 |
This article contains detailed information about the history of Megabus coach routes in the United Kingdom.
|
This article contains detailed information about the history of Megabus coach routes in the United Kingdom.
Services from London to Oxford commenced on 4 August 2003, and routes from Edinburgh-Glasgow, Edinburgh-Perth and Glasgow-Dundee were added one month later. During November 2003 routes between Manchester-Liverpool and Manchester-Leeds were added, these ceased on 27 June 2004 and 3 October 2004 respectively. The most significant development of the Megabus network came on 1 March 2004 when a whole network of routes from Green Line Coach Station (Bulleid Way), a short distance from Victoria Coach Station, in London were added. Services have since moved to Victoria Coach Station in a deal with Transport for London [1] These new services served Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Cardiff, Swansea and Birmingham.
On 28 June 2004 routes from London to Milton Keynes, Leicester, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow were added and within two months these were followed by the expansion of the Scottish routes to include Aberdeen and Inverness.
Stagecoach lost the contract to run the National Express route between Gloucester, Cheltenham and London, prompting Stagecoach to introduce Megabus between Cheltenham, Gloucester and London from 5 September 2004. The next day, Stagecoach took over the Motorvator coach service between Edinburgh and Glasgow, selling a number of seats per journey through the Megabus site (the remainder being available without booking in advance, at regular fares). This enabled Stagecoach to cancel the dedicated Megabus service between the two cities.
Routes between London and Liverpool, and London and Newcastle started on 10 October 2004. On 15 November 2004, the Oxford to London service was replaced by seats on the Oxford Tube. From 6 December 2004, the Megabus service between Cheltenham, Gloucester and London also called at Swindon.
On 31 January 2005, the Stagecoach Express service X5 between Oxford and Cambridge became part of the Megabus network, selling a number of seats per journey in the same way as the Oxford Tube and Motorvator. From 18 April 2005, Nottingham, Worthing and Winchester were added to the network (by slight extensions/modifications to existing routes), however rationalisation of the rest of the network also took place. In particular, some early morning and late evening services were withdrawn. From 13 June 2005, the Liverpool to London service called additionally at Stoke-on-Trent [2] and a new service was introduced between Coventry and London. However, the London-Cardiff-Swansea service was withdrawn between Cardiff and Swansea.
The joint venture between Citylink and Megabus led to a co-ordination of services in Scotland. On 21 November 2005, the 900 Motorvator service was replaced by an enhanced Citylink service. However, the facility to buy seats through the Megabus website was retained. The next week, most of the faster Citylink services between Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and Glasgow, and Inverness, Perth and Edinburgh were replaced by a more frequent, combined Megabus/Citylink service. As a consequence, passengers who previously used parallel Citylink services from the bus station in Perth town centre were required to use Broxden Park and Ride on the outskirts of the town, with little to no onward connections to the town centre. Tickets for the combined Megabus/Citylink services are available through both companies' websites, though often at conflicting prices. From 16 February 2006, the slower Citylink service between Dundee, Perth and Glasgow became available to book through the Megabus website, restoring Perth bus station to the Megabus network. The same day of the Citylink service modifications, the London to Manchester route was extended to Preston, with certain journeys extended further to Blackpool or Lancaster. This coincided with the loss of National Express work at Preston depot. The extensions to Blackpool and Lancaster were short lived, and were withdrawn in February 2006, citing low passenger numbers.
Again, following the loss of National Express contracts (this time at Rugby depot), on 5 December 2005, the London to Birmingham service was increased in frequency to every two hours. However, an additional stop was introduced at the outskirts of Coventry, with the withdrawal of the direct once a day Megabus service to Coventry city centre. One journey a day in each direction was extended to Wolverhampton. The stops in the south of Birmingham were no longer served. Further changes on this day were the doubling of the London to Nottingham service to twice a day with one journey extended to Chesterfield (which regained its Megabus service lost in April 2005) and the introduction of a new once a day service from London to Norwich.
A number of changes to routes were made on 27 March 2006. A new direct service was introduced between Ferrytoll Park & Ride in Fife, Edinburgh and London via Newcastle and Sheffield. Together with changes to the Leeds to London services meant that changes at Tibshelf services were no longer needed. In addition, many routes had timetable changes. In particular, the London to Southampton and London to Portsmouth routes became feeders to the London to Bournemouth service, meaning that passengers were required to change at Winchester. Some London to Bristol journeys were extended to Cwmbran.
On 1 October 2007, the London hub moved from Bulleid Way to Victoria Coach Station. [3]
From October 2009 Megabus started a "cross-country" Cardiff - Newcastle service, the M35.
From October 2012, Megabus extended the M92 Edinburgh to Dundee service to terminate at Aberdeen giving Dundee and Perth an every 30 minute frequency during the day to Aberdeen which interworks with service M9, and giving Aberdeen a direct service to Edinburgh which had previously been missing.
All services are operated by Megabus unless otherwise noted. Services for special events (such as the British Grand Prix) are not included. Some stops are bypassed at certain times of the day. Not all stops or variations are listed. For further information, see timetables.
| Number | Route | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| M3 | London - Heathrow Airport - Bournemouth - Poole | Opearted by AirSym |
| M7 | London - Heathrow Airport - Cardiff - Swansea | Some journeys operated by Watts Coaches and Adventure Travel |
| M8 | Glasgow - Cumbernauld - Stirling - Perth - Dundee Glasgow - Cumbernauld - Stirling - Dunblane | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| M9 | Glasgow - Perth - Dundee - Forfar - Aberdeen | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| M10 | London - Heathrow Airport - U.W.E - Bristol - Newport - Cardiff | Some journeys operated by Watts Coaches Some journeys operated by Stagecoach South Wales extend to Cwmbran |
| M10 | Glasgow - Perth - Pitlochry - Dalwhinnie - Aviemore - Inverness | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| M11 | London - Birmingham - Manchester Airport - Manchester - Preston - Lancaster - Glasgow | Some M11 services extend to Edinburgh |
| M11X | London - Glasgow - Edinburgh | |
| M12 | London - Leicester - Nottingham - Sheffield - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle | Some journeys operated by Hodgsons to/from Darlington |
| M15 | London - Heathrow Airport - Reading - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle London - Heathrow Airport - Reading - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds - Goole - Hull London - Heathrow Airport - Reading - Birmingham - Manchester - Liverpool | Some journeys operated by AirSym and Orion Travel |
| M20 | London - Sheffield - Leeds - Durham - Newcastle - Haggerston Castle - Dunbar - Edinburgh - Glasgow | |
| M20X | London - Edinburgh - Glasgow | |
| M22 | London - Northampton - Leicester - Loughborough - Nottingham | Some journeys operated by Prospect Coaches |
| M31 | Cardiff - Bristol - Manchester - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle | |
| M34 | Cardiff - Newport - Bristol - Swindon - Oxford - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle Portsmouth - Southampton - Oxford - Coventry - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle | |
| M35 | Tibshelf - Sheffield - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle | |
| M36 | Cardiff - Newport - Bristol - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle Cardiff - Newport - Bristol - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds - Goole - HullLeeds - Manchester - Birmingham - Bristol - Weston-super-Mare - Taunton - Barnstaple | |
| M37 | Birmingham - Coventry - Cambridge - Norwich | Operated by Prospect Coaches |
| M38 | Cardiff - Newport - Bristol - Birmingham - Nottingham - Sheffield - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle Barnstaple - Taunton - Weston-super-Mare - Bristol - Birmingham Birmingham - East Midlands Parkway - Sheffield - Huddersfield - Bradford | Some journeys operated by Stotts Coaches |
| M45 | London - Northampton - Derby - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Manchester | Operated by Linburg and AirSym |
| M90 | Edinburgh - Dunfermline - Kinross - Perth - Pitlochry - Aviemore - Inverness | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| M91 | Edinburgh - Dunfermline - Kinross - Perth - Birnam - Pitlochrie - Bruar - Dalwhinnie - Kingussie - Kincraig - Aviemore - Inverness | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| M92 | Edinburgh - Dunfermline - Kinross - Perth - Dundee - Forfar - Aberdeen | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus. |
| 900 | Edinburgh - Glasgow | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| AIR | Edinburgh Airport - Ingliston - Ratho Station - Harthill - Eurocentral - Glasgow | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus |
| FALC | Plymouth - Exeter - Cullompton - Wellington - Taunton - Bridgwater - Bristol Airport - Bristol | South West Falcon - operated by Stagecoach South West |
| Oxford Tube | Oxford–London | Operated by Stagecoach in Oxfordshire; numbered M8 until 5 September 2004, and a joint service with Motorvator until 20 November 2005, when the Motorvator brand was withdrawn. |
| Route | Served | Start date | End date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M3 | Southampton - Winchester - London | 1 March 2004 | 26 March 2006 | Winchester added from 18 April 2005. Renumbered to M4. | |
| M5 | Worthing - Brighton - London | 1 March 2004 | 18 May 2008 [4] | Extended to Worthing from 18 April 2005. Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. | |
| M13 | Chesterfield - Nottingham - Leicester - Milton Keynes - London | 28 June 2004 (first time) 1 August 2007 (second time) | 11 March 2007 (first time) 13 November 2007 (second time) | Extended to Nottingham from 18 April 2005 and extended to Chesterfield from 5 December 2005. Chesterfield service withdrawn on 14 May 2006. Now served by Megatrain on East Midlands Trains weekdays and Saturdays (excluding national holidays) with the Chesterfield stop restored, but excluding Milton Keynes. | |
| M14 | London - Swindon - Gloucester - Cheltenham - Worcester | 2005 | 2015 | ||
| M16 | Coventry - London | 13 June 2005 | 4 December 2005 | Added to M1 route. | |
| M17 | Lancaster - Preston - Manchester - London | 28 November 2005 | 2010 | Lancaster Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. Rest of route now part of New M17, enhanced M11. | |
| M17 | Manchester - Chester - Holyhead | 2010 | 2015 | ||
| M18 | Blackpool - Preston - Manchester - London | 28 November 2005 | 26 February 2006 | Blackpool Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. Rest of route now part of M17, enhanced M11. | |
| M18 | London - Swindon - Chippenham - Corsham - Bath - Wells - Glastonbury - Bridgwater - Taunton - Exeter | 2010 | 2015 | ||
| M18 | London - Heathrow Airport - Chippenham - Corsham - Bath | 2017 | 2019 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. | |
| M19 | Norwich - London | 5 December 2005 | 14 May 2006 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. | |
| M19 | Leeds - Manchester - Norwich - Preston - Lancaster - Glasgow | ? | ? | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. | |
| M37 | Norwich - Norwich (UEA) - Cambridge - Birmingham - Bristol - U.W.E - Cardiff | ? | 2015 | Did not call at Birmingham Airport as previously listed. | |
| X61 | Manchester - Chorley - Preston - Blackpool | Route still exists as a Stagecoach Lancashire service but Megabus tickets no longer available. | |||
| M62 | Manchester - Leeds | 17 November 2003 | 3 October 2004 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. Reinstated on M34 from 19 May 2008. | |
| M63 | Manchester - Liverpool | 17 November 2003 | 27 June 2004 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership, now part of routes M11 and M15. | |
| M91 | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus | 26 September 2003 | 2015 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. | |
| M92 | Edinburgh - St. Andrews | 26 September 2003 | 20 September 2004 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. | |
| M93 | Edinburgh – Kinross – Perth | Operated by Scottish Citylink and Megabus | 26 September 2003 | 2015 | Withdrawn due to insufficient ridership. |
| G6 | London - Plymouth | Megabus Gold | ? | 2015 | |
| G7 | London - Bristol - Cardiff - Cwmbran | Megabus Gold | ? | 2015 |
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services.
Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom.
Scottish Citylink is a long-distance express coach operator in Scotland and Ireland and England. The company was formed as a subsidiary of Scottish Transport Group in March 1985. It is operated as a 63/37 joint venture between ComfortDelGro and Stagecoach.
Stagecoach Strathtay is a Scottish bus operating company which covers the Dundee and Angus areas, and parts of Grampian. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, which bought Strathtay Scottish Omnibuses Ltd as part of Yorkshire Traction in 2005. Strathtay Scottish was formed in 1985 as a subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group, from parts of Walter Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd and Walter Alexander & Sons (Northern) Ltd. Stagecoach have retained the right to the operating name Strathtay Scottish; this is reflected in the legal lettering on the company's vehicles.
Stagecoach West Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, comprising Western Buses Ltd based in Ayr, Scotland.
Stagecoach East Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Scotland. The company operators under six different brands.
Perth railway station is a railway station located in the city of Perth, Scotland, on the Glasgow to Dundee line, and the Highland Main Line. It is managed by ScotRail, who provide almost all of the services.
Megatrain is a provider of low-cost train travel in the United Kingdom. A subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, its operations have been associated with its parent's East Midlands Trains, South West Trains, Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin Trains West Coast train operating companies. Even though Stagecoach ceased operating train franchises in its own right in August 2019, Megatrain services continue to operate on East Midlands Railway services.
Inverness railway station is the railway station serving the Scottish city of Inverness. It is the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Aberdeen–Inverness line, the Kyle of Lochalsh line and the Far North Line.
The transport system in Scotland is generally well-developed. The Scottish Parliament has control over most elements of transport policy within Scotland, with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity holding portfolio responsibility within the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland is the Executive Agency responsible for the Scottish transport network.
Xplore Dundee is a bus operator based in Dundee, Scotland, operating services mainly within Dundee City. The operator also runs a service to Edinburgh Airport. It is a subsidiary of McGill’s Buses, which is based in Greenock, Scotland.
The Edinburgh–Dundee line is a railway line linking Edinburgh with Dundee via the Forth Bridge and the Tay Bridge. A branch runs to Perth. Passenger services are operated by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, CrossCountry and London North Eastern Railway.
Park's Motor Group is a private family-owned business which is one of the largest privately owned motor dealership groups in Scotland, representing 26 manufacturers. They are also partners in the Motability scheme, offering cars to disabled road users.
The network of transportation in Aberdeen is widespread and complex like that of any major city. It is currently receiving the attention of politicians in Scotland who have acknowledged that there has been underinvestment over the past few decades in keeping the infrastructure in line with the needs of the city.
South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach Company Ltd was a bus and coach operator operating school bus services under contract to Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council and coach services under contract to Megabus.
The United Kingdom has a number of intercity coach services.
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan area covering the cities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, as well as North and South Tyneside, Gateshead and Washington.
Stagecoach Gold is a luxury bus sub-brand used by various Stagecoach bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.
Megabus is a long-distance intercity coach service operator owned by Scottish Citylink and based in the United Kingdom. Founded by Stagecoach Group in August 2003, it operates using low-cost fares, formerly starting at £1, based on a yield management model.
Lancaster bus station serves the city of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The bus station was funded by both the Lancashire County Council and Lancaster City Council. The station, situated in the centre of the city, was re-built and opened in 2001, is staffed full-time, completely covered and consists of 20 stands, a travel centre, a refreshment kiosk, on site toilet facilities and an electronic passenger information board. Directly outside the bus station is Lancaster's main taxi rank.