From 28th June, Stagecoach's megabus.com launches a Sheffield to London route.

The megabus is a no-frills operation, using normal double decker buses that have been refurbished with high density coach seats and air conditioning, but no facilities such as toilets or catering. They pick up at normal bus stops instead of expensive bus stations, and bookings can only be made on the internet with a credit card.

Single fares start from £1.50 (including 50p booking fee).

The information on timetable etc for the Sheffield route will be added to the megabus website in the next couple of days.

Shall we have a sweepstake on the journey time to London on megabus. I will start the bidding at 5 hours!

Mod: Posts relating to Megabus not being disability friendly can now be found here (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?postid=127280#post127280)

I've seen the timetable and the Sheffield and Chesterfield bus only goes as far as Tibshelf services, where you have to change buses onto the Leeds-London service.

I'm sure that will be popular!

Oh and it takes 4 hours 20 mins to get to London...

Originally posted by Andy C
I've seen the timetable and the Sheffield and Chesterfield bus only goes as far as Tibshelf services, where you have to change buses onto the Leeds-London service.

I'm sure that will be popular!

Oh and it takes 4 hours 20 mins to get to London...

4 hours 20 minutes?! WTF?! We travel to London by car and it only takes us 3 and half hours, that's including tackling the traffic on the M25 on a Friday afternoon.

It only costs £1.50!!! What do you want, smoked salmon and caviar? :)

:).. I'm sure I'll become well acquainted with this service when I move to Sheffield. £1.50!? Why so low?

It's a similar concept to the no-frills airline.

The buses are normal double deck city buses, rather than proper long distance coaches, and they keep costs down by using normal bus stops, make you book online, don't provide any facilities on board.

And they yield manage it (like airlines and railways). Therefore those who book early and travel at less popular times get very cheap fares. They pack 'em in (the bus has about 94 seats). Not all seats are at the cheap price, but the logic is as long as enough seats are sold at full price to break even, any extra seats sold is profit, even if only £1 each!

By the sounds of it, I might stick with my £9.00 Return National Express Coach jobby. Even though we go the scenic route:
London Victoria - Milton Keynes - Chesterfield - Sheffield Travel Interchange (Pond Street) - ring any bells? (It then goes onto Meadowhall and Halifax).

The coaches are always in good condition and I pick the early one (leave Lon 9 am) to get up there for 12.30/1pm or the late at night one - travel in the evening (5.30, get up there 8.30pm/9pm).

Mod: posts relating to disabled access on buses (including MegaBus) are now in this thread (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12071) .

I'll stick to the Midland Mainline train I think, only takes 2 hours 20 minutes and has a food bar on board. £20 return still isn't bad!

Originally posted by Andy C
I've seen the timetable and the Sheffield and Chesterfield bus only goes as far as Tibshelf services, where you have to change buses onto the Leeds-London service.

I'm sure that will be popular!

Oh and it takes 4 hours 20 mins to get to London...

I'll be making use of a MEGABUS from Chesterfield on Sat 3rd July. It leaves at 6.30am (same time as the train) and arrives in London at 10.15. That's aprox just three quarters of an hour longer than the train which can cost around 90 quid!

Even on special promotional tickets the cheapest I have ever managed to get to London previously is a tenner!

Good luck to Megabus. I wish them well. I hope they drive the over-priced competitors out of business!

It's certainly very cheap, but the train has its place despite being horribly expensive and useless. I will still be driving to London though.

Originally posted by amhudson119
By the sounds of it, I might stick with my £9.00 Return National Express Coach jobby. Even though we go the scenic route:
London Victoria - Milton Keynes - Chesterfield - Sheffield Travel Interchange (Pond Street) - ring any bells? (It then goes onto Meadowhall and Halifax).

The coaches are always in good condition and I pick the early one (leave Lon 9 am) to get up there for 12.30/1pm or the late at night one - travel in the evening (5.30, get up there 8.30pm/9pm).

The last time I traveled to london with National Express it was £16 return. How can you do it for £9?

Originally posted by slimsid2000
The last time I traveled to london with National Express it was £16 return. How can you do it for £9?

Must have a discount card!

Originally posted by andy1702
I'll be making use of a MEGABUS from Chesterfield on Sat 3rd July. It leaves at 6.30am (same time as the train) and arrives in London at 10.15. That's aprox just three quarters of an hour longer than the train which can cost around 90 quid!

Even on special promotional tickets the cheapest I have ever managed to get to London previously is a tenner!

Good luck to Megabus. I wish them well. I hope they drive the over-priced competitors out of business!

The 06:37 train from Chesterfield gets to London St Pancras at 08:50, that's about 1.5 hours faster than megabus!

It is also direct (Megabus requires a change of bus at Tibshelf services, hope you can rely on the connecting bus being there!).

The train has toilets on board, which Megabus doesn't.

And finally food and drink (including free tea & coffee) is available on the train.

Yes, the cheapest regularly available fare on the train is £20, which is of course dearer than the megabus, but you pays your money and takes your choice!

Picture of the Megabus

http://www.megabus.com/faqs.php?Q=general_looklike

then click on link

Well, the Megabus starts running tomorrow (Monday 28th June).

Has anyone got a ticket? If so let us know what the journey is like!

Originally posted by slimsid2000
The last time I traveled to london with National Express it was £16 return. How can you do it for £9?


Originally posted by AndyC
[B]Must have a discount card]

No, I went up from Sat 21 Feb - Tue 24 Feb. £9 return - paid by Debit Card, for the 9.30 I think and got up to the interchange at around 13h00 and on the way back left at 18h30 and got back at 22h20. £9, no discount card. I do have my E-Mail address with Nat Express, so they retain all my information on the site but no reductions mind.

However, when i recently looked on the site i was amazed that it is now £21!!!!!!! Prob. inflation.

Alex

You may have got the NX Fun-fare offer, which is limited availability.

it looks brilliant, cant go wrong £1.50, its s hit about the lack of disabled access, better make sure i dont book too far in advance, wouldnt wanna get to the day and be bed bound.

Originally posted by Andy C
The 06:37 train from Chesterfield gets to London St Pancras at 08:50, that's about 1.5 hours faster than megabus!

It is also direct (Megabus requires a change of bus at Tibshelf services, hope you can rely on the connecting bus being there!).

The train has toilets on board, which Megabus doesn't.

And finally food and drink (including free tea & coffee) is available on the train.

Yes, the cheapest regularly available fare on the train is £20, which is of course dearer than the megabus, but you pays your money and takes your choice!

The MEGABUS running from Chesterfield WILL have a toilet fitted! This facility is being added to all megabus vehicles as time goes by.

Yes, there is something resembling food on board the train. But the suppliers are well aware of their captive audience and know only too well how to add a zero onto the price!

The big question should not be 'why is Megabus so cheap' It should be 'Why are the other transport operators so expensive?'

May well have been the funfare - but the time before in 2002 was £9. It has now gone done one pence to £20. I E-Mailed Nat Express and moaned at there excessive prices.

Alex

I booked a ticket on the megabus from Sheffield to London about a month and a half ago. It was to leave at 5.55 and get into london just after 10. The bus was fine up until Tibshelf where we changed from a single decker bus to a double decker. This bus was about 20 years old, smelly and dirty. About 30 minutes out of Tibshelf on the M1 the bus broke down. Something wrong with the engine we were told. We stayed on the hard shoulder of the M1 for about an hour and a half until a new bus came from Chesterfield. In the end we were about an hour and twenty minutes late getting into London.
This may not be too much of a problem most of the time but I had to catch a ryanair flight from Stansted which I missed because the bus was late. This cost me about £90 to book a new flight.

I wrote a letter to megabus complaining and they offered me a refund of my fare (£3.50) and a few new journey. They would not compensate me for my missed flight however.

I would recommend megabus only if you can afford to be late.

Enjoyed a Megabus ride to London around a month ago with no problems at all. Would thoroughly recommend it should you fancy an overnight stay in London, less so if you've got to be in a specific place by a specific time (the return journey set off half an hour late - still got to Sheffield on time though).

I looked on the Nat. Express website.
And I can either go from Victoria (3.5 hrs) (+45 mins getting to Victoria) - my usual way.
From Lewisham - Roughly 5 hrs
From Sidcup - 7 hrs ish
From Bluewater - 6hrs ish

Of course, the nearest to me is either Bluewater or Sidcup, nearest my College is Lewisham. (So, there's not much of a differance between going from Lewisham Victoria. However, getting the later bus back to Lewisham will be a nightmare as the 6.20pm from Sheff. gets to Victoria at 10.20pm. However, doesen't get to Lewisham until Midnight :o ...
.... so what is Megabus like, seems quite cheap, but from their site it doesen't seem there are any changes. Yet, someone mentioned having to get off at Chesterfield - and then from there to Sheff Does it stop at the same place as the Nat. Express coaches does?

Alternatively, there is the (expensive) train... what's the service like? Looking at "Midland Mainline" which is apparently the local service, there isn't much in between coach (from Victoria) vs. train.

Cheers
Alex

Well Alex,

I think it really is a case of you pays your money and makes your choice. All three get you from Sheffield to London, but the more you pay the more comfy and fast the journey is.

If you are on a tight budget Megabus is ridiculously cheap, but very basic and very slow - but at the end of the day it gets you there, which is the aim.
www.megabus.com

National Express is a little more comfortable and a little faster, and the fares are reasonable - max return about £21 I think?
www.nationalexpress.com

Midland Mainline is of course the fastest, although that goes to St Pancras so you will probably then have to get the tube over to Victoria. Journey time Sheffield-St Pancras is normally 2h20mins, except on Sundays when it's a bit longer. Trains are quite comfortable, allow you to walk about, and have catering on board. Cheapest fare on the train for an individual traveller is £20 return, this has to be booked at least a week in advance and requires you to book a seat both ways (and stick to what you book). However if you book at shorter notice or require a flexible ticket that allows you to walk onto any train you will pay more.
There are cheaper tickets for small groups - Midland Mainline offer a 4 for £48 fare.
www.midlandmainline.com

Originally posted by Andy C
I'll stick to the Midland Mainline train I think, only takes 2 hours 20 minutes and has a food bar on board. £20 return still isn't bad! Thats a really good deal and its handy for the youth hostel across the road from St Pancross where I will be staying shortly.

Originally posted by Andy C
Well Alex,

I think it really is a case of you pays your money and makes your choice. All three get you from Sheffield to London, but the more you pay the more comfy and fast the journey is.

If you are on a tight budget Megabus is ridiculously cheap, but very basic and very slow - but at the end of the day it gets you there, which is the aim.
www.megabus.com

National Express is a little more comfortable and a little faster, and the fares are reasonable - max return about £21 I think?
www.nationalexpress.com

Midland Mainline is of course the fastest, although that goes to St Pancras so you will probably then have to get the tube over to Victoria. Journey time Sheffield-St Pancras is normally 2h20mins, except on Sundays when it's a bit longer. Trains are quite comfortable, allow you to walk about, and have catering on board. Cheapest fare on the train for an individual traveller is £20 return, this has to be booked at least a week in advance and requires you to book a seat both ways (and stick to what you book). However if you book at shorter notice or require a flexible ticket that allows you to walk onto any train you will pay more.
There are cheaper tickets for small groups - Midland Mainline offer a 4 for £48 fare.
www.midlandmainline.com

Thanks for the info, andy :thumbsup:

Alex

I've looked at the Nat Ex site and it looks as if the day return fare is still £16 (£16.99 with insurance).

I'm not quite sure how the Funfares work. Do you have to book on-line to get them or pay by credit card or something? Can you still get those fares if you pay by cash in person?

I think the funfares are for bookings late at night - I usually get up for 2100 ish and leave on the 1820 four or so days later. All the times I have come up, I've always booked via the site.

Alex

Fun Fares are internet only I believe.

thank gawd for this forum and search engine! Im going down to london this saturday and didnt realise the £20 train promotion has to be booked 7 days in advanced. Its £41 if its single and its £41 if its return?! :loopy:
Anyways, i thought id search on here to see if anyone has been on the Megabus and after reading the posts I wasnt so sure about booking with them even tho its was about £6 for my return fare.
Then I read about national express so i went on the site and looked at the funfare prices and got the times that i wanted for a bargain fare £11!! £7 on the way to london and £4 on the way back. It would have been £20 if i didnt pick the funfare times :clap: its not bad only just 1 hour more travelling time...

Im a happy bunny thanks to sheff forum :thumbsup: :clap:

The Megabus service in our area is being changed from 18th April.

The current connection to Sheffield will be extended to Newcastle, and in Sheffield will pick up at Meadowhall instead of the City Centre.

The first bus south and last bus north will run through to/from London calling at both Meadowhall and Leeds.

Megabus will no longer serve Chesterfield.

So the 3 new routes will be:
London - Tibshelf - Leeds
London - Meadowhall - Leeds
Tibshelf - Meadowhall - Scotch Corner - Newcastle

www.megabus.com

After reading another thread about how much it costs to go to London, I remember seeing the deal with Megabus for £1. I went there just now to see how much it would be for two people at the end of October, and it says it's free - what's the deal with this? I ask especially as someone said on the other board that they would rather walk...

Mod: Similar threads merged.

Yes, it seems Megabus is having a promotion with 100,000 free seats to/from London Monday-Thursday. You still have to pay the 50p booking fee though..

I've never been on the Megabus, but I know someone who has. The buses are basically normal commuter double deckers that have been refitted with comfy seats, luggage rack and toilets.

From what he said the bus was punctual, although the change of buses at Tibshelf was a minor hassle.

He did dub it the chav express - cheap fares, cheap passengers..... he was lucky in the fact he was the only person on the bus who had a double seat to himself - and this was down to one passenger missing the bus!

Originally posted by Andy C
Must have a discount card!

my fare is 7 pounds. Its called "funfare' and they have a limtied amount I think. No discoutn card needed.

Gotta go for a ride on the megabus, its an experience you`ll never forget!
over four hours of bum numbing, B/O smelling (not me) hell - never again.

Removed**************