Goodbye Megabus: Vast majority of journeys solely within England to cease
Megabus are to cut almost all routes operating solely within England after an announcement was made today.
The company will still operate cross-border journeys and a solitary Bristol to Plymouth route though others will cease on 4 December.
The company was sold by Stagecoach in 2022 to Scottish Citylink.
Cuts
It’s the latest retrenchment of a company that enabled low cost travel for many upon launching. It’s not an exaggeration to say it opened the world for me when it begun and offered £1 fares around 2003-2004.
At the time it was cheaper then National Express by some margin and forced the established player to reduce fares.
In recent years Flixbus have also expanded within the UK putting pressure on Megabus as a corded three-players market seemed like overkill.
Overseas operation
I used the company many, many times to visit various areas and cities across the UK particularly for their first decade in operation. They also expanded into Europe and it was great for getting around a number of countries.
If I recall correctly long distance routes to Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam used to run and I took a couple around 15 years ago.
By the 2010s I was using them in America for a few dollars.
In recent years many overseas routes were dropped while the network in the UK was cut back.
Megabus Managing Director Simone Walsh said: “This has been an extremely difficult decision. However, unfortunately it is not sustainable for us to continue operating our current network as the customer demand is simply too low. So, we are making these changes to ensure that we have a more efficient network going forward.”
“Megabus will continue to operate its long-standing cross-border services, which also provide connections within England and Wales. And our Falcon services between Plymouth and Bristol are continuing to run as normal, as well as all our services across Scotland.”
“We want to thank the many passengers who travel with us every day and will ensure that we continue to operate an affordable and high-quality service on the parts of the network that are unaffected by these changes. And we will work hard to ensure that customers who have booked services that are being discontinued are looked after and offered an alternative option” added Walsh.
So sad to hear about Megabus reducing its routes. I have been to London Victoria Coach Station and it’s such a fabulous coach station in Central London. I hope that Megabus can keep some of its routes.
Shame Megabus is going to cease services across Uk . I used megabus on some occasions not bad service. Hope they keep up good work and service in Scotland with Scottish Citylink. I remember when Megabus start operating in 2004 particularly Bristol to London I went right off them they put me off in using since the were using old clapped out tri axle Leyland Olympian Alexander bodied buses. I didn’t start using Megabus service until they started to use proper coaches on service. Otherwise I was using their other competitor services our local Weston Super Mare based Bakers Dolphin London Flyer services or National Express. But now there are other competitors like National Express and flixbus. Anyway good luck Megabus with your other services within Scotland and cross boardes with Scottish city link coach services. I use the Megabus Southwest Falcon service between Bristol and Exeter when I visit my friend in Exeter. Also Southwest Falcon could do with brand new coaches. Maybe more PLAXTON bodied coaches.
So sad to hear this. Megabus should continue on operating coach services to and from London Victoria Coach station. Very sad.