[email protected].
Member
- Joined
- 23 Dec 2008
- Messages
- 332
Were or when can you find the new routes Trent/Flixbus?
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Flixbus Discussion
- Thread starter darloscott
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
markymark2000
Established Member
No information on that yet. Routes start in spring next year so maybe from around March time we will start to see. Nottingham and Derby are likely candidates though.
You won't find anything later Monday to Wednesday.
Martin1988
Member
- Joined
- 17 Jul 2012
- Messages
- 906
I caught a Flixbus back from Birmingham to Bristol on Saturday evening after spending the day volunteering at a community meal.
Was booked on the 070 back at 1745 but was in plenty of time to catch the earlier 078 service. After over an hour's delay in the coach arriving due to heavy xmas market traffic in Birmingham City Centre, the driver spoke to me in a really angry and intimidating tone, refused to carry me and told me I'd have to wait until the 1745 turned up. During the subsequent wait I encountered a couple of London passengers who were also refused travel on an earlier coach (from Prospect I think). I took the opportunity to enquire with the driver and was told passengers aren't allowed on earlier services for insurance reasons.
As things stand that is the first time I've encountered this issue with Flixbus. Earlier in the year a pair of McGills drivers on the now withdrawn 080 service permitted me to travel back to Bristol on their coach despite my ticket being for the later 070 service and a few months ago when the 078 got heavily delayed due to a breakdown and arrived in Birmingham at almost the same time as the 070 was meant to, me and a number of other 070 passengers were permitted to travel on the 078.
When the 070 did turn up I did manage to get a front seat despite the fact I'd not actually booked one. The driver didn't try to move me and no other passenger had any objections.
Does anyone know what the official rule is regarding travel on an earlier service? Is there more or less flexibility than with NX or Megabus or about the same?
Was booked on the 070 back at 1745 but was in plenty of time to catch the earlier 078 service. After over an hour's delay in the coach arriving due to heavy xmas market traffic in Birmingham City Centre, the driver spoke to me in a really angry and intimidating tone, refused to carry me and told me I'd have to wait until the 1745 turned up. During the subsequent wait I encountered a couple of London passengers who were also refused travel on an earlier coach (from Prospect I think). I took the opportunity to enquire with the driver and was told passengers aren't allowed on earlier services for insurance reasons.
As things stand that is the first time I've encountered this issue with Flixbus. Earlier in the year a pair of McGills drivers on the now withdrawn 080 service permitted me to travel back to Bristol on their coach despite my ticket being for the later 070 service and a few months ago when the 078 got heavily delayed due to a breakdown and arrived in Birmingham at almost the same time as the 070 was meant to, me and a number of other 070 passengers were permitted to travel on the 078.
When the 070 did turn up I did manage to get a front seat despite the fact I'd not actually booked one. The driver didn't try to move me and no other passenger had any objections.
Does anyone know what the official rule is regarding travel on an earlier service? Is there more or less flexibility than with NX or Megabus or about the same?
markymark2000
Established Member
Tickets are only for the single journey that you booked them for. Flix as a whole are notoriously difficult to get journeys amended or have ticket acceptance.
I have heard of the insurance issue from drivers before and indeed the same was said on HTL local buses in Liverpool. They had a poster saying if your ticket isnt valid for that bus, you aren't insured. I presume Coaches are the same.
The insurance thing is a common myth of drivers. You can have 100 people on a bus running out of service and your still insured. They can't pick and choose when to insure passengers or not.
markymark2000
Established Member
Oh ok. I wasn't aware of that. Thank you.
derbybusdepot
Member
- Joined
- 17 Dec 2015
- Messages
- 206
Or it's just an easier way of refusing people travel. Obviously if services are busy, and people are on the wrong coaches it can cause unnecessary issues/overloading. If it's allowed once, then it becomes expected all the time, and that's before you get into potential lost revenue if there is usually a fee to amend the ticket.
Best way of dealing with hay is to simply tell them the truth that the bus is fully booked. Happens often enough with Citylink but the loading chart will tell you if you have space, same goes for a walk up purchase.
londonteacher
Member
Easy to amend online and usually without charge (unless the ticket is more expensive). I have done so many times for my journeys to the continent when I need to change dates.
Sounds as if this myth should be quashed in one of the driver CPC modules.
markymark2000
Established Member
Amending in advance may be easy but amending due to disruption, almost impossible. In this instance, I doubt you'd be able to amend to the 070 trip because it should have departed already. I'm sure the booking engine doesn't take late running into account and so if you went to amend, it wouldnt give you the option as the booking engine would say the bus had already departed.
Many myths should be quashed at CPCs. Sadly those running the courses often fuel these myths rather than quash them!
NEW NEWS
While not officially announced, news has hit the Flixbus UK community (with confirmation from proper sources) that Watts Coaches, former Megabus operator, are due to join Flixbus in mid December. I can't confirm for 100% which trips Watts will be running but looking at the services between 12th December and 5th January, those seem like likely candidates.
SERVICE CHANGES
From Mon 2nd December: 090 Edinburgh - Glasgow, most buses will no longer serve Livingston. Livingston will only be served roughly every 2 hours. All other trips retimed as a result. There remains a half hourly service between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Also changes between 16th December and 5th/6th Jan:
080 Edinburgh - Liverpool temporarily withdrawn
NX10 Glasgow - Edinburgh - London will be increased to run daily and be duped.
N11 - Aberdeen - London gains a dupe bus between Edinburgh and London.
Various other uplifts are happening Christmas week too with more trips on the 002/N02 and 071. Not sure if anything else is happening, this is all I can see for now.
NEW TRIPS
These are bookable from now, until 5th January:
005: 06:00 Leicester - London, 10:30 London - Leicester, 14:30 Leicester - London, 18:30 London - Leicester
These are bookable 12th December until 5th January:
041 bus 1: 05:55 Bristol - London, 10:30 London - Bristol, 15:35 Bristol - London, 20:00 London - Bristol
041 bus 2: 07:00 Bristol - London, 11:30 London - Bristol, 18:05 Bristol - London, 22:20 London - Bristol
042: 07:10 Cardiff - London, 12:30 London - Cardiff, 17:30 Cardiff - London (direct), 22:30 London - Cardiff (direct).
045 bus 1: 06:35 Bristol - London, 11:00 London - Plymouth, 18:30 Plymouth - Bristol
045 bus 2: 06:55 Bristol - Plymouth, 11:30 Plymouth - London, 19:00 London - Bristol.
071: 08:55 Bristol - Manchester, 15:10 Manchester - Bristol.
078: 05:45 Cardiff - Newcastle, rest overnight, 06:50 Newcastle - Cardiff (2 buses of course with 1 northbound each day, 1 southbound. Just showing overnight so people can see the duty)
I'm not sure if these will finish on 5th January or whether these will run longer but Flix just haven't put them in the system yet. Operator is unknown for all of these additional trips.
Last edited:
AndrewTaylor95
Member
Any news on the festive service levels on the Scottish routes?
voidwxrranty
Member
confirming Christmas Day/New Years Day services shortly. cross border will be normal, but Scottish services will be limited.
I have noticed the 090 service uses Edinburgh Bus Station which is far more convenient than Regents Road. The 090 services looked like they had a decent loadings on a busy Saturday. Flixbus certainly increase the fares close to departure.
I do plan on using the N10X from Glasgow to London to some point, service seems to sell out.
I do plan on using the N10X from Glasgow to London to some point, service seems to sell out.
That 08:55 Bristol Manchester is perfect!
AndrewTaylor95
Member
Only journeys between 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock serve the bus station the rest are Regent Road
That has to be a typo surely? If not are they having a laugh?
What if that is the price of the last ticket?
Trainman40083
Established Member
I guess there are no trains, and the drivers will be being paid a premium to work over Christmas.
Robertj21a
On Moderation
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2013
- Messages
- 7,665
Few alternatives available and Flix will have limited vehicles and staff.
voidwxrranty
Member
Yes. Christmas is usually “double time” for driver pay. aka double pay.
markymark2000
Established Member
To be fair, that is the NX10 which only serves Glasgow, Edinburgh and London and so relies solely on these stops for passengers. The cost of the service relies solely on the end to end passengers and so if that cost is higher due to pay. The NX10 bus also means drivers are sleeping in the day in a hotel to then drive back north the following night (ie Christmas Eve south forms Christmas Day North) and so you are paying for drivers to be at work from basically Christmas Eve night until Boxing Day. That's a lot of cost.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
The 090 is running on Christmas Day & New Year's Day which is a bonus, Would imagine they'll get some NEC bookings since Citylink are somehow still not letting you use them, Ember and Flixbus leading the way in that respect.
voidwxrranty
Member
Citylink never have and i assume they will never.
it’s annoying that Edinburgh have local services on Christmas and Hogmanay, but Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland doesn’t.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
2009 was the last time First ran any buses on those days, First are running the 500 to Glasgow Airport on New Year's Day, first time since 2020, Lothian run a brilliant service on Christmas Day by the looks of things buses from early morning right up until Midnight and New Year's Day is almost like a normal day in Edinburgh transport wise with the trams running then too, Thank goodness for Flixbus and Ember taking the NECs on those days. McGill's are running thier night services on Hogmanay again this yeat which is pretty good
voidwxrranty
Member
annoying though. and the 500 ran New Year 2024 as well.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
No it didn't, It's never ran on New Year's Day since 1st January 2020, previously ran on a 20 minute frequency during the day service, It's half hourly and starts at 9 o'clock in the morning and finishes the back of 9 at night, previously it ran till midnight in 2020