet management to their B2B "Business Suite".
In February 2026, Busbud became the first ground transportation platform to launch a global booking integration within ChatGPT, allowing users to book travel via conversational AI.[8]
Product and Features
Busbud serves local and international travelers by offering intercity bus tickets for routes in 80 countries. The Busbud platform is available on the web for desktop and mobile devices, and through its smartphone app, available on iOS via the Apple App Store and Android via the Google Play Store. The iOS app was launched in April 2013 and the Android app was launched in June 2015. [9]
In January 2017, Busbud added six new currencies to its platform, bringing the total number of currencies available for payment processing to 30. [10]
In February 2017, Apple Pay was made available on Busbud's mobile and desktop platforms. Following the success of Apple Pay, Busbud also began offering Google Pay in 2019, allowing users to purchase intercity bus tickets using their preferred payment methods across 80 countries.
In January 2018, interconnected bus routes were launched on the Busbud platforms, allowing travelers to find and book itineraries with multiple bus connections from different operators. This feature allows travelers to combine different routes and operators, further expanding the available offering of bus routes.[11]
In February 2026, Busbud expanded its digital ecosystem by being the first bus ticketing platform launching a dedicated ChatGPT application, further integrating artificial intelligence into the ground transportation booking process. This release followed a broader industry trend of "agentic AI" in travel, designed to transition from simple search-and-filter interfaces to conversational "concierge" models.[12]