Megabus have recently decided to pull out of most route and for a couple of weeks there was a big blank where journeys should have been. Yesterday I got announcement that we have created a brand new website. Whoopee. To me part of it looks rather rushed but I think it will settle. The developers probably had a gun to their head to get things done quickly.

Hey there!!!!!

It’s official. Our brand new Megabus website is finally here  🙂

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to create a new user-friendly account filled Megabus website with some band new features.

I spend my entire time looking at websites and I can tell after a time – in my case six years worth of staring at my screen whether a website is proactive, reactive, scrappy, under tested, does the job, too clever for its own good, bad internal sign posting, you name it.

Been there, done it, got the T-shirt(s)

I have already booked my forthcoming trip from Bristol to London by National Express but I thought I’d just have a look at Megabus and what they were offering in terms of service.

Bristol to London is a very popular route and there must be about 20 daily services both ways

Incidentally folks forget about Bath bus station for this purpose.  It is now a very minor hub and there are no service agents there anymore and the prices are significantly higher than they are from Bristol.

This must be a major inconvenience to some people but I don’t mind because I jump on my beloved 172 bus form round the corner and arrive at the same station in Bristol that the outgoing bus leaves from

I dutifully typed in the details for example next Monday which is the 23rd of December and what do I find? I can leave Bristol at 10:00 in the evening and arrive in London next day at 20.25 making a total time of 22 hours 25 minutes at a total cost for a single journey of £112.99.

This is because there is a slight deviation. I would travel to Glasgow bus station and from thence to Edinburgh bus station and from there to London. The fact that they are even offering tickets for this ridiculous journey shows to me that the software needs more development. As if the times were not bad enough you cannot get off and do anything for example sight seeing because you are traveling all the time.

Oh that’s not quite true, you have a 2h 7 min wait in Edinburgh so I suppose you could have a quick flip round the city center, and you can also have a delightful time in Glasgow having arrived at 6:20 a.m you would have one hour 10 minutes before getting on the bus again.

This has to get my prize for the most ridiculous journey offer.

However not all is lost. It seems they have given some of their operations to Flixbus which must be an associate company if not a subsidiary. If I take the 8:00 bus on Monday to London Victoria that is three hours, at a cost of £14.99.  That’s more like it.

So the moral to the story is,  as if it were not completely obvious, shop around. Things change from week to week if not from day to day and you really have to be on the ball.

So Bristol to London is either National Express or Flix bus both of which involve a boring journey along the M4 motorway with very few attractions but at least you get there pretty much on time. You can of course take the train. This saves time (1h 14 mins vs 3 hours) but to us retired people that does not matter.

Fares are claimed to be from £11.50 (slow route, book in advance) to £43. That’s according to Google.  If you go on the website of British Rail that is a different story. Booking as I write (Friday 20th) for next Monday the fare for a 9am departure is £57.50. For a 10 am departure is is £41.50