Buy coach tickets in uk or europe / plan bus journeys


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< Up	Travel / Transport / Coach
Travel by coach (long-distance bus) within the UK and Europe


Sections:	Introduction
	National Express (England & Wales)
	Megabus
	Scottish Citylink (Scotland)
	UlsterBus (Northern Ireland)
	Victoria Coach Station
	European coach travel
	Links

INTRODUCTION

This page explains how to travel by coach (long-distance bus) in the UK. Coach travel is usually cheaper than going by train, but journey times are longer (up to twice as long). To plan journeys, buy tickets, and to check for any travel disruption, visit the website of the company operating the service (see below).

Buy products for travel by coach in the UK/Europe:

Coach ticket (UK/Europe) (National Express / Eurolines)

NATIONAL EXPRESS

For detailed instructions about how to book coach travel with National Express (the company which operates the largest coach network in the UK), see: Shop/Company/NationalExpress. This page also explains about the Young Person's Coachcard (the discount coachcard for full-time students or young people aged 16-26).

Click here if you wish to go directly to the website of: National Express

National Express

Green Line

MEGABUS

Megabus offer a basic service on some journeys to/from the following cities (as at December 2004):
Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Chesterfield, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Inverness, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Oxford, Perth, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Ringwood, Scotch Corner, Sheffield, Swansea, Swindon

A limited number of tickets on each bus are available at £1. The cost rises as more people book seats and as the date of travel gets closer.
Tickets can be booked starting about 6 weeks before the date of travel.
The cost of a return journey is the sum of the costs of the two single journeys. There is a small booking charge.

In London, services leave from the Greenline Coach Station (map: it is on Bulleid Way, at the corner of Elizabeth Bridge; the nearest Tube or train station is Victoria)

Note that there are no toilets or luggage storage areas on Megabus services.

For more details and to book tickets, see: http://www.megabus.com

SCOTTISH CITYLINK

Scottish Citylink provides a large range of coach services between towns in Scotland. Their website is at: http://www.citylink.co.uk.
If you are a full-time student you can get a Student Discount Card (which lasts one academic year). If you are aged 16-25, you can buy a Citylink Young Persons Smartcard. These cards will allow you to save up to 20% on many adult fares across the Citylink network and on National Express journeys within Scotland.

ULSTERBUS

Ulsterbus provides most of the coach services in Northern Ireland. Their website is at: http://www.ulsterbus.co.uk.
If you are a full-time student you can get a Translink Student Discount Card. These cards will give discounts on rail and coach services in Northern Ireland.

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VICTORIA COACH STATION

Location

It is easy to get confused between Victoria Coach Station, Victoria Bus Station and the Green Line Coach Station - they are all in different locations (shown on the simple map below; for a more detailed map click here).
Victoria Coach Station is on Buckingham Palace Road: it takes 5-10 minutes to walk there from Victoria train station, underground station or bus station. This is where you go for coach services departing from London - arrivals go to a different location which is a short walk from here.
Victoria Bus Station is where many of the local London bus services arrive and depart, and is directly outside the main exits of the train and Tube stations.
Green Line Coach Station is in Bulleid Way and is the departure point for most Green Line and Megabus services: there is a pedestrian passage leading to it from Buckingham Palace Road (it is also possible to get there from Eccleston Bridge).

Note that there are two frequent coach services to Oxford: the Oxford Espress leaves from Victoria Coach Station, but the Oxford Tube leaves from Grosvenor Gardens (the first stop is on Buckingham Palace Road).

Buying tickets
There are several ways to buy tickets from Victoria Coach Station:
- By internet from a provider such as National Express (see details above). You can print e-tickets, or have paper tickets sent to you.
- Telephone: Call the Telephone Sales Office (020) 7730 3499 between 9am and 7pm Monday to Saturday, at least 1 hour before your departure. You can pay by debit card or credit card. This will save you time queuing.
- By going to the ticket office.

Collecting tickets / checking in
Note that there may be long queues at busy times, such as during public holiday weekends. In general, arrive at least an hour before your departure time, unless coaches to your destination are frequent. Make sure that you join right queue.
For UK destinations, go to the main ticket hall. There is a long queue for the counters for buying tickets, and a separate queue on the side to collect tickets for telephone reservations.
If you are travelling to Ireland or continental Europe using Eurolines (or another similar company), there is a check-in desk behind Gate 19; again, make sure you join the correct queue for your destination (this is shown on boards above each check-in desk).

Before departure / after arrival
Services in the departures terminal include left luggage, toilets (not open early in the morning), telephones and internet access.
Be aware of the following safety points while waiting in Victoria Coach Station:
- Ignore people who come up to you offering cheap hotels or accommodation
- Do not accept offers of a cab; use a black cab, or book a taxi by phone or by visiting the office of an authorised minicab company
- Beware of people pretending to be passengers
- Beware of baggage thieves and pickpockets
- Never leave your luggage unattended

For futher information about Victoria Coach Station: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/vcs

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EUROPEAN COACH TRAVEL

Travelling to Europe by coach can be the cheapest option, although journey times are much longer than for train or air travel.

Eurolines operate coach services throughout Europe. To book a ticket, see the Eurolines website. Further details about Eurolines services are given on the page:
Shop/Company/Eurolines.

Busabout offer a limited service for backpackers, with pickups at a chosen hostel, campsite or cheap hotel in each location. There are 3 loops:
Northern loop: Paris - Bruges - Amsterdam - Berlin - Dresden - Prague - Cesky Krumlov - Vienna - Salzburg - Munich - Stuttgart - Paris
Southern loop: Munich - St Johann - Venice - Ancona - Rome - Siena - Florence - Pisa - La Spezia (Cinque Terre) - Nice - Lauterbrunnen - Lucerne - Munich
Western loop: Paris - Bern - Lauterbrunnen - Nice - Avignon - Barcelona - Valencia - Madrid - San Sebastian - Bordeaux - Tours - Paris
There is also a London-Paris linking service. See: http://www.busabout.com

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LINKS

Buying coach tickets for National Express: Shop/Company/NationalExpress
Buying coach tickets for Eurolines: Shop/Company/Eurolines
Go on a tour in the UK or Europe: Travel/Tours

Home page: Home

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© UK Student Life 2002-2007

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