Flixbus Discussion

[route101]

To be fair, 3 main coach operators are pretty bad with information on services. Quite often I only find out when going to book.

I was in Victoria Coach Station last night and the 2300 service to Paris was cancelled, I wonder what happens to the passengers? I guess booked onto next service if space or refund?

 

[Eyersey468]

To be fair, 3 main coach operators are pretty bad with information on services. Quite often I only find out when going to book.

I was in Victoria Coach Station last night and the 2300 service to Paris was cancelled, I wonder what happens to the passengers? I guess booked onto next service if space or refund?

To be honest in my experience if a service is cancelled Flixbus do absolutely nothing to help the passengers, I'm a driver on the NX network and we often get people coming over asking if they can travel with us as the Flixbus hasn't turned up, then wonder why they get told they have to buy another ticket as its a different company

 

[cambsy]

I saw today( Monday 16th June) ,on M5 Northbound near Exeter, about 5.50pm, brand new 25 plate Yutong operating 049 to London, so are Berry coaches still involved with this service or is it all now First Bus etc? Which services do first operate and which do Berry’s do? Just like be on brand new 25 plate , rather than older Berry’s coach.

 

[markymark2000]

I saw today( Monday 16th June) ,on M5 Northbound near Exeter, about 5.50pm, brand new 25 plate Yutong operating 049 to London, so are Berry coaches still involved with this service or is it all now First Bus etc? Which services do first operate and which do Berry’s do? Just like be on brand new 25 plate , rather than older Berry’s coach.

This is First Bus. They run all of the 049/N49 journeys. Berrys now only operate the Taunton 078s and I am unsure how long that will be for as there were murmurings that First were taking that too.

 

[DJames]

Prospect Coaches have opened a new depot in Birmingham, dedicated to their FlixBus operations.

 

[cambsy]

Im travelling on N49 from Exeter-London on Wednesday morning, and was wandering are the drivers First Bus Drivers or Berry’s still? And do they just change Taunton or now Bristol etc?.

 

[markymark2000]

Im travelling on N49 from Exeter-London on Wednesday morning, and was wandering are the drivers First Bus Drivers or Berry’s still? And do they just change Taunton or now Bristol etc?.

Berrys do not run anything now bar the Taunton 078 (and for how much longer, I am not sure).

Driver changeover in Taunton still and operated by a Taunton driver through to London.

 

[Mwanesh]

To be honest in my experience if a service is cancelled Flixbus do absolutely nothing to help the passengers, I'm a driver on the NX network and we often get people coming over asking if they can travel with us as the Flixbus hasn't turned up, then wonder why they get told they have to buy another ticket as its a different company

Thats one thing they do need to sort out especially at Victoria Coach Station.They should be someone sorting the problems. Leaving passengers stranded is a no for me .

 

[317 forever]

Nothing other than press releases and some generic paid for web advertising. Even on the stops they don't promote which buses run from there, it's just a generic poster telling people to scan the QR Code to find out where they can travel. This is because the general attitude of Flixbus is that everything is online and people find out about services just by general searches. Proper written information relies on being updated when there is changes and Flix haven't got the time for that as it stifles their innovation and ability to quickly amend services in line with demand.

I find out about the changes because of the Flixbus UK Enthusiast Facebook Group as well as Flixbus Open Data. Combine that with general web scraping around once per week to see what I can find. And if it wasn't for the dates keeping changing (because Flix have an inability to set realistic start dates for services and seemingly only realise a few days before launch that a coach service struggles to operate without coaches), it is 90% reliable

Now I know my decision not to join Facebook has been vindicated

 

[318266]

Now I know my decision not to join Facebook has been vindicated

Surprisingly, not nearly the most ironic enthusiast group I've genuinely seen!!

 

[cambsy]

markymark2000, Is the Drive which gets on at Taunton a First Bus Driver Or a Berry’s driver?.

 

[markymark2000]

markymark2000, Is the Drive which gets on at Taunton a First Bus Driver Or a Berry’s driver?.

First Bus driver.

 

[cambsy]

Thanks markymark2000

 

[riceuten]

To be honest in my experience if a service is cancelled Flixbus do absolutely nothing to help the passengers, I'm a driver on the NX network and we often get people coming over asking if they can travel with us as the Flixbus hasn't turned up, then wonder why they get told they have to buy another ticket as its a different company

Not for nothing are Flixbus known as the Ryanair of coach transport. I very much doubt there was anyone there at Victoria to help, nor anyone answering their phones or messages and they probably sent a bulk email a couple of days later advising people to buy a new ticket and claim the cost of the original ticket (less a €10 admin fee) back from them…in Flixbus vouchers, of course

 

[DJames]

Thats one thing they do need to sort out especially at Victoria Coach Station.They should be someone sorting the problems. Leaving passengers stranded is a no for me .

There is staff from Flixbus at Victoria for what it's worth, but I don't believe it's staffed around the clock, like I presume you get with NX.

 

[alf]

I saw a smart looking coach with destination board Poole & route number 061 on a minor road in Bournemouth early last week. Googled it & learnt about Flex bus & booked on line last Tuesday.
They took myself & a friend last Thursday at 1pm from Victoria, (Bullied way in the Green line terminal) each for £3.50 single & £1 booking fee.
No complaints so far. What a bargain. I approve of the new competition despite being a rail enthusiast.

 

[riceuten]

There is staff from Flixbus at Victoria for what it's worth, but I don't believe it's staffed around the clock, like I presume you get with NX.

Yes, usually when everything is going smoothly - when there are delays, they are scarce

 

[Eyersey468]

There is staff from Flixbus at Victoria for what it's worth, but I don't believe it's staffed around the clock, like I presume you get with NX.

There are Flixbus staff there until at least half 6pm, I can't say how much longer they stay after that though as that's the time our last coach leaves

 

[route101]

There are Flixbus staff there until at least half 6pm, I can't say how much longer they stay after that though as that's the time our last coach leaves

There was someone in flixbus uniform who I have seen a few times late the evening over at the high numbered gates at Victoria. There was a late Paris service cancelled.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jun 2025 ==

I saw a smart looking coach with destination board Poole & route number 061 on a minor road in Bournemouth early last week. Googled it & learnt about Flex bus & booked on line last Tuesday.
They took myself & a friend last Thursday at 1pm from Victoria, (Bullied way in the Green line terminal) each for £3.50 single & £1 booking fee.
No complaints so far. What a bargain. I approve of the new competition despite being a rail enthusiast.

I reckon the prices will get higher once the service settles.

 

[Mwanesh]

There is staff from Flixbus at Victoria for what it's worth, but I don't believe it's staffed around the clock, like I presume you get with NX.

They cant make decisions on services like NX or Megabus used to do.NX can solve problems.Megabus you could get a replacement coaches from London operators.Flix are just customer assistants

 

[nick291]

Booked a trip to Heathrow on Sunday(29/06/25), is it Newport Transport or Cymru Coaches that operate the 940? I can't remember off the top of my head.

 

[James H]

I reckon the prices will get higher once the service settles.

I'm already seeing some tickets north of £20 on the Bournemouth route. And some journeys showing as fully booked.

Be interesting to see if they add extra journeys, and if so how quickly.

 

[pwharley]

Booked a trip to Heathrow on Sunday(29/06/25), is it Newport Transport or Cymru Coaches that operate the 940? I can't remember off the top of my head.

Newport Transport

 

[markymark2000]

I'm already seeing some tickets north of £20 on the Bournemouth route. And some journeys showing as fully booked.

Be interesting to see if they add extra journeys, and if so how quickly.

Flix don't tend to add in extra journeys. When NatEx runs dupes or extra last minute trips, it tends to rely on it's independent network using non branded vehicles and so on. Flixbus don't have an independent network so any extra trips would have to come from existing operators, some of whom are already struggling to resource what they are being asked to run now, and others are already using all of their resources.
GoSouthCoast who run the 061 through Bournemouth, they have 5 coaches for Flix and as of 14th July, they will have a daily PVR of 4 (giving 1 bus spare for maintenance, covering breakdown or can be used to help if an inbound trip is delayed) There is not really much scope for more unless they use the Excelsior fleet but that depends on resources available.

 

[James H]

What’s changing on 14 July?

 

[markymark2000]

What’s changing on 14 July?

On the 061, the 12:45 trip from Poole to London & 18:00 trip from London to Poole is meant to be going to daily instead of just Fri/Sat/Sun. This will supposedly be in place just until September then it reverts back to Fri/Sat/Sun but Flix change their minds a lot so who knows.

 

[WibbleWobble]

GoSouthCoast who run the 061 through Bournemouth, they have 5 coaches for Flix and as of 14th July, they will have a daily PVR of 4 (giving 1 bus spare for maintenance, covering breakdown or can be used to help if an inbound trip is delayed) There is not really much scope for more unless they use the Excelsior fleet but that depends on resources available.

Four for four. Excelsior coaches are indeed used as backup - EvoTors have been seen on a couple of occasions.

 

[James H]

Yes I have been on an 061 that was run with an Excelsior vehicle after a breakdown. Driver turned up and complained he’d just been given the bus and didn’t know where anything was or how it worked.

 

[markymark2000]

Four for four. Excelsior coaches are indeed used as backup - EvoTors have been seen on a couple of occasions.

So it is. I thought they had 5 for some reason. Thank you.

 

[cambsy]

Having been on the N49 Exeter-Heathrow(25th June, I found out the following:

The Penzance-London N49 and VV, drivers work Penzance-Newquay, Newquay-Taunton, Taunton-London, the Penzance-Taunton driver has couple hours then back to Newquay, and the Taunton-London driver does London and back.

First bus Camborne depot has 8 Yutongs, so the coaches get swapped over after getting back to Penzance, so should not be too intensively used and kept in good nick.

The Penzance services will be permanent and the 23.59 from Victoria will be permanent too, and not summer and holidays only, so this bodes well for these services.

I think with First Bus taking over these services, they should be more reliable and coaches in better condition as they wont be used for school runs etc in between the London runs.