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Flixbus Discussion
- Thread starter darloscott
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Had an interesting journey on the N31 from Glasgow to Leeds the other night.
The drivers were taking no prisoners with food, phones on loudspeaker, bags on seats and socks being removed. She lectured every passenger that got on and she even told someone off for eating a stinky sandwich.
At Carlisle they knew someone was due to leave and must of remembered or have seat number of the guy. The guy left the bus but a few minutes later he comes back on , obviously this guy was chancing his arm . He tried paying in cash to get to Sheffield. The guy was allowed back on and perhaps made to book a ticket online.
A66 was closed so we went via the M6/M61/M62 after Penrith, then arrived at Leeds after getting lost finding the coach station.
The drivers were taking no prisoners with food, phones on loudspeaker, bags on seats and socks being removed. She lectured every passenger that got on and she even told someone off for eating a stinky sandwich.
At Carlisle they knew someone was due to leave and must of remembered or have seat number of the guy. The guy left the bus but a few minutes later he comes back on , obviously this guy was chancing his arm . He tried paying in cash to get to Sheffield. The guy was allowed back on and perhaps made to book a ticket online.
A66 was closed so we went via the M6/M61/M62 after Penrith, then arrived at Leeds after getting lost finding the coach station.
What was the difference in fare between Glasgow - Carlisle, and Glasgow - Sheffield? Surely not worth the effort to try to short-fare. It presumably cost him more to pay for two fares!
Edit: I've just looked at the fares for a random date. The fare to Carlisle was £9, from Carlisle to Sheffield was £18, and £28 for the whole journey. So not much in it, except he would have to have paid two booking fares, and he may have bought the ticket to Carlisle in advance at a discount, whereas the Carlisle to Sheffield fare would have been a 'walk-on' fare. A fare a month in advance for the whole journey is about £14.
Second Edit: Trying to purchase a ticket for tonight's trip, it would be cheaper to buy split tickets (£10 + £15, v £32). Do they allow split tickets?
Last edited:
Or he booked Glasgow to Carlisle last minute and was chancing on going to London. Flixbus last minute fares are often over £70.
How would split ticketing work? You would ask to get both tickets scanned.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
Surprised the NEC card doesn't work for Glasgow to Carlisle considering you can still get there on other Scottish buses
markymark2000
On Moderation
Concessionary passes issued in England and Wales are not valid on Flixbus or National Express services.
The Scottish card could work however it would be dependent on any local agreement with both the operator and Scottish Govt. Currently Megabus/Citylink only accept NEC on journeys fully within Scotland and so I'd put good money on this being what the Scottish Govt is willing to find rather than any journeys over the border and potentially causing issues where people can travel one way, but not the other (as if people board in Carlisle, it will be down to Cumberland Council to pay up)
Smethwickian
Member
Scottish concessionary passes are not valid on National Express services at all so questions about cross-border journeys with NX are irrelevant.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
They're valid on Flixbus as well on Scottish routes, On Stagecoach Cumbria 79 Between Dumfries and Carlisle, Telfords 127A Between Carlisle and Newcastleton McCalls 382 Carlisle to Lockerbie and Borders Buses X95 Edinburgh to Carlisle Scottish 60+/Disables passes are accepted on all these service in and out of Carlisle, Same on the other side in Berwick upon Tweed and also valid all the way to Newcastle on the X74 ran by Peter Hoggs
markymark2000
On Moderation
You are not comparing apples with apples. Yes some concessionary passes are valid cross border on local buses where people are generally travelling to the next town over the border (though yes someone may use it to travel from Carlisle to Edinburgh, the number of people doing that will be very low), and this is due to local agreements with bordering local authorities and may require you to have a concessionary pass issued by a specific authority.
Coaches are a very different ball game. It's a different reimbursement formula, and different criteria for eligibility. In England authorities do not have to offer free travel on express coaches, any authority doing so would have to pay for that themselves out of the council budget. Coach operators likely wouldn't want to accept English councils reimbursement rates either as they take into account the average fare paid overall and not just base it off the onboard fare which hardly anyone pays. This means in Scotland the reimbursement will be much higher than that given by English authorities.
Unless someone has a magic money tree, Scottish concessionary passes won't be valid for cross border travel on services which do not fall into the governments definition of "local bus" services, anytime soon.
318266
Member
You have absolutely no idea how the Scottish concessionary system works. National Express/Flixbus/Megabus (to England) are classified as premium international coach services and iirc are exempted from the cross-border exemption.
The reimbursement formula for coaches in Scotland is otherwise identical to buses, who also have an exemption for premium rate services e.g. night/tour buses.
The cross-border exemption is not, and iirc since the National Entitlement Cards were introduced in 2006 has never been "due to local agreements with bordering local authorities". They are valid for all passes nationally - hence the term "National"! Part of the purpose of the NEC scheme was to eliminate any postcode lottery of entitlements (wrt buses) that today plague those south of the border. (Another relevant point is that local authorities since 2006 do not fund the reimbursement, but instead this is done by the Scottish Government itself)
markymark2000
On Moderation
I meant different reimbursement formula in Scotland compared to England, which it is (In england it works off average fare paid overall including day tickets and returns etc. In Scotland is based off just the onboard single fare)
It very much is subject to local agreement between the concessionary travel regions. Yes Scottish passes are valid cross border as that is the agreement between the Scottish Govt and Northumberland/Cumbria councils. For English passes though, it can be dependent on who issues the pass.
Given where you board, dictates who pays the reimbursement for the pass, the comparisons I am making of the Scottish and English systems are comparing the English system to the Scottish are very much correct. English councils will not pay up for travel from Carlisle or Berwick to Scotland on express coaches (Even as a discretionary enhancement).
318266
Member
I don't think calling the Scottish Government a "local authority" will get you very far into Scotland
markymark2000
On Moderation
The 077 at 06:10 is operated by Watts Coaches.
070 from Leeds to Bristol at 19:10 is operated by First Bristol
That hasn't been said. Please do not put words into my mouth.
I honestly wish they'd do away with them and have free seating like National Express/Megabus except for the first few rows. Creates more issues than it's worth tbh.
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Cool, thankyou for that information.
FlybeDash8Q400
Established Member
Just for some clarity as I think there’s definitely some misinterpretation going on here.
Any registered service, be it intercity coach or local bus, can be travelled on with an NEC within Scotland. Cross border services are restricted to local buses only, but have absolutely nothing to do with the English authorities as the reimbursement is done entirely by the Scottish government. For these journeys to quality any journey must start or end in Scotland. England only journeys are not permitted. The English authorities don’t need to grant permission for something that in essence has nothing to do with them. Cross border local services are allowed simply to avoid the system being complicated.
The reimbursement rate I believe is set at that of 65% of the walkup single fare. Indeed this is why many Scottish operators have hefty priced singles and often returns are cheaper. That way the reimbursement for the single is favourable for the operator, and the everyday user (whom often returns) can be accommodated at the ‘normal’ rate.
Hope that helps clarify this.
For 2025-26 the rates are:
Old and disabled 52.9%, capped at £215.1 million
Youth 5-15 47.9%, uncapped
Youth 16-21 72.4%, uncapped
The 5-15 rate has gone up from last year, the others have gone down
Source
It isn't great to end up on the back seat if you book early and don't pay for a reservation. I can see why some people like the reservation arrangements, particularly if travelling in a group.
For so long as Flixbus are going to allow people to reserve the seat next to them, which appears to be something they see as a differentiator, then I can't see how that works without allocated seats for all.
In theory offering paid-for reservations means that the headline price can be cheaper.
I don't get the impression that a lot of people pay for reservations on National Express, and it appeared that on Megabus general seating sold out quicker than the reservable seats.
Ultimately, there are pros and cons to it.
markymark2000
On Moderation
National Express and Megabus have a good mix in my opinion. Reserved seating on the front half (perfect for those who want the certainty of sitting with their friends) and unreserved back half (so better for people who want to pick where they sit and hope for the best).
While I doubt it would happen, it would be good for coaches to have reserved lights above the seats like you see on intercity trains. Green available, orange reserved at a later stop, red reserved now do not sit here sort of thing. This would fit both groups of people in the reserved seating debate.
Eyersey468
Established Member
- Joined
- 14 Sep 2018
- Messages
- 2,592
On NX we do reserved stickers we put on the headrests, a lot of the time people ignore them though, I'm certain people think we put them on to make it look pretty
Martin1988
Member
I've tended to find NX drivers always honour seat reservations whereas with Flixbus its hit and miss with some drivers telling you to sit in the seat shown on your ticket and others telling you to sit anywhere.
The back seat is one of my preferred seat choices so welcome the option to reserve it on Flixbus journeys although have had several instances where I've reserved a seat there and boarded to find it occupied and on several occasions the back row seats have been shown as unavailable when booking but then not had anyone sitting there during the actual journey.
Went on that Watts 077 journey from Cardiff to Birmingham (well Bristol to Birmingham) at the start of July and there was no option to reserve a seat. The driver wouldn't allow anyone at all to sit in the front 4 seats and at the same time there was an inconsiderate passenger lying across the back 5 seats. Ended up having to unneccesarrily sit next to another passenger in the second row. On the way home that evening on another Watts coach, the driver told me to sit in my reserved seat on the back row.
The back seat is one of my preferred seat choices so welcome the option to reserve it on Flixbus journeys although have had several instances where I've reserved a seat there and boarded to find it occupied and on several occasions the back row seats have been shown as unavailable when booking but then not had anyone sitting there during the actual journey.
Went on that Watts 077 journey from Cardiff to Birmingham (well Bristol to Birmingham) at the start of July and there was no option to reserve a seat. The driver wouldn't allow anyone at all to sit in the front 4 seats and at the same time there was an inconsiderate passenger lying across the back 5 seats. Ended up having to unneccesarrily sit next to another passenger in the second row. On the way home that evening on another Watts coach, the driver told me to sit in my reserved seat on the back row.
Butts
Veteran Member
I have never travelled on Flixbus before but am making my debut in October between Edinburgh Airport and Inverness along with my son (Route UK094) and back again.
Being able to book the tickets now and going from the Airport (he if flying in) was a bonus, Citylink haven't even got bookable fares yet for the journey which is only 2 months away.
Timewise it's not that different from the Train and pricewise at less than £20 each way for the two of us (mine free) including seats in row 1 both ways. I was a little concerned that someone mentioned they don't always honour seat reservations ? These made up £8 of the fare each way.
Also it stops at Perth (I think) on the way up for 10mins - can you get off and have a cigarette ?
Butts
Veteran Member
So you can get off to "shoot up" a B&H Gold (no lighting necessary only a lighter !)
I remember a ten minute wait at Perth Bus Station, was an Inverness service but not sure which direction. We also stopped at Broxden. Services connect at Broxden.
henryb
Member
Who runs the 0830 and 0900 from Bristol Bus station to London
One of the least good bits. Paying £2 for a seat reservation leaves a sour note, especially as it's often filled by someone pretending to sleep when you get on.
Butts
Veteran Member
I imagine this is a little harder to pull off if the reserved seats are Row 1 and you are getting on at the origin or 1st stop on the route ?
Are the Edinburgh-Inverness Single Decker Coaches ?