Megabus

Poorest service that I’ve ever seen… I booked single & return ticket from London to Manchester as I didn’t have idea about megabus. I arrived on time in London Victoria as got some poor customer service from the staffs. Me and my girlfriend were there but no reservation seat available to sit together! Bought the ticket for £50 via online 5days earlier but totally worst waste of money. Seats were too congested, so space for sitting relax. 4 & half hour journey but so terrible!!! Never dream to come back to London by megabus, already booked another from National Express… First time and surely for the last time by megabus…

Ah Megabus, so cheap and yet so terribly uncheerful.
Unless you book far in advance, its often no cheaper than the far superior National Express. The heating is unbelievably poor, making it freezing cold in winter. The seats are uncomfortable and the bus is loud and horribly outdated. It’s also got a fearsome reputation for being late.
There’s really no reason to opt for Megabus –if you’re going to book far in advance, pay a little more for the comfort and speed of the train. If you’re going to book later, spend less for better service with the National Express.

I remember when taking the Megabus was just a big no-​no — they had such a bad reputation for being completely 100% late, usually by an hour up to an hour and a half. For this reason, I only ever took it once and never again for a few years.
However I had to get to London a week ago for an impromptu trip, and trains were just mighty expensive, so I decided to pay £7.50 for a megabus ride. Not looking forward to it at all, I went to the bus stop and waited. and was pleasantly surprised that the bus was actually 10 minutes early! Also surprising was the chirpy, friendly driver and the bus itself, which seemed much cleaner than what I had remembered.
Prices are usually cheaper than the £7.50 I paid if you book earlier than I did. If you do it at the right time, you can get them for a pound, which you won’t get anywhere else! The ride to London was 2.5 hours, an hour more than the train. Another surprise, was that we got there on time!
My bus trip was either a fluke, or Megabus has really upped their game and are providing a more reliable service these days. Pretty good value, if you ask me!

There’s a little saying in life…‘you get what you pay for’. And while, in some degrees this is true for the Megabus, please don’t forget — it will take you all the way to London for a pound. One single pound. That’s cheaper than getting the bus from one side of Bristol City Centre to the other! The coach itself is absolutely fine. When they started off, the Megabuses tended to be the rickety old double deckers which were considered too knackered to cover local bus routes. Now, the coaches are just as good as the slightly older National Express coaches. And don’t worry about your fellow passengers being a bunch of drunks and reprobates, it really is the usual crowd you get on public transport. The one BIG downside with the Megabus though is it is usually late. I’ve got it about a dozen times from Bristol and only once has it left on time at that was at about 5am in the morning.

I know this is a bit of a standing joke, but if you tell your inner snob to shut up for a moment, it can’t be denied that the Megabus is an absolute bargain.
Now that the Megatrain is sadly no longer with us, from Bristol this just services south Wales (which I haven’t tried) and London. I’m not sure if the bargain prices are still as easy obtain as they once were, but if you book early enough this is a great way to get to the capital (my wife and I once got there for a total price of £4.50 — £1 single each way plus a 50p booking charge!). I’ve used it about twice and both times it was on time both ways and in fact turned up well within the three hour it claims it will take (it actually takes around 2hrs 20 which isn’t far off the train time).
The buses go from outside the Colston Hall, though I’m sure I heard recently that they no longer pick up in Easton so you may need to check this. One other thing, National Express have started doing ‘fun fares’ in response, which can be just as cheap, so be sure to double-​check their prices too before you book.