National Express

Damn National Express. I'm off to Chippenham today from Exeter, apparently it's going to take something ridiculous like 5 hours to get from Exeter to Chippenham....it's a 2 hour journey! Arrrrrrrgh

No wonder people still drive their cars.

 

the national express coaches have ridiculous journey times! and theyve no leg room and i once went from exeter to birmingham and the loo was locked the whole way because it was blocked - i actually nearly pissed myself! was horrible! havent used em since. rather pay more for a train

 

Luckily, I'm changing at Bristol for Chippenham, so I don't have to sit on a bus for 5 hours non-stop, but it still takes a huge chunk out of my day and I can't smoke on the way!
I'm going to be narky when I get there.

Then tomorrow my friend and I have to go from Chippenham to London Victoria, which I'm not overly excited about either. However, we will be rewarded with a fabulous performance at the end of it.

 

have fun whatever you're going to see

 

Pah. Leeds to London Victoria...6 or 7 hours depending on traffic. And I never complained. You young 'uns have no backbone. *insert old man smilie here*

That said, I have an amazingly durable bladder (as long as I'm not drunk), and I never get bored on long journeys. Seriously, as long as I can stare out of the window and eavesdrop on conversations, I'm sorted

 

I have to admit that I wasn't too disappointed with the service in the end. The seats were pretty comfy and the coaches were fairly modern. I was a bit frustrated that I wasn't driving though, motorway is some of the easiest driving!

 

I love National Express! It's like heaven compared to the Megabus, more comfortable and quicker, yet still significantly cheaper than the train. Hope you had fun Nay!

 

MegaBus is a HELL of alot better.

 

Uh, depends on your region I guess. For me a megabus to London takes twice the amount of time as National Express and is usually on a crappy ancient uncomfortable urban double decker rather than an air conditioned coach with airline seats. Usually only about half the price of a National Express return too, at best.

 

megatrain is where its at kids!

 

megatrain is where what's at?

 

Taz was booked on a Megabus from Cambridge to Oxford and it just didn't turn up. She waited for the next departure time, and that one didn't show up either. They sound like a pile of unreliable wank to me, and if you can't rely on a wank, what can you rely on?

 

I actually do prefer to travel by bus in this country. Our train services and railway maintenance is absolutely terrible, you never know whether you'll make it to your destination alive these days!

 

I think you're a lot more likely to die or be injured on the roads be it in a car or a bus to be honest, train accidents are exceptionally rare...

 

Not in this country!
I had a friend who worked for Amey rail and he didn't even use the railway service that much. The lack of communication between railway maintenance companies is shocking, you never know how long it's been since your part of the line has been serviced, if it has been serviced at all.

Anywhere else in the world, sure I'll go with the train everytime, but here I'm sticking with the Nash.

 

What evidence is there that the actual accident or injury rate is anywhere near that of road traffic accidents? I think you're talking gash there Nay. It's pretty obvious really - there are far more variables in road transport, there are many thousands of crashes every year. There might be a train accident every couple of years. Sure there have been incidents with poor maintenance (following Hatfield a few years back), and there are always problems in any complex system. But train transport is probably the safest way to travel in this country.

 

I'm not saying that rail accidents are more frequent than road accidents, but at least I know where I stand with the road. Also, you don't hear of many stories of the National Express having a tragic crash either. Tis much cheaper than the train too

 

There's usually at least one serious coach accident somewhere in Europe every year, though admittedly not in the UK - I think coaches are probably about as safe as trains here. Cars, however, are quite another story, you're much more likely to die in one of them than in any other form of transport...

 

Yeah, very true and usually due to someone elses bad driving!

I'd still prefer to be driving though, I love burning down the motorway doing a ton.

 

cheap and quick transport

its got the joys of megabus in that its cheap....
but the joys of the train in tat its nice