Milton Keynes Coachway

[sonic2009]

I have to travel via here with a 55min wait on Saturday Morning.

Is it open 24 hours? I will be arriving at 0335 and leaving at 0440 in the morning.

Any stories about the coachway?

 

[MK Tom]

It's always open, whether it'll be staffed or not is another matter.

Somebody on here will surely bring up a memory of the absolute hellhole that it used to be... but it's very much different now. Seven bays, a big indoor waiting area, vending machines, announcements and departure boards. It's pretty awesome now.

At that time in the morning the waiting area may be locked but it hasn't ever been when I've visited and I've got some pretty early coaches from there before now.

 

[howittpie]

Travelled tjrough Milton Keynes Coachway at about 4.20 last friday morning and it appeared to be busy a large number of people got on service 422 f por Luton Airport. In fact there was more passengers than seats!!

 

[westcoaster]

Milton Keynes Coachway has been transformed. The brand new station now has an air-conditioned waiting area open 24 hours a day, comfortable seating, self service ticket machines and refreshments. Combined with our low fares to London and hundreds of other UK towns, cities and airports, there’s never been a better time to travel by coach.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach_ims/pdf/MiltonKeynes.pdf


The old hell hole had a 24hr cafe until it combusted, think the new one is more clinical.

 

[dzug2]

Travelled tjrough Milton Keynes Coachway at about 4.20 last friday morning and it appeared to be busy a large number of people got on service 422 f por Luton Airport. In fact there was more passengers than seats!!

Were they allowed to travel standing?

 

[howittpie]

As the driver didn't notice to Luton Airport yes but they were not supposed to. There were the 4 seats at the front that crew had taken over but as theese were young foreign students they didn't think to ask and probaly thought this was normal.

 

[sonic2009]

I travelled through here Saturday morning, it was open with a security guard sat in the waiting room, obviously keeping watch.

 

[markie73]

It's always open, whether it'll be staffed or not is another matter.

Somebody on here will surely bring up a memory of the absolute hellhole that it used to be... but it's very much different now. Seven bays, a big indoor waiting area, vending machines, announcements and departure boards. It's pretty awesome now.

At that time in the morning the waiting area may be locked but it hasn't ever been when I've visited and I've got some pretty early coaches from there before now.

Compared to how the coachway used tobe only a few years ago then its a nice place to wait for your coach compared to the Portakabin that used to be used!!.

 

[edwin_m]

As a non-coach user it strikes me as ironic that NX coaches fight their way through congestion to get into many city centres, but in the one city with free-flowing traffic right into the centre, they serve a terminal on the edge!

 

[MK Tom]

As a non-coach user it strikes me as ironic that NX coaches fight their way through congestion to get into many city centres, but in the one city with free-flowing traffic right into the centre, they serve a terminal on the edge!

Yup! The Coachway was built in the 1980s at a time when MK wasn't considered worth serving. MKDC built the Coachway in an (ultimately extremely successful) attempt to get more services to stop here. The concept's been so successful that it's now one of Britain's busiest coach stations. It'd be really good though if some NatEx services would start running through to CMK. They lose passengers to other modes due to the location which is miles from all but one of the housing areas.

Incidentally, one's being built in High Wycombe now, adjacent to the M40. Or it's planned anyway, haven't checked on it for a while.

 

[IanD]

Very handy for Newport Pagnell and free long stay parking as well.

 

[edwin_m]

I notice there is a park and ride next door with a frequent bus into the centre of MK, so not too bad in that respect.

 

[MK Tom]

The bus links are very good, four 300s from Arriva per hour, a 45 from Grant Palmer, two X5s and a 40 from Stagecoach and Vale Travel's 24/25 provide hourly links to Newport Pagnell, the OU and Bletchley. But that's all pretty useless for someone like me who lives over on the western side! If the 300 didn't terminate in CMK and ran out the other side that'd be different. Which I'm told it will after construction starts on the Western Expansion Area.

 

[Deerfold]

As a non-coach user it strikes me as ironic that NX coaches fight their way through congestion to get into many city centres, but in the one city with free-flowing traffic right into the centre, they serve a terminal on the edge!

City? Milton Keynes seems not to be.

 

[IanD]

City? Milton Keynes seems not to be.

It certainly is not.

"Self-styled city" is what it is.

When my daughters say they're going to "the city centre" - I often wonder whether they mean Leicester, Coventry or Peterborough.

 

[radamfi]

Most countries don't have a concept of city status awarded by charter. Indeed, some languages other than English don't even have a word for city, saying 'big town' instead.

 

[gordonthemoron]

wannabe city as they say in Leighton Buzzard

 

[Titfield]

I suspect that one of the reasons that National Express uses the Coachway is that if operating a service between London and the North it saves about 20 minutes by serving the coachway rather than driving into Central Milton Keynes and back out again.

On the Bmth - London route Ringwood is served. Apart from the fact that Ringwood hasn't got a railway station I suspect that one of the reasons it is well served on the Bmth - LON route is because it is very quick for the coach to divert in, pick up / drop off and then get back on the main road.

 

[overthewater]

I wonder why Megabus does not stop at the Coachway, might attract a few new users wishing to travel from Scotland or North?

 

[gordonthemoron]

AFAIK Megabus stops at Kingston

 

[MK Tom]

Most countries don't have a concept of city status awarded by charter. Indeed, some languages other than English don't even have a word for city, saying 'big town' instead.

True. And no country would think for a moment that 250,000 people is a town and St Davids with barely 1,000 is a city.

So forgive me that other guy if I don't believe the 'Peterborough, Coventry or Leicester' thing but I don't really give a damn what the Queen thinks of Milton Keynes. It's a city and St. Davids is a village. I go by international and logical definitions, not some outmoded ideas thrown around by a monarch out of touch with society who only cares about religious significance. And as radamfi said, 'city' and 'village' don't exist in some countries anyway so it's all rather a moot point. But I refuse to call MK a town. It's demeaning and offensive and completely misrepresents our regional significance. Same goes for Northampton and Reading.

ANYWAY yes Megabus stops at Kingston. Megabus charge such low fares because they avoid paying to use major terminals. They did use the Coachway for a short while though.

 

[IanD]

So forgive me that other guy if I don't believe the 'Peterborough, Coventry or Leicester'

It's true actually, but believe what you want.

The point is we are in the UK and in the UK a city is specifically defined as having a royal charter. What does it matter if other countries don't have a word for city? Milton Keynes is a new town. Yes (in my opinion) it deserves to be awarded city status but until it is, it isn't a city and pretending that it is one more thing that non-MK people take the mickey about. And calling itself a city devalues the term and is probably one of the reasons it gets turned down time after time. If city status is pointless, why does our council spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of our council tax money on pursuing it at every opportunity? And if city status is meaningless, why would you insist on calling MK a city?

 

[MK Tom]

Didn't they make the budget of the last bid ridiculously small deliberately, deciding streets and services and so on were worth more? Which I'd agree they are.

If calling mk or Reading or anywhere that deserves to be a city one devalues the term then it needs devaluing. But I feel that awarding St Asaph city status devalues the term. I think having it laid down by an unelected authority with no clear explanation of the process devalues it. I think the charter is meaningless, its proclamations should be devalued. The major regional hubs it ignores should not, and neither should the vision of MK's planners.

 

[Welshman]

I thought that, traditionally, having a cathedral gave a settlement "city" status.
St Asaph may be small, but it does have a magnificent cathedral. Likewise, St David's.

Whether it is respected, ignored or mocked, Britain does have an historical religious inheritance.

 

[MK Tom]

That was the case up until the 19th century. There are however a large number of cities without cathedrals now.

 

[transmanche]

I think having it laid down by an unelected authority with no clear explanation of the process devalues it.

Although city status is awarded by letters patent in the name of the monarch, that doesn't mean Her Maj sifts through all the applications on a wet Tuesday afternoon, when there's no racing on, and chooses who gets it by throwing a dart at a map of the country.

It's just a name anyway. And the largest city in the country isn't actually a 'city' anyway! 'London' isn't a city'; only historic square mile and Westminster are cities - the rest of London isn't.

 

[MK Tom]

It certainly isn't a town though. We can't really go around calling Greater London and MK 'large urban areas'.

And true about it not literally being the Queen, although she has the input. No elected body would choose St Asaph over Wrexham, the rightful Welsh winner.

 

[Deerfold]

It certainly isn't a town though. We can't really go around calling Greater London and MK 'large urban areas'.

Why not? Seems a good description. Most of the time you only use the name of the place anyway.

 

[tractakid]

It's a town, though I do sometimes fall into the trap of using the word city, as it is in common usage particularly when referring to the central area.

 

[DarloRich]

It is one of the best ways to annoy people from MK - tell them it isn't a city. No matter how much the council or locals wish or pretend that it is - it isn't!

As for the coach way - it is perfect for the motorway so means the long distance coaches dont have to waste time coming into MK. The bus links to and from coach way are really good, as has been alluded to earlier. Anyway, the traffic system of MK aint all that it is cracked up to be

Also dont Mega Bus serve Rugby, where there seems to be a large deport next to the station, more than MK?