Travelling by Coach in Britain
We tend to associate coach travel with cost-conscious student days, and it is often an economically priced way of getting around the country. But there are other reasons to take the coach: it is a greener way to travel, like using the rail network. If taking long journeys or travelling after a hard week at work you can look forward to dozing off for a while, rather than fighting it with coffee and deafening music if you're driving. And you get to see much more than if stuck behind the wheel.
Britain has two major competitors in the long distance and inter-city coach business: National Express; and Megabus.com. National Express has the most extensive network, pretty much covering every city and large town in the country, reckoning to have 1000 different stopping places. Megabus has a more limited network focussed largely on major routes like Newcastle to London, but recently added various destinations and has some interesting routes like London to Penzance, and good coverage in Scotland; it also operates the Oxford Tube, a very frequent service between Oxford and Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria, London.
Sometimes as well as having price in its favour, the coach option can bring convenience: National Express has airport routes that deliver to and collect passengers from the terminal door or very close to it. Likewise it can be very useful that many of the coach services drop passengers at bus stations, making it easy to link to local buses for onward travel.
For those not used to coach travel, and maybe some of those who are, we offer 10 tips:
- There can be fantastic bargains for very early booking.
- Coaches often stick to motorways and major routes, so not always the scenic option - take something to read, some sweeties, your MP3 player, anything that helps pass the time.
- Check what luggage allowance you have and stick to it.
- If travelling from a major coach station get there early, and find out where your service departs from - some stations are huge and information can be less than perfect.
- Getting in line early is helpful in securing a window seat too.
- You can't smoke on coaches nowadays, so if you need nicotine don't forget the patches.
- Consider coaches for major events - some services are put on especially for sports fixtures, concerts etc - check online.
- If the coach drops you some distance from your final destination, check in advance there is a convenient bus service that gets you there. Otherwise get online and note the telephone numbers for a local 'private hire' taxi firm or two, so you can book by mobile on arrival (much cheaper than black cabs which may not be around anyway).
- Set your mobile's alarm clock function to wake you, say, 15 minutes before you are due to arrive at your destination, just in case.
- National Express has Brit Xplorer passes for 7, 14 and 28 days that are keenly priced.
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