Megabus routes - where do they go?

[Deerfold]

Why so?

Also is this on all Megabus Gold services? I caught the 1630 Cardiff to London (also Gold) back in January and we could sit wherever.

I think the point is there are no reserved seats.

I've got the overnight Leeds - London (which starts in Scotland somewhere) and literally had no choice of seat - I sat in the one remaining empty one.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I think the point is there are no reserved seats.

I've got the overnight Leeds - London (which starts in Scotland somewhere) and literally had no choice of seat - I sat in the one remaining empty one.

Oh I see. I thought freetoview33 meant that the driver allocates you somewhere!

However, with the London to Cardiff service, it starts at Victoria so how would that apply?

 

[Deerfold]

Oh I see. I thought freetoview33 meant that the driver allocates you somewhere!

However, with the London to Cardiff service, it starts at Victoria so how would that apply?

Depends if it's busy and you're last (or late) on - if there's a long queue and there's more than one of you, I wouldn't like to guarantee you'll be able to sit together.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Depends if it's busy and you're last (or late) on - if there's a long queue and there's more than one of you, I wouldn't like to guarantee you'll be able to sit together.

I'm always at the station AT THE ABSOLUTR LEAST half an hour early in case that happens.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Depends if it's busy and you're last (or late) on - if there's a long queue and there's more than one of you, I wouldn't like to guarantee you'll be able to sit together.

The Ryanair principle

 

[northwichcat]

The Ryanair principle

Ryanair introduced changes in April so that you have allocated seating and you're allowed to take on a carrier bag containing Airport purchases, in addition to your cabin baggage allowance. They also have 'business class' which means you get fasttrack security, priority seating, an extra leg room seat and apparently priority exit.

 

[starrymarkb]

I think all the budget carriers now do allocated seating, makes it much more civilised.

Nat Ex and Megabus are first come first served to IME Nat Ex usually have more seats free (as they seem to have higher Yields with Airport and non FunFare passenger) - Megabus aim to sell every seat and make the money on bulk self loading freight.

 

[freetoview33]

With that late night gold service passengers for Bristol have to sit at the top and Cardiff passengers at the bottom. So at Bristol they can switch the upper deck to sleeper.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Ryanair introduced changes in April so that you have allocated seating and you're allowed to take on a carrier bag containing Airport purchases, in addition to your cabin baggage allowance. They also have 'business class' which means you get fasttrack security, priority seating, an extra leg room seat and apparently priority exit.

Indeed, they have introduced that in response to EasyJet and, I think, Wizz Air. However, whilst they didn't think of it, they were the main proponent of non allocated seats. I still hate travelling with them; used to commute from
Manchester to Dublin and the Friday night return was like the school bus!

Back on topic, it's true that whilst there is some crossover, Megabus and NatEx do go for different demographics.

 

[sonic2009]

One thing i did notice is that the drop off and pickup point for the Megabus Services to Worcester has changed to Crowngate Bus Station instead of Sixways P&R from next month.

 

[anme]

I reckon London - Southampton - Bournemouth -Poole would do OK now. I recall that Greyhound were operating when Megabus tried it before.

I remember checking out this route on one occasion (probably at quite short notice) and finding it was actually more expensive than the train. I know they use highly differential pricing but that seemed ridiculous and I did indeed take the train instead. If they relied on selling some tickets at that price to make the route pay, it's not surprising that it didn't last.

 

[radamfi]

One of the selling points of iDBus (SNCF's coach arm, running services including London to Amsterdam and Paris) is that you can reserve a particular seat. In addition, their aisle seats can be moved about 80 mm into the aisle, which gives a big improvement in privacy.

If you don't get your preferred seat on your Megabus or National Express coach, I'm sure it isn't too difficult to bribe the passenger sat in your desired seat with a pound or two.

 

[ValleyLines142]

With that late night gold service passengers for Bristol have to sit at the top and Cardiff passengers at the bottom. So at Bristol they can switch the upper deck to sleeper.

What if there are disabled passengers on board and what if the bottom deck is full anyway?

 

[freetoview33]

I guess they do have common sense and let disabled people downstairs! And obviously there will be some cardiff people up and Bristol down, but when I got on that service the driver said I had to go upstairs.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I guess they do have common sense and let disabled people downstairs! And obviously there will be some cardiff people up and Bristol down, but when I got on that service the driver said I had to go upstairs.

Oh right, was going to say!

 

[Rapidash]

There's a service that turns up in Paignton now - at 0400 or something equally horrifying. Probably a standard Plymouth - London with an extra stop thrown in. Wouldn't mind if it came to Brixham, dagnammit.

 

[CC 72100]

There's a service that turns up in Paignton now - at 0400 or something equally horrifying. Probably a standard Plymouth - London with an extra stop thrown in. Wouldn't mind if it came to Brixham, dagnammit.

I think Paignton at 4am would be well among my last choices of places to end up in!

 

[Rapidash]

I think Paignton at 4am would be well among my last choices of places to end up in!

Oh I dunno, you could always go and try and sleep on a bench at the beach in a force 10 gale waiting for the Spoons to open for breakfast!

 

[Julian W]

Can anyone tell me which buses are operating the London Vic - Cheltenham/Glos/Worcester route now? I know they've been the new Interdecks but these have been moved to the international routes I think.

I was after plug sockets. If I can't be sure i'll cough up a few quid more to get on one of the Bennetts operated Nat Ex services.

 

[starrymarkb]

Going by Flickr - Either Interdecks or Hamilton Grey Panthers

 

[47820]

Going back to DanTrainMan185 a while back, caught the 05.20 ex Cardiff between Bristol and Birmingham back in July on a Sunday morning when megabus operate many hours earlier than XC and it was a Rugby allocated B12BT/Panther.

ref JulianW on Victoria-Worcester, definately "Hamilton-Gray" ex Oxford Panthers on there but they do not cover all journies.

 

[Julian W]

Thanks for the responses.

Have booked it as was £5 compared to £20 for my times. Do the Hamilton Gray ones have Wifi and plug sockets?

regards

 

[starrymarkb]

Probably not - they are second hand Oxford X90s IIRC

 

[ValleyLines142]

Got the 0630 Cardiff to London Gold yesterday and it was just a normal coach! Was far from impressed!

 

[extendedpaul]

You wouldn't have been any happier today. According to the Megabus twitter feed the 06.30 only got to Bristol and has had to be replaced with a private hire Turners vehicle due to a technical fault.

 

[ValleyLines142]

You wouldn't have been any happier today. According to the Megabus twitter feed the 06.30 only got to Bristol and has had to be replaced with a private hire Turners vehicle due to a technical fault.

Yes I did see!

I honestly wonder whether it's worth just paying more for the train over the hassle of Megabus! Yes ot may be £5 for a single but it's just not worth the faffage!

 

[radamfi]

Yes I did see!

I honestly wonder whether it's worth just paying more for the train over the hassle of Megabus! Yes ot may be £5 for a single but it's just not worth the faffage!

For early morning journeys into London, though, the difference in fare between coach and train is massive.

 

[dzug2]

One thing i did notice is that the drop off and pickup point for the Megabus Services to Worcester has changed to Crowngate Bus Station instead of Sixways P&R from next month.

Could be to do with the withdrawal of the bus service between the P&R and Worcester city centre

 

[extendedpaul]

Yes I did see!

I honestly wonder whether it's worth just paying more for the train over the hassle of Megabus! Yes ot may be £5 for a single but it's just not worth the faffage!

I think you were unlucky, I travel megabus London-Cardiff return two or three times a month and on average arrival is half an hour EARLY. That's the 11.30 or 14.00 service London to Cardiff and the 10.15 or 12.20 Cardiff to London. Never had anything I'd consider hassle or faffage in at least a hundred journeys

 

[ValleyLines142]

For early morning journeys into London, though, the difference in fare between coach and train is massive.

It is, definitely. However I just feel like nothing ever runs smoothly everytime I catch the Megabus. Either the heating is broken, the toilet is out of order, the wifi isn't working and plug sockets aren't on either!

I think you were unlucky, I travel megabus London-Cardiff return two or three times a month and on average arrival is half an hour EARLY. That's the 11.30 or 14.00 service London to Cardiff and the 10.15 or 12.20 Cardiff to London. Never had anything I'd consider hassle or faffage in at least a hundred journeys

It's nothing to do with the timings, in fact the timings are excellent with Megabus. The 0630 Cardiff to London yesterday made a stop in Membury services for fifteen minutes, yet despite that we STILL arrived twenty minutes early into London, which is pretty impressive.

However, on the 2200 London to Cardiff on 27th August, the heating had packed in and at one point I was so unbearably hot I actually felt dizzy and was considering getting off at Bristol and getting the 0137 Temple Meads to Cardiff train home. Luckily it had cooled down slightly by then but it was AWFUL. What's worse is that it was a 14-reg coach, so that shouldn't be happening. On the way also, we had to stop on the M4 randomly for ten minutes as the hazards had jammed on.

Those services which you go on are good as they are quiet times of the day. However, when I go to London I always get the 0530 or the 0745 out of Cardiff and the 2200 or 2300 return, so that I get a full day there.

The 0630 Cardiff to London yesterday was a Scottish Citylink coach. Although it was a 63-reg vehicle, there were no plug sockets, which was highly inconvenient as I purposely hadn't charged my phone so that by the time I got to London it would have been on 100% if I had the chance (it was only on 38% as a result), there were no pillows/blankets, no decent seats and only one drink offered. And as mentioned the toilets were broken too so we had to stop in the services. Although we did have some snacks (although not as many as we're supposed to), and we arrived into London twenty minutes early, I'll be making a complaint as the Megabus Gold is usually FANTASTIC.

On a more positive note, I caught the 2300 out of London last night and everything was fine except the plug sockets weren't working, but by this point I had charged my phone in a pub beforehand so it was fine (I had about 60% and was still on 20% when I got off).

With all these little problems, I'd rather pay £12 advances on the train sometimes.