Reference no: EM133267277

AutoBus, a Dutch company, operates bus services in Maastricht, a city on the border of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. It offers services within the city and to villages in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany within a 30 km radius of the city, within which it holds a market share of 30% across public transport modalities. For instance, a tram service also operates in some cities, and a few larger villages can be reached by rail. AutoBus owns and manages the Central Bus Station in Maastricht. Nearly all of its services start and terminate in the Central Bus Station. For years, the inhabitants of Maastricht have constantly complained about the high fares charged by AutoBus. In the past a number of German bus companies from the border region have offered services in Maastricht but failed eventually, unable to compete with AutoBus, which does not only offer a high frequency on its routes but also has a very modern fleet of diesel buses. In the past five years the city council of Maastricht has refused those German bus companies to build a second central bus station in the city center. However, four years ago the city council decided to build a new train station with a large bus terminal. It is located in the city center, 1.5 km from the Central Bus Station. When the construction of the new train station was completed last year, SuperBuzz, a Belgian company operating successfully in Liège, decided to extend its services to Maastricht with a fleet of state-of-the-art electric buses. SuperBuzz is the sole operator in the new bus terminal and pays a monthly rent to the city council who is the owner of that facility. Given the use of electric buses the city council grants SuperBuzz a small discount on its rent. In addition, SuperBuzz is exempted from the road tax that is payable by all owners of a gas- or diesel-operated vehicle. Overall, SuperBuzz' operational costs are slightly lower than those of AutoBus. While SuperBuzz currently has a market share of 19% in Maastricht it is optimistic that it can double its market share within 12-18 months. AutoBus is considering Superbuzz a serious competitor. Over the past months, amidst a 50% surge of the global oil price, AutoBus has lowered its fares by 12.5%. The CEO of SuperBuzz voiced her concern that its company is unable to lower its fares and still make a profit, and decides to lodge a complaint before the European Commission, arguing Autobus has abused its dominance.

You are acting as counsel for Superbuzz. Develop a persuasive argument on how Autobus has abused its dominance under art. 102 TFEU.

You are free to creatively develop your argument by expanding on the given facts, but please do not contradict the given facts in your boundless creativity.