Remaining International coaches

[renegademaster]

National Express doesn't do Europe anymore apart from the coach to Dublin.

Flixbus do coaches to Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam from what I know, is there any more I forgot?

I vaguely remember seeing recently on Google maps a bus that went from Victoria to Croatia or somewhere in that region by a foreign operator but can't seem to find anything.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

 

[Djb1]

Sindbad still run london - Poland I think. Don’t think they go any further north though anymore.

 

[richw]

There was a French registered blablabus leaving Victoria when I was there most recently. No idea where they go

 

[Parebunks]

Union Ivkoni do London all the way to Sofia, Prime Bus do infrequent London to Paris or Amsterdam runs that Megabus sell tickets for. Flix also go to Cologne, not sure if that's the same as Frankfurt. Blablabus do Paris, Sindbad do indeed do Warsaw.

 

[paul1609]

Think the national express service to Dublin is actually just them selling tickets for expressways. I think that flixbus also do a daily direct service from Manchester to Paris via Stratford. There's also some local operators that do services from Glasgow to/from the Irish Republic Letterkenny and Galway ring a bell.

 

[johncrossley]

There was a French registered blablabus leaving Victoria when I was there most recently. No idea where they go

Paris via Calais and Lille.
Amsterdam via Brussels and Rotterdam.

 

[Flying Snail]

RegioJet London - Brussels - Luxembourg - Prague twice weekly, they use double deck coaches with the top deck having 2+1 seating.

London - Dublin is a Bus Eireann Expressway service, National Express sell tickets as they always have but do not run it, they run no international services now.

Glasgow - Derry - Donegal is run by 3 Donegal operators McGinley, Feda and Doherty Travel.

 

[Man of Kent]

Eurobus of Slovakia still runs to Bradford from Michalovce (where the departure point is Tesco!):

Michalovce - Praha - Bradford | eurobus - dopravná spoločnosť, autobusová doprava

www.eurobus.sk

 

[Jordan Adam]

Polonia Transport used to operate a service from Aberdeen to Poland twice per week around a decade ago.

 

[Flying Snail]

Polonia Transport used to operate a service from Aberdeen to Poland twice per week around a decade ago.

At one time they also ran Poland to Dublin via London.

Bus Eireann also extended one of their Dublin - London services through to Germany for a period in the 90s.

 

[robertclark125]

If we're on about uk to overseas coach services, then I'd say Belfast to Dublin, if Bus Eireann still runs it.

 

[Titfield]

National Express doesn't do Europe anymore apart from the coach to Dublin.

Flixbus do coaches to Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam from what I know, is there any more I forgot?

I vaguely remember seeing recently on Google maps a bus that went from Victoria to Croatia or somewhere in that region by a foreign operator but can't seem to find anything.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

National Express have played the hokey cokey with International Services since the mid 1970s.

 

[Belfastmarty]

If we're on about uk to overseas coach services, then I'd say Belfast to Dublin, if Bus Eireann still runs it.

Translink now run it exclusively ... previously it was a joint operation with Bus Eireann. There are other operators do Northern Ireland to ROI, notably Aircoach (Derry / Belfast / Dublin), Dublin Express (Belfast / Dublin ) and Patrick Gallagher (Gweedore / Belfast).

 

[TheSmiths82]

There is a coach that goes from Manchester to Austria every evening, it goes via Germany. It looks quite an interesting route, I think the operator is Austrian. The service seems to be called Trans Samarian.

The route is Manchester > London > Cologne > Frankfurt > Vienna

I am half tempted to try it out but I am not brave enough! There are also a few private company left doing coach trips to Spain, Ferris is one as is Siesta. Ferris used to do the trip twice a week from most cities in the UK with Liverpool and Manchester being the furthest north. I the service has been cut back since the B word though

 

[hst43102]

There is a coach that goes from Manchester to Austria every evening, it goes via Germany. It looks quite an interesting route, I think the operator is Austrian. The service seems to be called Trans Samarian.

The route is Manchester > London > Cologne > Frankfurt > Vienna

I am half tempted to try it out but I am not brave enough! There are also a few private company left doing coach trips to Spain, Ferris is one as is Siesta. Ferris used to do the trip twice a week from most cities in the UK with Liverpool and Manchester being the furthest north. I the service has been cut back since the B word though

I don't suppose you would know approximately how much a ticket for such a service is? Unless the price is very significantly less than budget airlines, I can't understand why anybody would want to spend 24+ hours on a coach when it would take just one or two on a flight!

 

[richw]

I don't suppose you would know approximately how much a ticket for such a service is? Unless the price is very significantly less than budget airlines, I can't understand why anybody would want to spend 24+ hours on a coach when it would take just one or two on a flight!

My ex wife wouldn’t get on a plane, so we had to go everywhere by road using ferry or tunnel.
I gather there are 1000s that have a phobia of flying too

 

[johncrossley]

Taking luggage can be a lot more cost effective on coaches, especially at short notice when air fares usually get much more expensive.

 

[TheSmiths82]

My ex wife wouldn’t get on a plane, so we had to go everywhere by road using ferry or tunnel.
I gather there are 1000s that have a phobia of flying too

I am the same, I don't like flying so always get the coach or Eurostar to go to Europe. Most my trips usually end up being a mixture of coaches and trains. What surprises me about the coach I mentioned above is that is starts in Manchester and not London. They must think there is enough demand to spend an extra 12 hours (both ways) all so going to Manchester. Virtually all international scheduled coaches in the UK that are not going to Ireland start in London.

I don't suppose you would know approximately how much a ticket for such a service is? Unless the price is very significantly less than budget airlines, I can't understand why anybody would want to spend 24+ hours on a coach when it would take just one or two on a flight!

I have no idea, I don't really know anything about it but often see the coach when I am in the city centre in the evenings.

 

[route101]

Polonia Transport used to operate a service from Aberdeen to Poland twice per week around a decade ago.

Called into Glasgow too.

 

[MedwayValiant]

I don't suppose you would know approximately how much a ticket for such a service is? Unless the price is very significantly less than budget airlines, I can't understand why anybody would want to spend 24+ hours on a coach when it would take just one or two on a flight!

According to the link that Man of Kent gives us, a single ticket from Chatham to Slovakia on the Eurobus service is 85 euros.

I've seen the bus at Chatham bus station a few times. It's well used, and boarding passengers often have their possessions bundled into two black plastic bin bags. Perhaps there is an understanding that two bin bags are equivalent to the one suitcase which is the official baggage allowance.


On buses which cross the land border on the island of Ireland, I made a list of them once and there are about a dozen. As well as the Belfast-Dublin service and the Scotland-Donegal service, there are stage carriage services Armagh-Monaghan, Enniskillen-Sligo, Newry-Dundalk, and several from Derry-Londonderry into Donegal. Foyle Metro service 1A - one of the Derry town services - crosses the border every hour.

 

[route101]

Often thought the services to Eastern Europe are more like charters carrying friends and family. More people will now fly wizz or low cost.

 

[Roilshead]

There are other operators do Northern Ireland to ROI, notably Aircoach (Derry / Belfast / Dublin), Dublin Express (Belfast / Dublin ) and Patrick Gallagher (Gweedore / Belfast).

John McGinlay, Gortahork, run two services between Co Donegal and Dublin, one of which - the 932 Dublin-Annagry - runs via Aughnacloy, Ballygawley, and Omagh (by-pass), between Monaghan and Lifford, and carries passengers between Northern Ireland and the south. When I used the service from Dublin in 2018(?) fares were taken when we stopped for a refreshment break at the Maxol service station in Monaghan (presumably the first set-down point from Dublin [and last picking-up point to Dublin]) - a company representative boarded and went round the coach before anybody got off checking on-line receipts, taking money (for which no receipt/ticket was exchanged), or taking in laminated cards (that I presume were return tickets).

 

[robertclark125]

My ex wife wouldn’t get on a plane, so we had to go everywhere by road using ferry or tunnel.
I gather there are 1000s that have a phobia of flying too

I'm one of them!

There used to be a network of services, called Eurolines. Does that still exist?

 

[johncrossley]

I'm one of them!

There used to be a network of services, called Eurolines. Does that still exist?

Eurolines was taken over by Flixbus and then mostly closed down.

 

[sk688]

London to Dublin with Expressway is 59 euros, even with a Young Adult LEAP card, cannot understand who in their right mind would use the service when Ryanair/BA/Aer Lingus have so many cheaper flights to Dublin, or even the RailSail option

 

[riceuten]

I remember my late mum would be more than happy to take a coach, but wouldn't countenance taking Le Shuttle or Eurostar. My stepdad was terrified of flying. It was a generational thing for the latter, though I have encountered younger people with a fear of flying.

 

[Martin1988]

Flixbus briefly ran a Bristol to Amsterdam via London service over the summer period (which was worked by Turners of Bristol) but think it only operated from late June/early July until late August