Flixbus Discussion

[Leeds1970]

flixbus scheduling at Leeds is appalling it is regular throughout the day to have coaches circling through the layovers waiting for stand 1 to become available or using a prohibited stop outside on new york street forcing local buses off their stand,
the timetabling at Leeds is for example to have a coach on stand 1 say 13:00-13:10 then the next is booked 13:10-13:20 which on paper works but not in reality as there is no leeway for late running and at other times of the day 2 are booked on stand 1 at the same time .

 

[markymark2000]

flixbus scheduling at Leeds is appalling it is regular throughout the day to have coaches circling through the layovers waiting for stand 1 to become available or using a prohibited stop outside on new york street forcing local buses off their stand,

Drivers report that they are told to use York Street where the service is drop off only (such as towards Bradford)

the timetabling at Leeds is for example to have a coach on stand 1 say 13:00-13:10 then the next is booked 13:10-13:20 which on paper works but not in reality as there is no leeway for late running and at other times of the day 2 are booked on stand 1 at the same time .

Agreed it's based very much off ideal world but that's the joys when West Yorkshire Metro only allocate one stand and refuse to buy the half empty coach station that is attached so then they can put all coaches in there and run an ultra efficient coach operation.

 

[Deerfold]

Agreed it's based very much off ideal world but that's the joys when West Yorkshire Metro only allocate one stand and refuse to buy the half empty coach station that is attached so then they can put all coaches in there and run an ultra efficient coach operation.

Is it for sale?

 

[markymark2000]

Is it for sale?

Everything has it's price. And given NatEx financial position, they have been after any money that they can get.

 

[Mwanesh]

Everything has it's price. And given NatEx financial position, they have been after any money that they can get.

Every thing has a price but do Flixbus want to pay to use more stands .Their Birmingham stop is off a busy dual carriageway i have asked why cant they use the old Megabus stand in Birmingham.

 

[markymark2000]

Every thing has a price but do Flixbus want to pay to use more stands .Their Birmingham stop is off a busy dual carriageway i have asked why cant they use the old Megabus stand in Birmingham.

I believe that Flixbus pay per departure rather than per stand at West Yorkshire bus stations. Though they may pay extra now for having their branding up around the stand. Even if Flixbus wanted more stands though, it's not really possible due to the adjacent stops being for local bus drop offs. If West Yorkshire Metro bought the coach station, there would then be 10 stands that they could use between between NatEx and Flixbus and charge each one per departure and you'd have plenty of space there for both operators.

Someone I know asked the the combined authority and Birmingham councillors about the old Megabus stand in Birmingham and the response they got was that the combined authority did not see Brunel Street as a long term solution as the stop would be affected by the cross city bus project.

 

[Deerfold]

Everything has it's price. And given NatEx financial position, they have been after any money that they can get.

And the benefit to Metro who aren't exactly rolling in money?

The only reason the coach station was built at the same time as the bus station was because National Express wanted to expand from their tiny (but much handier for transferring from rail) Wellington Street coach station.

 

[markymark2000]

And the benefit to Metro who aren't exactly rolling in money?

They can earn departure fees from NatEx. They will gain more departures from Flix because night stuff has to go off York Street because of the lack of night gates etc. That is more departure charges revenue, it also enables Flixbus to expand and have more departures from the station because there would be a lot more spare capacity if the 10 coach stands are shared between the 2 operators, which would generate more revenue from the departures.
Thanks to the coach side being not indoors, it's also open 24/7 and so that would enable some of the night buses to still serve the main bus/coach station at night when the main building closes.

Let's also not forget that it wasn't too long ago that WY Metro couldn't welcome Flixbus to the bus station because of lack of capacity with Megabus. That meant for a while that there was a lot of lost revenue for them.

That's before any political benefits of an integreted transport hub all owned by the authority. Gives potential for regeneration to make the area bigger and do more with the land (a growing city needs to be building up, and what a perfect opportunity with a large piece of land to rebuild a bus/coach station with offices or houses on floors above etc)

The only reason the coach station was built at the same time as the bus station was because National Express wanted to expand from their tiny (but much handier for transferring from rail) Wellington Street coach station.

Very much based off a National Express heyday. National Express is now a VERY different operator to what they were when they actually needed these coach stations.

 

[Deerfold]

They can earn departure fees from NatEx. They will gain more departures from Flix because night stuff has to go off York Street because of the lack of night gates etc. That is more departure charges revenue, it also enables Flixbus to expand and have more departures from the station because there would be a lot more spare capacity if the 10 coach stands are shared between the 2 operators, which would generate more revenue from the departures.

It's not a lot more, compared with now.

Thanks to the coach side being not indoors, it's also open 24/7 and so that would enable some of the night buses to still serve the main bus/coach station at night when the main building closes.

Will they need more staff to do that?

Let's also not forget that it wasn't too long ago that WY Metro couldn't welcome Flixbus to the bus station because of lack of capacity with Megabus. That meant for a while that there was a lot of lost revenue for them.

But now they don't have the income from Megabus.
I'm not sure why Metro have such problems with capacity at almost all their larger bus stations, despite far fewer departures than 30 years ago.

That's before any political benefits of an integreted transport hub all owned by the authority. Gives potential for regeneration to make the area bigger and do more with the land (a growing city needs to be building up, and what a perfect opportunity with a large piece of land to rebuild a bus/coach station with offices or houses on floors above etc)

Perhaps they could fix the roof, which has been leaking for years.

Very much based off a National Express heyday. National Express is now a VERY different operator to what they were when they actually needed these coach stations.

Perhaps, though places like Leeds still get a lot of services, with a lot of smaller places losing most or all of them.

 

[markymark2000]

It's not a lot more, compared with now.

It's extra. And if they had the space too, nothing stops them permitting more adhoc coaches to use the coach station too. Buchannan Bus Station style.

Will they need more staff to do that?

Shouldn't need any more than what is already provided. The coach station side is already open 24/7.

I'm not sure why Metro have such problems with capacity at almost all their larger bus stations, despite far fewer departures than 30 years ago.

In Leeds case, there is only 1 coach stand, 3 drop off only stands, the next 20 or so stands are mostly used by 4 buses per hour. Then stands 24/25 are disused, I presume due to the amount of reversing needed due to the close proximity to the traffic lights. And in any case would need rebuilding to safely and properly accommodate coaches.

Bradford I got the impression Flix and other coaches were moved to Nelson Street was because of the bus station collapse and perhaps trying to keep less buses on the stands?
Huddersfield can accommodate coaches. I presume the reason Flix are mostly using the stops outside as because of the upcoming works to the bus station? Halifax goodness knows as there is capacity on the coach stand for Flixbus to stop there, but they are choosing not to, or WY Metro aren't accommodating them (one or the other)

Perhaps, though places like Leeds still get a lot of services, with a lot of smaller places losing most or all of them.

Lots of smaller places lost out and while Leeds does still get a good number of services, it's nowhere near at a level where they need 10 stands to operate it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Feb 2026 ==

February, March & April changes
I've shared the details in other places so might as well share here. Lots of expansion coming up with new routes and both new and returning stops. I've not provided operator details except where the information is known for a fact. All information comes from Flixbus open data (and can be viewed on bustimes.org), the Flixbus site itself when you search for trips, and in some rare cases, information from staff at operators (information which is only being shared because there is public information to go with it).

Everything shared here is bookable on the Flixbus site in some way, shape or form. Tables are correct as of 28th Jan and I will try and keep it updated as more information comes to light. Purely as a disclaimer, please only use this as a guide. Flixbus are well known for providing optimistic dates for changes, and changing their mind on things.

Amended above post to include details of changes coming to the 023 Manchester-London service from 5th March. And also include the 087, 091 and 092 changes in April (thought it best to do that for completeness)

 

[Leeds1970]

In Leeds case, there is only 1 coach stand, 3 drop off only stands, the next 20 or so stands are mostly used by 4 buses per hour. Then stands 24/25 are disused, I presume due to the amount of reversing needed due to the close proximity to the traffic lights. And in any case would need rebuilding to safely and properly accommodate coaches.

Bradford I got the impression Flix and other coaches were moved to Nelson Street was because of the bus station collapse and perhaps trying to keep less buses on the stands?
Huddersfield can accommodate coaches. I presume the reason Flix are mostly using the stops outside as because of the upcoming works to the bus station? Halifax goodness knows as there is capacity on the coach stand for Flixbus to stop there, but they are choosing not to, or WY Metro aren't accommodating them (one or the other)
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there was never any intention to operate coaches out of Leeds bus station- megabus originally ran from a bus stop to the side of Leeds parish church there were numerous complaints from members of the public and the church of megabus passengers using church grounds as a toilet so reluctantly metro agreed to accommodate megabus on a remodelled stand 1. when Flix started to run to Leeds the used the layby outside of the IBIS hotel as Flix added services complaints were raised by the hotel chain that flix passengers were using the hotel as a waiting room and that taxis etc could not use the layby because of the constant stream of coaches again metro was asked to oblige. as for Huddersfield and Halifax WY Metro aren't accommodating them so they will run off street.

 

[markymark2000]

there was never any intention to operate coaches out of Leeds bus station

Agreed. Hence the importance that the coach station is bought to provide a better, multi operator coach station which will also enable Stand 1 to be returned for use from normal services.

when Flix started to run to Leeds the used the layby outside of the IBIS hotel as Flix added services complaints were raised by the hotel chain that flix passengers were using the hotel as a waiting room and that taxis etc could not use the layby because of the constant stream of coaches again metro was asked to oblige.

I'm not sure I really believe your explanations fully given that Flixbus has served multiple stops in Leeds including Kirkgate for a long time then only moved into the bus station after Megabus cut the England network so there was capacity for them (which there wasn't previously due to Megabus having the only coach stand). You make out as if WY Metro was forced to give access, but Flix merely took on the stand which was no longer going to be used and if WY Metro didn't want to offer access, they could have easily declined.

as for Huddersfield and Halifax WY Metro aren't accommodating them so they will run off street.

Metro are accommodating Flix at Huddersfield but only on the 003. Halifax and the 930s in Huddersfield, if it is WY Metro who are being needlessly difficult and refusing access, I question why? The coach stands have dismal utilisation from National Express and refusing access would seem to be a politically motivated thing with most LAs having a preference for NatEx, rather than done because they genuinely 'cant accomodate' Flix.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Does anyone have rough figures on how many scheduled journeys each day Flixbus and National Express each run across their UK networks? I made a four hour drive this morning which took in the M3, M25, M1 and A1(M) motorways and I couldn't believe the number of bright green Flix coaches I saw, in comparison to the more traditional sight of white NatEx ones. Most of my motorway driving these days is in the south east corner of the country through Kent, where neither operator run to many locations, so I hadn't really noticed just how prevalent Flix seems to have become.

 

[gingerheid]

I assume that they will be bigger than National Express by most metrics by the end of this year. The number of places by which NE's route network is bigger isn't a lot, and significantly consists of the marginal and small routes like Aberystwyth / Grimsby / Haverfordwest.

They are also being much more innovative in the routes they are coming up with, and I imagine that many of these will work out for them.

 

[route101]

Certainly on the Scotland to London routes Flix have NX beat. I don't think there has been any increase in service since Megabus pulled out.

 

[markymark2000]

I assume that they will be bigger than National Express by most metrics by the end of this year.

Flix PVR in May based off what is currently being advertised, will be around 120. I'm not sure how that compares to NX.

What is worth saying though is that there are still a good number of Flixbuses which are out in service for less than 12 hours per day (From starting the first trip to arriving back. Not including dead time to/from the depot). So while yes there can be a high PVR, my rough estimates say around 30% of those vehicles are very poorly utilised.

Certainly on the Scotland to London routes Flix have NX beat. I don't think there has been any increase in service since Megabus pulled out.

I think it depends where you are travelling to/from. The M6 corridor links on the Scotland routes are quite poor on Flix with only 2 coaches per day, there are no stops on the east coast between Edinburgh and Newcastle so Dunbar and Berwick are left without. No stops on the West Coast routes either in Scotland bar Glasgow so Hamilton is a NX exclusive stop and Abingdon (which was useful for onward bus connections) has no services now.

There's a LOT of room for improvement here.

 

[gingerheid]

I think it depends where you are travelling to/from. The M6 corridor links on the Scotland routes are quite poor on Flix with only 2 coaches per day, there are no stops on the east coast between Edinburgh and Newcastle so Dunbar and Berwick are left without. No stops on the West Coast routes either in Scotland bar Glasgow so Hamilton is a NX exclusive stop and Abingdon (which was useful for onward bus connections) has no services now.

There's a LOT of room for improvement here.

The Flix overnight services from Glasgow to London are a crime that should be recordable.

What's the choice?

UKN10 - Has some uninterrupted hours in the middle of the night, but takes to long to be intended to be used for the full journey
UKXN10 - Nobody wants to do that journey via Edinburgh?
UKN30 - Reasonable journey time but stops at 3 and 5 in the morning
UKN31 - Serves a purpose that I don't understand (if it's for the intermediate stops should it be retimed to serve them at sensible hours?)

And all this with fares that can be higher than the seated carriage on the sleeper!

 

[Stan Drews]

The Flix overnight services from Glasgow to London are a crime that should be recordable.

What's the choice?

UKN10 - Has some uninterrupted hours in the middle of the night, but takes to long to be intended to be used for the full journey
UKXN10 - Nobody wants to do that journey via Edinburgh?
UKN30 - Reasonable journey time but stops at 3 and 5 in the morning
UKN31 - Serves a purpose that I don't understand (if it's for the intermediate stops should it be retimed to serve them at sensible hours?)

And all this with fares that can be higher than the seated carriage on the sleeper!

UKN10 - It isn’t intended to be used for the full journey (the N30 provides that)
UKXN10 - Was introduced as a N10 ‘duplicate’ because demand on the N10 exceeded supply.
UKN30 - It would be hard for stops on an overnight service not to be in the early hours!
UKN31 - Provides additional Anglo-Scottish capacity on the busiest nights. What sensible hours would you like the intermediate stops to be?
You forgot the UKN11 which provides direct overnight opportunities for a number of locations north of Glasgow/Edinburgh.

The N10, XN10 & N30 are also timed so that they can interwork efficiently with the daytime cross-border routes.

Occupancy rates have always been good, so they must be getting something right.

 

[Deerfold]

The Flix overnight services from Glasgow to London are a crime that should be recordable.

What's the choice?

UKN10 - Has some uninterrupted hours in the middle of the night, but takes to long to be intended to be used for the full journey
UKXN10 - Nobody wants to do that journey via Edinburgh?
UKN30 - Reasonable journey time but stops at 3 and 5 in the morning
UKN31 - Serves a purpose that I don't understand (if it's for the intermediate stops should it be retimed to serve them at sensible hours?)

And all this with fares that can be higher than the seated carriage on the sleeper!

If you're travelling overnight few people are actually that bothered how long it takes, but how convenient the boarding and arrival times are. The UKXN20, UKM30 and UKN31 look fine for that - though the intermediate stop times may disturb light sleepers.

 

[markymark2000]

The Flix overnight services from Glasgow to London are a crime that should be recordable.

What's the choice?

UKN10 - Has some uninterrupted hours in the middle of the night, but takes to long to be intended to be used for the full journey
UKXN10 - Nobody wants to do that journey via Edinburgh?
UKN30 - Reasonable journey time but stops at 3 and 5 in the morning
UKN31 - Serves a purpose that I don't understand (if it's for the intermediate stops should it be retimed to serve them at sensible hours?)

And all this with fares that can be higher than the seated carriage on the sleeper!

The bigger issue here is the lack of services on the M6 corridor. Only the N30 (discounting the N31 as it only serves Carlisle and Penrith then runs to Leeds) versus the 4 (N10, N11, XN10 & N31) which run via the East Coast and Yorkshire. Glasgow to Manchester and Birmingham is really underserved in my opinion. Both in the day and night.

The N10, XN10 & N30 are also timed so that they can interwork efficiently with the daytime cross-border routes.

What does the XN10 interwork with?
I knew the 010 and N30 interwork, and 030/N10 interwork, but the XN10 looks to not work very well to interwork with the X010.

 

[Martin1988]

when Flix started to run to Leeds the used the layby outside of the IBIS hotel as Flix added services complaints were raised by the hotel chain that flix passengers were using the hotel as a waiting room and that taxis etc could not use the layby because of the constant stream of coaches again metro was asked to oblige. as for Huddersfield and Halifax WY Metro aren't accommodating them so they will run off street.

I remember using Flixbus in Leeds twice during 2021. Once in June and then again in August and both times the coach picked up and set down in the stop/layby opposite the Bus Station which Megabus had previously used.

I seem to recall that the Megabus stand in the bus station was unavailable (from memory there were some works being done at that end of the bus station) so Megabus and Flixbus were having to share the same stop and I think it did get a bit congested.

I remember NX and Megabus both having a service uplift in mid June 2021 on the day that the final remaining Covid restrictions were meant to be dropped. Got a feeling Flix had an uplift at either the same time or about a month later so that presumably put more pressure on that one stop if both Flix and Megabus were having to share.

 

[Stan Drews]

What does the XN10 interwork with?
I knew the 010 and N30 interwork, and 030/N10 interwork, but the XN10 looks to not work very well to interwork with the X010.

Cant recall the exact workings off the top of my head, but I think the XN10 replaces the N10 in one direction to form part of the cross-border interworking in London. The turn around times in London are usually around 1:30 to 2:30 so you can probably work it out.
The daytime X010 doesn’t currently interwork with anything, so the same crew take it down and back the next day.

 

[gingerheid]

UKN30 - It would be hard for stops on an overnight service not to be in the early hours!

Then maybe that's not the journey the stops should be on?

UKN31 - Provides additional Anglo-Scottish capacity on the busiest nights. What sensible hours would you like the intermediate stops to be?

Not between 1 and 5 so people have a chance of getting to sleep! A market that wasn't failing would be able to provide services to the other parts of the route at more suitable times of the day.

You forgot the UKN11 which provides direct overnight opportunities for a number of locations north of Glasgow/Edinburgh.

I didn't; it doesn't serve Glasgow

 

[Deerfold]

The Flix overnight services from Glasgow to London are a crime that should be recordable.

What's the choice?

UKN10 - Has some uninterrupted hours in the middle of the night, but takes to long to be intended to be used for the full journey
UKXN10 - Nobody wants to do that journey via Edinburgh?
UKN30 - Reasonable journey time but stops at 3 and 5 in the morning
UKN31 - Serves a purpose that I don't understand (if it's for the intermediate stops should it be retimed to serve them at sensible hours?)

And all this with fares that can be higher than the seated carriage on the sleeper!

If you're travelling overnight few people are actually that bothered how long it takes, but how convenient the boarding and arrival times are. The UKXN20, UKM30 and UKN31 look fine for that - though the intermediate stop times may disturb light sleepers.

 

[markymark2000]

Then maybe that's not the journey the stops should be on?

The N30 only stops at Manchester and Birmingham. It hardly stops anywhere.
Its worth noting too that the 2 NatEx coaches which run 'none stop' between 1 and 5, both stop at the services along the way, so they still stop, even if not to let people on/off. At least serving a stop, Flix can make more revenue per seat.

 

[Andyh82]

Bradford I got the impression Flix and other coaches were moved to Nelson Street was because of the bus station collapse and perhaps trying to keep less buses on the stands?

Coaches now depart from Nelson Street in Bradford as there isn’t enough room for them in the Interchange

More services than previously now use the Interchange, in fact probably for the first time since it was built, every service now uses it as there are no longer the bus stands in the city centre

In terms of Leeds they can only use stand 1 as the other stands wouldn’t allow people to walk down the coach to access the luggage space or indeed have enough room to even open them. When it was built there weren’t these secondary competing coach networks that wouldn’t use the National Express coach station so it wasn’t factored in to build coach stands in the bus station

 

[Stan Drews]

Not between 1 and 5 so people have a chance of getting to sleep! A market that wasn't failing would be able to provide services to the other parts of the route at more suitable times of the day.

Who suggested the market was failing?

Flix have regularly added new lines to the cross-border coach market since they started the N10, coming up for 5 years ago this summer. That doesn’t seem like a failing market.

 

[route101]

The Flix overnight services from Glasgow to London are a crime that should be recordable.

What's the choice?

UKN10 - Has some uninterrupted hours in the middle of the night, but takes to long to be intended to be used for the full journey
UKXN10 - Nobody wants to do that journey via Edinburgh?
UKN30 - Reasonable journey time but stops at 3 and 5 in the morning
UKN31 - Serves a purpose that I don't understand (if it's for the intermediate stops should it be retimed to serve them at sensible hours?)

And all this with fares that can be higher than the seated carriage on the sleeper!

Used all of them except the N30, used the 030 though. The XN10 is the preferred even if starting from Glasgow as it runs non stop from Edinburgh bar any driver swaps/breaks at services.

The N31 leaves around midnight and is useful to get to Sheffield or Northampton, the arrival in London may be a bit late for some. This service was quiet north of Leeds when the N31 started but last time it was busy from Glasgow. Its the only coach route to use the A66 although it can go via the M62.

Surprised there is not another non stop starting from Glasgow to London.

Yes, Flix bus fares are expensive, you need to book in advance, in the past the coach was the last minute option because it was quite cheap.

 

[markymark2000]

The N31 leaves around midnight and is useful to get to Sheffield or Northampton, the arrival in London may be a bit late for some.

I don't understand the Northampton stop really. It's a rather strange destination for people travelling from the north. And it feels too close to London for people to use the coach and there are the 002 Chalfont placement trips not too far behind.

It may do well but it's a very unusual stop I think on this route.

 

[route101]

I don't understand the Northampton stop really. It's a rather strange destination for people travelling from the north. And it feels too close to London for people to use the coach and there are the 002 Chalfont placement trips not too far behind.

It may do well but it's a very unusual stop I think on this route.

Funnily enough I was thinking of using the service to Northampton as it gets in around 7am, which is not too early.