Quote-start

How do they do it?

Quote-end

5 Aug 29th, 2008 

7 Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful

Advantages:
Same train, same journey, massive discount !

Disadvantages:
Limited journey options

Recommendable Yes:

Detailed rating:

Value for Money

silver-sarah

silver-sarah

About me:

Hi All! I'm on dooyoo as jasminesarah and just finding my way here, although I've been doing the su...

Member since:12.12.2005

Reviews:7

Members who trust:6

Most people are familiar with the Scottish based budget travel company Megabus, run by Stagecoach. The brightly coloured blue and yellow buses are road travel's answer to Ryanair and Easyjet - offering no frills trips at silly prices.

However, Stagecoach's more recent foray into the realm of budget train travel is less well known. I would usually use thetrainline.com to buy train tickets (or preferably southwesttrains.co.uk - who do not charge a booking fee) but recently I was buying tickets for a day trip to London and the cheapest price I was quoted, booking well ahead, was well over £100 for 2 people, returning the same day. In desperation I scoured the internet and came up with Megatrain.

Megatrain's price for the same journey, on the same day, was £32. For 2 people. It seemed too good to be true! Megatrain operate on a ticket-less basis in the same way as some budget airlines do. I was sent an email confirmation with Reservation codes - to print out and carry with us on the day.

We arrived at Exeter railway station and were advised which carriage of the train we should sit in. Megatrain is operated by South West Trains in the south of England and the train was a normal one, with megatrain posters in the windows of one carriage. The seats were not reserved, but there was plenty of room. (In fact I can't remember the last time I got on a train that wasn't packed!) As we sped towards Waterloo, other non-megatrain passengers joined us. It felt strange to know that most had paid at least 3 times as much as we had.

After an uneventful journey we arrived on time, and the return journey passed in a similar way. The guard checked our reservation code in the same way as tickets are checked. The whole procedure was very smooth, I can't recommend it enough! I don't often have cause to compliment South West Trains, or any train service operator, but this was one of the most pleasant rail journeys I have had.

Megatrain offer city travel, so not all routes are covered. From Exeter, for example, there is a choice of London, Plymouth or Newquay. However, most cities have some routes available and from London you can go almost anywhere across the country. Tickets are sold as singles, and prices vary. By experimenting with dates and times on the booking page on the website you can achieve the cheapest prices, especially if you have flexible travel times. (Our outbound journeys cost £10 each, for example, whilst the returns were only £6 each.)

I'm thinking about booking another day trip to London very soon. My advice - try this budget option and save yourself some money! It is the same train and the same route - what do you have to lose?

Also published on Dooyoo 

How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines

exceptional

very helpful

helpful

somewhat helpful

not helpful

off topic

Products you might be interested in »

Crumpler Gimp 15 inch Laptop Sleeve Dakine Split Roller 100 Travel Bag 2008
Crumpler Gimp 17 inch Laptop Sleeve Deuter Speedlite 10
Dakine 60/40 Split Convertible Travel Bag 2009 Dakine Campus

Comments about this review »

silverstreak 29.08.2008 11:16

Heaven knows how much profit the others are creaming off!

majeedkazi 29.08.2008 10:34

Nice Review

Related offers for megatrain.com »

NH Hoteles 0 Ratings

NH Hoteles

NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times

 Visit Shop  >
NH Hoteles


More reviews »

megatrain.com - review by DC-DanielColeflax

Advantages: lots, but mostly the price
Disadvantages: not too many at all-see review

megatrain.com - review by DC-DanielColeflax DC-DanielColeflax 26.04.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of megatrain.com

megatrain.com - review by mark-southside

Advantages: can save a fortune on train fares!!!
Disadvantages: limited choice

megatrain.com - review by mark-southside mark-southside 21.08.2006 (21.08.2006) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of megatrain.com

megatrain.com - review by PaulineLees

Advantages: Cheap, flexible, countrywide travel
Disadvantages: None

megatrain.com - review by PaulineLees PaulineLees 21.07.2007 (21.07.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of megatrain.com

megatrain.com - review by thomarnold

Advantages: Easy to use website, and very cheap tickets!
Disadvantages: Seems to good to believe!

megatrain.com - review by thomarnold thomarnold 25.10.2008 (25.10.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of megatrain.com



Are you the manufacturer / provider of megatrain.com? Click here