Free Bus Seats to and from London

[jdee23]

Megabus.com is offering 100,000 free seats on its services to and from London, excluding internal and cross-border services to and from locations in Scotland. The seats are available on Monday to Thursday journeys from 12 September until 12 December. Customers taking up the free seats offer pay only the standard 50p booking fee.

http://megabus.com/

[shanni]

Has anyone got experience of using megabus? I've always heard bad things about them, for eg, it takes twice as long and the bus is rickety.

[ClarkeEJ]

I have travelled with megabus up to London from Cardiff and back.

I will NEVER travel with them again.

It was quite a new nice clean coach with fitted seat belts going up to London. There was a bit of a mix up when I got on the bus as the driver said someone had already boarded the bus with my reference number, but he still allowed me on the bus. I was happy with the journey up apart from when we had to pull over on the side of the motorway on the way up for the driver to check a banging noise coming from the back of the coach. When we got back on the road the noise was a bit quieter but could still be heard all the way up to London.

Coming back the bus was late by about 45 mins. So I had to wait in the dark and horrible Green Line Bus Station where the Megabuses depart London from.

I was horrified to see that the bus back to Cardiff was a very old double decker bus with no seat belts. Some of the seats were broken and noone could sit on them. I sat on the back seat. It was the most uncomfortable journey of my life. I suffer with a bad back and I was in agony the whole journey. There was no luggage space underneath the bus so all the cases and bags had to be piled up on two lots of seats just in front of where I was sitting. During the journey the luggage all fell off the seats and landed in a big heap in the middle of the walkway of the bus. The driver was doing over 70mph on the motorway in horrendous rain. Well I really thought I was never gonna get home, I was frightened to death. I was so pleased to arrive at the first drop off point in Cardiff but when I went to get off, I found I could not climb over all the suitcases that had fallen into the aisle. They were also too heavy to lift with my back. The driver refused to move the bags and just laughed and thought it was all funny. Luckily some kind people on the bus helped me to move all the bags so I could get off.

I will NEVER travel with them again. It is ideal for students who want cheap travel and are able to cope with the horrible buses that they use sometimes. But for those who want a more comfortable journey, don't use them.....

[the_tired_one]

..jeez! What do you want for £1!!!

[roses]

I've made 3 return journeys to London from Bristol & have not had one problem. I would definitely use them again.

[ClarkeEJ]

..jeez! What do you want for £1!!!

I wouldn't travel with them again if they paid me.....

[Kitten]

Not bad, just long long journeys!

[Ally]

which places are best for a day visit? any tips guys? was looking at brighton ... 50p for family of 4 is not bad hey :D oh, well, have to count the london transport fees too i guess :rolleyes:

Thanks to OP too ;)

[Marigold123]

..jeez! What do you want for £1!!!That's hardly the point. It doesn't matter how cheap it is, Health and Safety regulations still apply! And courtesy costs nothing!!

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Reason for edit: typo! :)

[UKJubilee]

used them loads...they are fine...had them break down and had National Express breakdown, just luck of the drawer on that one (although both drivers were really nice about it)...travel time for me (Bristol to London) tends to be about the same.

Would recommend them...also don't forget the funsaver (think thats what they are called) national express fair's if the cheapy megabus ones are all gone.

My one major tip is try not to sit on the back seat since the vents above you kick out enough heat to fry an egg!!!

[mssjab]

Being a 'twirly' I find these cheap seats really great for taking Daytrips to various places. For what it's worth, here are my experiences with both National Express and Megabus:
I've used National Express loads of times (their Funfares) but only twice have I used Megabus - to Oxford and Brighton. The Oxford service is provided by Stagecoach's Oxford Tube subsiduary, so the coaches are fairly new. The Megabus' that took me to and from Brighton were registered in 1990/91, were a bit rickerty and the seats were designed for short bus journeys so were uncomfortable with little legroom - fortunately there was nobody sitting next to me. The Oxford service stopped 3 times in London to pick-up and 4-5 times in Oxford to drop-off. The Brighton services goes via the University.
National Express coaches are nearly all new and comfortable.
In my experience, National Express staff are courtious, Megabus staff need to take a course at a 'charm school'
In my opinion the difference between the two is like taking a flight - National Express is like flying with BA, Megabus is like flying with My Travel.
However, I'm usually only on these coaches for 2-2.5 hours at a time and I always carry an inflatable cushion. Currently, some Megabus seats are FREE (subject to a 50p booking fee) so I've booked four Daytrips. These were made over two bookings, so the 4 Days out have cost me £1 - hardly a large sum to lose if I decide not to go on any.