Advantages: cheaper, less crowded, smelly and dirty
Disadvantages: takes longer so need to allow more time

...During the recent bad weather, our local train service (Connex Metro)has had too much to cope with. Rain and leaves proved to much for them and so they left us, stranded, on platforms up and down the line. So I had to go to work by buss. I have often gone short trips on busses, but never a longhaul, going through new and unfamiliar places, type journey. The bus was clean, the driver pleasant. There was no chewing-gum on the seats, no empty drinks cans or crisp-packets. The air did not smell and best of all, I did not get a single armpit rammed in my face the entire journey. I mused on this as, bus journey over, I joined the ranks of people stuffing themselves onto the underground. Although it takes longer, taking the bus to work is a far more enjoyable experience than going by train. After last weeks induction, I have used the bus... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap, more destinations every month
Disadvantages: No heating/cooling system, often long complicated journeys!

...When the Megabus first arrived on the scene in Edinburgh (where I lived at the time), it initially provided a low cost and effective alternative to Stagecoach and Citylink . With journeys available for just £1 (+ 50p booking fee) between Edinburgh/Glasgow and Edinburgh/Perth, I was able to save over £5 on each journey! However, the prices didn't stay low for many months before creeping past £2, upto £3.50 per journey! This wouldn't have been an issue, had the journey been a comfortable one!! The Megabus itself was effectively an old school bus, with no cooling system, or heaters available on board. Summer journeys were spent desperately trying to stay cool, whilst Winter saw condensation dripping miserably down the windows, and passengers struggling to avoid hypothermia! Quite frequently, you would be required to change buses... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap Easy to use and friendly
Disadvantages: Not very comfy bus

...it is worth checking the website when planning your trip. Compared to the other bus companies Kiwi experience and Stray Bus, they were defiantly the cheapest, I was also drawn to them as I had heard good things from other travellers. Who uses Magic? Kiwi Experience I had heard was more a party bus geared towards 18 year olds who only want to drink and play games, Stray Bus it seems goes off the beaten track to the more obscure places which is great if you have plenty of time but I only had 6 weeks. The Magic Bus was a pleasant mixture of ages with no pressure to stick with the group, you can really just the Magic Bus to get from A to B or you can really involve yourself it is up to you. How it works: When you purchase your pass you are given a pin number to use, it is very simple to use, you can either manage your trip online... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap and reasonably convenient
Disadvantages: Can be dirty and uninviting

...Lost Angel gave a good account of getting around London by bus but what about the man/women sitting in the front seat? I have sat in that seat for a good many years and in different parts of the country. In the 1960s it used to be fun. Lots of good mates and lots of cheerful passengers. Ever been on a 05.00 bus travelling towards the City area of London. It used to be packed with char ladies who were the chirpiest lot of people you would ever come across. Heaven help the newly passed out conductor on this run. They would leave him stripped naked and then get off laughing their heads off. many a driver used to wedge the cab door shut to keep them from dragging him out of the cab. The Instructors at London Transport were the best in the world and to have earned your badge with them was something to be proud of. They were... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: it gets you from A to B
Disadvantages: Everything else

...At what point does a reputable bus company become a total pain in “le derriere”? Well to me, and Mainline, as soon as you get on the bus or look at the confusing bus timetable or wait for a bus…. So basically whenever you do anything near a mainline bus. I get on a bus, mainly Mainline, everyday day twice a day. The reason why I mainly get on the Mainline bus is because it is the only one I can get on to travel the five miles to school every morning and then the five miles back again. The particular number bus I get on is the X78 to and from Sheffield to Doncaster Via Rotherham and Conisbrough and Meadowhall. I get on this bus at Conisbrough every morning (unless I miss it) at 7:42. Or at least I used to get on at that time. The bus company decided to change the time of the bus, without deciding to tell anyone – apart from the drivers... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Busses used to be green; frequent services to north Chelmsford suburbs
Disadvantages: Drivers smile only irregularly; journeying at peak school commuting time is dangerous

...The Eastern National bus company cannot help but slowly insinuate itself into the lives of just about every central Essex resident. I had to endure almost 5 years of daily travel on a large sweaty green double-decker bus in order to make my way from rural Billericay to the great swarming metropolis that was Chelmsford. In the earlier years it seemed fun; members of the general public who braved that notorious 3.55pm bay 9 “Billericay” bus took their life in their own hands. The entire journey had a sort of apocalyptic air – as if we might just meet the seven horsemen as we trundled along Galleywood common; or perhaps the driver would decide, amongst the meadows north of Stock, that it was time to drive at extreme speed, in such a way as to ensure that the bus leaned dangerously to one side. Tickets were cheap; indeed, most of us were... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very enjoyable and easy read
Disadvantages: It finished!

...to track down and watch soon! As I read the first chapter of the book which happened to be about Nancy Morris, I realised what was to come. Each chapter is about each of the individuals who travel on The Lilac Bus with the last chapter of the book dedicated to the owner of the bus, Tom FitzGerald. Each chapter is like a little story in its own right BUT the other characters on the bus are mentioned at regular intervals, some in good; some in bad ways but all making complete sense as one gets further and further into the book. Each chapter is written in such a way that at the end of it you feel that that character's story has been satisfactorily wound up, whether it be in a good or bad or sad way. At the end of the first chapter I didn't like the character any more than I did at the start of it but I understood her more and somewhat... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: great fun
Disadvantages: avoid 3pm to 5pm

...…more of that anon) charged a flat rate maximum of Barbados$ 1.50, that is per trip, whatever the distance involved. (In June the exchange rate was 4B$ to the £).Travel anywhere on the island for 75p! Public transport option offered by the BLUE buses of the Barbados Transport Board were recommended by the rep. Well yes if you could find one. We were told that we could catch the blue bus at a stop outside the church, next to the rum shop (a common juxtaposition in Barbados apparently !)just 200yards from the hotel. Certainly there was a stop, quaint, wooden, lollipop shaped, bearing the words "bus stop" on a red outer circle and" Into the City" on a white inner background. But there weren't any buses! And we waited a good while! We learned- in conversation with a Bajan lady at the main bus station in Bridgetown, again waiting for another BTB bus... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Loads of them!
Disadvantages: Not all the open-tops can be covered in case of London rain...

...-stops, of which around 40 are permanently manned during the summer by people who will sell you tickets to the Big Bus and most of London’s main attractions (the ones you have to pay for, anyway!). For Madame Tussauds, the Tower of London and the London Dungeon they sell “fast-track” tickets which in the summer can knock three hours of queing down to about 10 minutes. You Madame Tussauds and the Tower tickets have to be used within 48 hours of the start time of your Big Bug ticket, the London Dungeon ticket is valid for two weeks. Buying tickets for other attractions in advance isn’t guaranteed to save you time, but frequently does anyway, and most of these tickets are open-ended or last for three months They accept cash, travellers’ cheques (sterling only) and most main credit cards, and the people on the pavement don’t get paid commission... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Funny, interesting, easy to read, can't put it down
Disadvantages: None really although not really a literature masterpiece if that's what you're loking for+

...I have just finished reading this book and it is one of my favourites, I couldn't put it down! Brian Thacker (the author) is an Australian who went to work in Europe as a tour guide, taking hundreds of backpackers on trips through Europe. His story is a hilarious account of some of the things he and his crew got up to while on the road. The book is a mixture of facts about the different places and countries he visited on the way (which just made me want to go traveling!) and his own personal experiences, including losing a couple of passengers, losing the bus, getting lost and pretending he knew exactly where he was, smuggling a passenger through border control because she had her passport stolen and it was easier to renew it in the next country than the one they were already in, knowing where all the supermarkets in Europe were... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful