What can you get for a Quid? (National Express)

Member Name: thebigshowgt

Product:	National Express
Date:	29/08/04 (1512 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ~

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£1. It’s not a lot of money. What can you buy for a single pound coin nowadays? A lottery ticket. A Sunday newspaper? Ok, you get my point. £1 will not get you much. Unless, you win that lottery jackpot, of course.

So, if we take that £1 and apply it to public transport, how far would you get? Hop on the bus and you will be lucky to get to the other side of town. And don’t even think about getting in a taxi. So how about a coach from London to say, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds or even Glasgow? You can with National Express!

You have read correctly. You can travel to or from London to 20 other cities in England, Wales (Swansea) or Scotland (Glasgow) one-way for £1. A-ha! You said one-way? Does that mean the return journey is priced highly to make up for it? Oh, you are cynical! It’s just £1 to return as well. No booking Fee. No need to own any discount/club card.

These particular tickets are known as ‘Funfares’ and are available on most days and some only at certain times. Prices can be more than £1 but most I have seen are still only a few pounds. Check out http://www.nationalexpress.com/p.cfm?n=pcc-fun

The Funfares deal is fantastic value but there are other deals that put the idea of using the train even less appealing. Anyone over 60 can travel for half price on any day except Fridays. You do not even need a special discount card, just proof of age.

If you do have a discount card then more savings are to be had. If you are a Full Time Student, Between 16 – 25 or Over 50 then you can apply for a coachcard that costs just £10 for one year or £19 for three years and you are entitled to 30% off most journeys.

But it gets better! Anyone with a 16 –25/Stude
nt Card can travel anyway in the UK between October and November for £10 Return. I suppose I better make a trip up North to see the family in a few weeks!

So as you can see from the above, National Express offer good value and with their offers, these get even better.

So, you’ve made a considerable saving compared to petrol costs or train but at what inconveniences?

Well, the most obvious one is the route. If travelling direct you may be on motorways for most of the journey and avoid excess traffic, off-route via stops and the rest. You will still be going slower than if you caught the train and journey time is bound to be quite longer.

If you are not going direct, you will go on out-of-the-way pick ups where most of the time no-one will either get on or off the bus. If travelling far, this may wind you up after a while, especially if you end up backtracking after driving in a circle. If you have to changeover you may be waiting at the coach stop for a while. At worst, if the bus is very late you will miss you next one. They tend to leave a 30 minute period to avoid this though.

I have caught National Express coaches many times, not normally more than 4 hour journeys and things have run smoothly time-wise. I have never waited more than 10 minutes, which is a lot better than local buses in my area. Only once there was an exception when the bus broke down and an engineer sent but the driver was very helpful and understanding. He got in contact with my changeover station to ensure there was an available coach for us as soon as we arrived. The service we received was first class.

Also remember your seat is not numbered so it is a case of sit where you want/can. Travelling in even numbers is fine but if not, you may find yourself next to a stranger. And we all know there are some strange
people out there! Most of my journeys have not been completely full so I have been ok.

The actual coaches are modern, clean and fast. The coaches have Air Conditioning, Personal Light, comfortable seating with armrest and suitable legroom. They have a W/C at the back, which is a bit of a squeeze, well for me anyway!

The National Express Coach Drivers have always been helpful (in terms of answering questions and helping with luggage), also look smart in uniform and good drivers. This is the complete opposite to Bus Drivers in my area that I live, they are the most miserable people I have ever encountered. These Bus Drivers are loonies on the B-roads and wear their own clothes (Average Bus driver = 50 year old man with dress sense that is indescribable).

As well as stops at around 1200 different locations throughout the UK, the Coaches serve the big airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Manchester, East Midlands and Birmingham. They also drop off just outside the terminal, which is a help when you have all that luggage with you.

Tickets are available to be sent to your address, picked up at the bus station (or any other NX station) or printed off your computer as an e-ticket (essential for funfares).

Overall, I am very satisfied with National Express. Travelling by Coach is not ideal but the service provided and value makes it always a preferred method of transport to train.

Thank You For Reading

©tbsgt

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