National express > Reviews > What Katy did...on the BACK SEAT of the coach

Author's product rating:   

Quality of Rooms	Average
Customer service	good
Frequency of bus / buses	Frequent
Value for money	Average
Reliability	Good

Advantages:	Reasonable prices, clean coaches .
Disadvantages:	Time, the toilets, wierdos who might sit next to you .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

As the song goes-"the national express, it's best,oh yes!" I'm being serious. Train fares these days are ridiculous, trains are often delayed or late. I have family all over the country, and now I have gone to uni, my boyfriend is far away too! Luckily for me though, I can always rely on the good old coach service.

Students can buy a student coach card for £10 which lasts for a year and entitles you to reduced fares. People over 50 and armed forces personnel also qualify for discounts. Or you could just do what I do and pay child fare, that's if you can get away with it! That little trick has saved me lots of money! I suppose it's nothing to be proud of, the fact that I can pass for a 15 year old, but I will keep it up as long as I can.

All National Express coaches I have been on have been clean and spacious, with a toilet on board. They are all non-smoking. Generally the coaches are not too full so you get a double seat to yourself but obviously this depends on where you are going. The National express serves many places, all the big cities and towns as expected, but also stops off at a number of smaller places. Just check when you book as often they will not advertise every small place that the coach passes through.

The fares are very good value, especially if you buy your ticket in advance or look out for special offers. In October, they did a special offer for students-get a return ticket anywhere in the UK (not Ireland though) for £10! Wow, amazing. Even the usual fares are good value. Here are some examples of prices;

Birmingham to London (day return) £12
London to Manchester (standard return) £20 if booked 2 weeks in advance, £25 otherwise

The web site address is www.gobycoach.com and a fab site it is too. It's well set out and easy to use. You can enter your start and finish destination and the days you want to travel, and it will come up with timetables and prices suited to your needs. You can even pay for your tickets on line and print off tickets that will be valid for travel, so no more queuing up!

National Express also run a coach service called Eurolines, to big cities in Europe, including Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels. I actually went on a coach to Brussels last year. It cost £49, with an extra £15 for a return journey from Birmingham to London Victoria, where all the Eurlines services depart from. I think that is excellent value, although the journey takes a long time. The coach was more luxurious than your standard bus, comfortable with big TV's playing films.

You may be better off looking at low cost air lines, but if you don't like flying or just want to try something new, then why not go abroad on the coach? It's certainly a new way of seeing a country. We drove through many beautiful parts of France. I also took some good books to read, which kept me occupied.

The only complaints I have about National Express are the stations. Having been on many coach journeys I have seen varying standards of cleanliness and facilities at the stations. Some are lovely (Coventry) and some are horrible (er, Birmingham, although I hate to say it).

Oh, and the toilets. But to be fair, they are the best they can possibly be in the circumstances. All of the coaches I have been on have had toilets. The more awkward ones are back to front, which leaves you clinging on for dear life to the handrail! Ok, so they smell, and you jolt around, but it is better than nothing.

My other gripe would be about a certain bus driver last Christmas who refused to let me off at Marble Arch in London although I had checked that I could get off there when booking, therefore I ended up in a part of London I don't know at all, 2 hours late meeting my sister. But that was a one off.

I think too many people bypass the option of going somewhere on the coach, when they should definitely consider it, as it is cheap and convenient, and often actually quicker than the train!

So, what did I get up to on the back seat of the Birmingham to London coach, on the way back from Brussels? Well, did you really think I would tell all? Let's just say it involved a certain amount of duty free alcohol and a willing boyfriend. :-)

Wouldn't get away with that on the train!