Because no one enjoyed searching ten different bus companies, said anyone ever.
Busbud, I think, wants to be your bus bud. In truth, it's a bus aggregator, which we all need more in our lives, because it doesn't always make sense to fly, train, drive or whatever. Busbud is a direct competitor to wanderu, which bills itself as the Kayak of bus travel. Meaning, more competition means better services for travelers. I'm all for that.
The main difference is that Busbud seems to be more widely available, encompassing 107 countries, while wanderu focuses on 49. (But more importantly, we found it important to search both for the best deal, and not to be reliant on either one of them.)
Here are a couple of random searches that we did for the cheapest fare on April 18.
depicts winners. Sometimes there are no winners.
New York, NY Boston, Mass.
Busbud: Greyhound, $10 USD, 5:30 PM-9:45 PM
wanderu: Greyhound, $10 USD, 5:30 PM-9:45 PM
London, UK Paris, France.
Busbud: Flixbus, $24 USD, 7:30 AM-5:15 PM
wanderu: Ouibus, $18.49 USD, 12:30 PM-10:25 PM
Cusco, Peru Lima, Peru
Busbud: Econociva, $19 USD, 1:30 PM-10:30 AM+ 1
wanderu: No options available.
Mexico City, Mexico Oaxaca, Mexico
Busbud: No options available.
wanderu: No options available.
Both search engines yielded no options, though this is a popular bus route for locals and tourists.