Manchester to Newcastle transport mode comparison

[yorkie]

From another thread:

Surely Manchester - Newcastle in a taxi would be in the region of £300. There aren’t many people willing to pay that on the off chance the railway would reimburse them.

I do know someone who regularly uses the Manchester - Newcastle bus as he finds it much cheaper than the railway. It does take an age though, he’s been on there for 5 hours... and just getting out of Manchester at peak time can add a lot of time.

I would agree that the cost would be extreme but people will pay if they needed or had to. The price (from trainline) is £73 from Newcastle to Manchester and the bus (national express) quoted me £8.30....

I agree with others that someone who is on a budget, is price conscious or simply has plenty of time to spare and would like to spend less money on transport and more on other things, would consider going by coach for such a journey.

But the price doesn't seem to be hugely different for most of the day. Looking at this Monday, the direct coach at 10am is £24. Someone who was price conscious and shopping around would see it's only a few quid extra to go by train, using a site such as Trainsplit, Loco2, etc. You save over an hour in journey time!

Admittedly if you depart at 1330, the price of £11.50 for a direct coach is very cheap indeed. However the train, at about £20 more, isn't that bad value, given the times are more likely to suit your travel requirements and the much shorter journey times and better facilities on offer.

The train will often be at a disadvantage when people make comparisons; it is commonplace to compare the absolute cheapest fixed-coach or fixed-flight price with the price of an Anytime Single for the train (which is £73 in this case).

But someone who was comparing the price of all modes would surely be taking all factors into account and if they are prepared to book a specific coach, they would surely be looking at doing so with the train too.

 

[Techniquest]

I actually prefer, in many cases, to travel on National Express. Yes it takes longer, naturally, but I use the coach more than the train for lengthy journeys these days.

I note you comment on an £11.50 coach fare, excellent value for Manchester to Newcastle. Then you say the train is about £20 more, and I had to look at your screenshot. £20.33 more, and I have to say I'd have liked to see details of the tickets required for that.

What made me post though is the comment it's "not that much" more expensive than the coach. Not much? Really? Not much would have been maybe £5 more, over £20 more is beyond 'not much'.

Price-wary travellers, and yes I do consider myself to be in that group of people, are not likely to call a £20.83 price difference 'not much'. I certainly have cancelled trips due to the cost of transport links before now, and more often than not I'll take the time penalty and enjoy my comfortable leather seat, big window, power socket and free on-board entertainment with National Express.

Don't get me wrong, I will use the train long-distance sometimes, like when I went to Budapest I had Advances to and from London on GWR for only £15.50 each way. On this occasion the coach wasn't much cheaper (I think it was a matter of a few quid) and the times worked out well on the train, so it made sense. Coach won for the sectors to/from Luton Airport though, £15 return versus well over £25 on the train plus contactless fares to/from St Pancras. Yeah, no competition there for who I chose!

 

[yorkie]

I actually prefer, in many cases, to travel on National Express. Yes it takes longer, naturally, but I use the coach more than the train for lengthy journeys these days.

I note you comment on an £11.50 coach fare, excellent value for Manchester to Newcastle. Then you say the train is about £20 more, and I had to look at your screenshot. £20.33 more, and I have to say I'd have liked to see details of the tickets required for that.

What made me post though is the comment it's "not that much" more expensive than the coach. Not much? Really? Not much would have been maybe £5 more, over £20 more is beyond 'not much'.

The original claim suggested a price difference of about £65!

For the 1030 journey the difference on the comparisons I found was £7.83

For the 1330 journey the difference is greater, yes, and in purely percentage/proportion terms - which is all you are considering - yes, the train fare is "a lot" more than the coach fare, but in overall value terms it's not bad value for money, especially given the time saving and the fact that you are more likely to find departure/arrival times that suit the passenger.

Also for many people, Victoria station will be more conveniently (or at least no less inconveniently) located, in which case the train benefits further. You can depart 33 minutes later, at 1403, and get to Victoria at 1622, 48 minutes before the coach arrives into Chorlton Street. The price for that on Trainsplit is £29.76. Yes it's more than double the £11.50 fare, but for me the extra £18.26 (again, far less than the suggested £65 extra) would be well worth paying.

Not everyone will agree with me, but if most people disagreed we would see many more coach departures than there are today!

 

[cb a1]

I've just been considering my recent return journey of Dundee to Dublin. I chose to go overland & Ferry rather than flying; a) because I want to fly less and b) to see what it was like.
I used a combination of train, ferry and coach.
Last time I went to Dublin, I did fly.
Putting aside cost for a moment, from a 'quality' perspective, I'd say that for me it's:
1st train. Space / Table / Toilet / Ride quality / catering / wifi and thus ability to work / relax / think.
2nd ferry. As above albeit both directions were very calm seas - I easily get seasick so find it difficult to spend time looking at a screen / reading.
3rd fly. I find that I can't really work on a flight [certainly not in economy class where I get to travel] and it's usually quite cramped.
4th interchange. This may seem odd, but on a multi-mode journey, there'll inevitably be time spent at interchanges. These were all clean, spacious, reasonably comfortable with some basic refreshments available and wifi. Obvious downside is that you're not actually getting anywhere.
5th Coach. These were modern coaches - not clattery old ones. Seating did not fit my body shape on any of the four different operators. Felt cramped and due to getting travel sick, I can't read or use a screen other than for a couple of minutes every now and then - good to have wifi, but to be honest, not a lot of use to me due to not being able to look at a screen for very long.

On cost:
Without a checked bag, flying was cheaper provided I booked well in advance.
With a checked bag, the combo of train, coach and ferry was cheaper (and that was 'walk on' prices)

 

[route101]

I know people that will take the coach to London because they must of seen a high train fare and not looked hard enough . Im happy to pay a bit more to arrive in Glasgow to be in my bed by train than in a coach overnight .

 

[cactustwirly]

I can't really deal with coaches, they're so slow and mind numbingly dull.
I'd rather pay extra for the speed and comfort of a train.
However I don't mind flying, I recently flew with Ryanair and I didn't mind it.
For long distances, like London - Glasgow/Edinburgh/Dublin I'd probably fly.
You can get some good fares with easyJet if you book in advance, and go hand luggage only.
I took a European trip in April, mainly because the air fares were the same/cheaper than advances on LNER/VT to Manchester or Newcastle etc.
And Ljubljana and Salzburg were more interesting cities to visit as a tourist.

I'm hoping to do the same maybe next Easter, to maybe visit Berlin or Turin, this would be again in preference to a UK based trip.

 

[johntea]

I did Leeds to London on the coach last year for about a tenner, which was fine but that was the outward trip in the morning so nice and refreshed, coming home the same evening I was rather glad I had booked an advance VTEC ticket!

An interesting point I found with the coach was at least an hour was taken up by just crawling through central London traffic to get to Victoria coach station, it seemed a shame they couldn't have a extra drop off point somewhere just at the outside edge near a tube station as my Oyster would be hitting a cap anyway throughout the day!

 

[PeterC]

I did Leeds to London on the coach last year for about a tenner, which was fine but that was the outward trip in the morning so nice and refreshed, coming home the same evening I was rather glad I had booked an advance VTEC ticket!

An interesting point I found with the coach was at least an hour was taken up by just crawling through central London traffic to get to Victoria coach station, it seemed a shame they couldn't have a extra drop off point somewhere just at the outside edge near a tube station as my Oyster would be hitting a cap anyway throughout the day!

Pick a departure that calls at Golders Green if using National Express.