Do many people look at airline schedules other than in journey planner format? No.
However there are journey planners for air which will tell me there's a Manchester to JFK flight if I search for Leeds Bradford to Newark, New Jersey.
Do many people look at airline schedules other than in journey planner format? No.
I'd find them handy - I can get to several large towns and cities fairly easily. Knowing where Megabus operate to from each of them would be very useful. .
Fairly new, I believe. Whar routes does it lack (other than in the general sense that megabus services do not cover the whole country)?That's some use. Is it new? I've looked before and not been able to find one. It does lack some routes.
I found this map the other day in a leaflet in amongst other tourist info in the Tesco Extra store in Exeter. Looks like Megabus is looking for business beyond its traditional student market.
So you type in 'from'in the box and 'to' in the other box - select date and time and voila your journey details appear before you. simple and easy to understand.
Fairly new, I believe. Whar routes does it lack (other than in the general sense that megabus services do not cover the whole country)?
Not treating you like an idiot just pointing out how simple it is. I have no idea where you exactly live but remember Leeds being that place.There's no need to treat me like an idiot. Do I have to try every nearby town to me to see which have a service?
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I did explain in the post before yours that some airline planners tell you about journeys between nearby airports without you having to try every combination.
The 0530 actually originates from Pembroke Dock (0155), and picks up in Cardiff beforehand, so you may find it's fairly well loaded. I imagine upstairs will be better, as the views are nicer from the top and downstairs tends to be taken quicker. There are also more seats upstairs anyway.
The timetables with stops is on Traveline South East.
Not treating you like an idiot just pointing out how simple it is. I have no idea where you exactly live but remember Leeds being that place.
And are they independent websites or say BA's website that wont show you Ryanair flights or prices?
But if you want to travel with a friend joining part way on route it makes life difficult.So you type in 'from'in the box and 'to' in the other box - select date and time and voila your journey details appear before you. simple and easy to understand.
I repeat my unanswered query - are there any "exit type" seats upstairs with extra legroom - in the gloom it was hard to see.
Also I have never been in a smaller toilet than the one upstairs - makes an NE one almost palatial. Is there another toilet downstairs as I can't envisage a disabled or really fat person getting into the one "on the stairs" ?
Don't think there are any seats with extra legroom on those coaches I'm afraid.
No, there's only the one toilet, which is indeed rather cramped - 'downstairs' consists only of the cab, a wheelchair space, and three seats directly behind next to the front set of stairs.
The seats behind the driver on Megabus are primarily for disabled travellers and can be reserved in advance via customer services.So that effectively prevents Disabled Travellers using megabus for long journeys - thought that would be discrimination ?
Mind you come to think of it how would they get down the aisle on a NE Coach ?
It doesn't show Manchester - Sheffield/Loughborough/Leicester which is possible once a day each way on a Scotland to London service.
The seats behind the driver on Megabus are primarily for disabled travellers and can be reserved in advance via customer services.
Megabus drivers do not seem to like customers occupying those seats if not reserved. I have seen complaints on twitter about drivers refusing to allow their use , to which the response was that if not reserved any passenger can ask to sit there.
I assume they would make toilet stops instead (as they might in the likely event of it not working), as with a coach being much smaller than a train adding a full accessible toilet would not be practicable.
I am pleased to report that I travelled from Newport to London on Tuesday at 0530. It turned up on time and was virtually empty upstairs on departure from Newport.
Had a two to myself all the way - seat facing stairs so no one could "recline on me". Not many got on at Bristol the only stop en-route.
I repeat my unanswered query - are there any "exit type" seats upstairs with extra legroom - in the gloom it was hard to see.
Also I have never been in a smaller toilet than the one upstairs - makes an NE one almost palatial. Is there another toilet downstairs as I can't envisage a disabled or really fat person getting into the one "on the stairs" ?
Unlike a train there isn't stacks of paperwork involved in pulling into the motorway services for 10 minutes for a wee, so they will just do that, as they would if the toilet was out of order, as coach toilets very often are. Coach schedules are a lot "woollier" than train ones because of the factor of traffic, so it won't necessarily mean a late arrival.
The Megabus from Cardiff to London occasionally stops at Reading West services. One of the drivers told me that they are encouraged not to arrive at Victoria Coach Station more than 15 minutes early and the journey from there takes 60-70 minutes in normal traffic conditions. That said he was a smoker and I have often reached Victoria earlier than that with no stops, especially at the weekend... Only had a stop between London and Cardiff once and that was on a hired-in coach without a WC and have been up to 40 minutes early. I've also never been on a Megabus journey with a traveller in a wheelchair and that's in well over 200 trips between London and Cardiff.So if you are a smoker you are praying for a wheelchair user onboard as a stop at the services is the chance for a fag break.
The Megabus from Cardiff to London occasionally stops at Reading West services. One of the drivers told me that they are encouraged not to arrive at Victoria Coach Station more than 15 minutes early and the journey from there takes 60-70 minutes in normal traffic conditions. That said he was a smoker and I have often reached Victoria earlier than that with no stops, especially at the weekend... Only had a stop between London and Cardiff once and that was on a hired-in coach without a WC and have been up to 40 minutes early. I've also never been on a Megabus journey with a traveller in a wheelchair and that's in well over 200 trips between London and Cardiff.
Maybe there is an oversight of such an obscure connection, available (as you say) on one journey each way per day (during the small hours of the morning). Perhaps this will be rectified on a future edition. Don't think the link is provided as part of a Scotland to London service though.
I expect the map is intended as a guide to the general level of megabus services, rather than an esoteric enthusiasts publication.
The biggest problem with Coaches to London is not getting there, it's the time it takes to Victoria from the outskirts.
That's the argument behind copying some other cities and having a few coach stations at the outskirts, I guess, though it does break connections. Old Oak was certainly being mooted for services from the west, and Golders Green is popular from the north.
National Express marketing specifies fares from £5 but they offer some at £2.40 between London and Cardiff and I too use them occasionally, also alighting in Newport as I can then reach Caerphilly about half an hour quicker. I only pay £1 per ticket on 90% of my Megabus journeys and book lots when they go on sale with only one 50p booking fee compared with the £1 fee for every single or return journey on National Express. I avoid the Megabus services that go via Bristol which are generally busier and, of course, take longer.
Yesterday evening there was a sign indicating that the A4 was closed towards central London. The Megabus driver did a very impressive, though perhaps risky, U turn on the main road in heavy traffic and got us to Victoria only a few minutes late
Interesting question. I like the upstairs travel on Megabus and I find the legroom adequate (I'm 5' 11"). I favour the seat immediately in front of the middle stairs which I think has a little extra legroom and allows quick exit, though occasionally there is "toilet use awareness" there. I don't sit at the front as I prefer not to see just how close to other vehicles in the middle lane drivers sometimes go to encourage them to move over.... I'm not a great fan of the leather seating on National Express. I did use National Express for many years while they had £1 Fun Fares with no booking fees. I've saved so much money travelling on Megabus in the last few years that I feel a brand loyalty towards them. That said I think if the costs were exactly the same I would use whichever operator served Newport better simply because of the time saving to and from Caerphilly to complete my journey.If a Megabus and National Express journey were the same price (incl booking fee) which one would you choose and why ?
If a Megabus and National Express journey were the same price (incl booking fee) which one would you choose and why ?
I think with the more modern vehicles that Megabus has these days, I don't suppose there would really be much in it, but certainly when they first started out they had a very mixed bag of vehicles. My first Megabus journey was a good few years ago when I was travelling from Inverness to Glasgow. The first leg from Inverness to Perth was on a fairly bog-standard high floor Volvo coach, and it was comfy enough, but you can imagine my dismay when an ex-Hong Kong Olympian turned up at Perth for the second leg of the journey. That was probably the closest I've ever come to believing in God!If a Megabus and National Express journey were the same price (incl booking fee) which one would you choose and why ?
Surely it also provides a cheap place for the construction crews for Cross Rail 2 as well!All I say about the idea of VCS closing in improving coach travel was that a) it was nothing about improving coach travel, b) it was all about capitalising on the value of the property and c) BoJo was one of the proponents for it.
Of course, I'd believe the benefits if he slapped it on the side of a bus......