Shouldn't I have got there about 2 hours ago? (National Express)

Member Name: wastingtime

Product:	National Express
Date:	24/10/08 (236 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comftable enough

Disadvantages: Everything else

Not so long ago in the distant past I wrote a review on Megabus explaining how good I found the whole service was, I talked about how cost effective it was and how it didn't cost me too much time wise either. I would like to make the point from the outset that The National Express is the complete opposite, and as such, you can expect a completely different review.

The reason I chose to go on Megabus to London was because of the cost effectiveness of it all, I had my hand forced somewhat to choose the National Express as I had made plans 90 miles away and my car has recently failed its MOT leaving me forced to look at public transport.

My friend regulary does this journey on the National Express and he was the reason I chose to do it this way, normally I would have looked at getting a train instead, and in hindsight it is an option I would rather have taken.

The 90 miles from Leeds to Chester takes me anywhere between an hour and an hour and forty five minutes, the worst it has taken me was 4 hours and 15 minutes when I had some horrific problems on the M62. I was slightly perturbed therefore when i saw the travel time was going to be at best 3hrs and 10 minutes, but I decided to have a crack with it anyway.

I booked it online and picked up the tickets from the station, this was painless enough having booked the tickets a mere few hours earlier the night before I wouldn't of had the chance to had them sent out to me, it's worth pointing out that their ticket collection is open 24 hours. I can say that 100% for Leeds, but I imagine some towns/cities would differ.

The bus arrived on time and armed with an overnight bag and a book I boarded the train, some five minutes later this power hungry female bus driver starts moaning at the top of her voice about people getting on the bus when they shouldn't have. It seemed the bus had just come from Newcastle and the only people who were meant to have boarded were the people who had gone off the bus for a rest break. I picked my tickets back up and walked off the bus, not to a nuisance and all that, I showed her my ticket and she let me back on the bus. The first point is though my ticket was in my hand when I first boarded and the stub had not been ripped off.

The next problem came when they obviously had no idea of how many people were meant to be on board, and they obviously hadn't checked the tickets properly, as when she started reading the destinations she had to go a couple of people had to get off. I don't blame anyone but her, but if you listed to her natter away complaining about the world you would have thought it was everyone else's fault!

So then comes the journey, over three hours to do ninety miles, well, obviously that wouldn't be the case if we only went from one destination to the other, we stopped at Bradford, Oldham, Manchester and Manchester Airport - by the time I got off in Chester I was just about ready to throttle someone. The journey was comftable enough, after three hours your bum is going to fall asleep somewhat whatever your sitting on - so I can't really complain. I was sitting next to some passengers who were very phone happy and had obviously been texting all their friends to say how bored they were - once again, not really the National Expresses fault but it stopped me from going to sleep which is the only thing that would have made the journey bearable.

Now, people choose the National Express because it is cheap, but I paid £11 for a one way ticket. In my car I could probably do the same journey for about £13-£15 and it would save me two hours. By comparison the train works out like this:

You would have one stop at Manchester, and it would take you two hours and fifteen minutes, this would set you back £26 for a single, but obviously trains have always hit the one way commuter, so you could probably get back for £27. Had I been doing a return journey then I would have gone by train, spent an extra five pounds but saved two hours of my life.

If you consider it took me one extra hour on Megabus to get from London to Leeds then you can see why I am so unamused by the service and thinking behind the national express. Under no circumstances would I use again, and if I do at least I fully know what to expect.

Summary: Not going to be used by me again