tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post6757902219289711499..comments2024-03-25T22:17:35.616+00:00Comments on Public Transport Experience: Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : part 3fatbusblokehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-43159308854031186512014-03-28T21:02:11.680+00:002014-03-28T21:02:11.680+00:00The option of a service direct from Plymouth, and ...The option of a service direct from Plymouth, and other points across Devon and Cornwall, to Exeter Airport does have potential. Although the FlyBe services from Exeter have been rationalized in recent years. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-44536005900932605152014-03-26T16:37:06.099+00:002014-03-26T16:37:06.099+00:00This has the makings of a good idea but will need ...This has the makings of a good idea but will need time to bed in. The fact that the services now call at Exeter International Airport suggests that they may last beyond the re-opening of the railway at Dawlish. However, how to people find out about the services? I've not seen anything advertised around Exeter but it would seem that Exeter is not the target market. I think that the whole thing may suffer because SWT is not seen as the natural route to the west country. People would expect to use FGW. There is nothing on the SWT website about Megabusplus. The Megabus website has a set of 5 scrolling banner headlines, one of which relates to MegabusPlus in the south west. Clicking on it brings up the Megabusplus page with details of services to East Midlands Parkway. After some more playing about, I found that by using the journey planner to start from the outer end of each route for a journey to London a rudimentary timetable was produced showing intermediate timings. I know that bus timetable geeks like fbb and me perhaps want more info than the average passenger but I do feel that megabus succeeds despite its website, not because of it. I cannot see what is wrong with with offering details of where Megabus runs (and when) in a concise tabular form to give prospective customers an overview of what is available. They may even see journey possibilities they had not thought of. <br /><br />It's a shame it's all so difficult to use as the concept of dedicated coaches linking with trains is a good one and it may be all we will have in the south west one day as it is unlikely money will be found to either completely rebuild the coastal railway when it is eventually totally destroyed by the sea or build an inland alternative. However, Tiverton Parkway would be a better interchange point than Honiton.<br /><br /> Padbusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-3476611965145997222014-03-26T09:22:55.514+00:002014-03-26T09:22:55.514+00:00Free services don't have to be registered (and...Free services don't have to be registered (and haven't in the decade I have worked as a scheduler in the industry) as the definition of a local bus service is that passengers travel at separate fares and a free service doesn't have fares. The other major requirement is that passengers can board an alight at stops less than 15 miles apart, by not allowing local travel and not selling tickets from Honiton for travel on the coach then passengers are not able to travel between stops less than 15 miles apart so it does not have to be registered, that one is a little less clear but I presume Stagecoach know what they are doing and have got correct guidance on what counts as what.dwarfer1979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-6709423640829742562014-03-26T08:59:34.691+00:002014-03-26T08:59:34.691+00:00I am uneasy with your reply Anonymous. I was taugh...I am uneasy with your reply Anonymous. I was taught that ANY service below the designated distance between stops, even a free service, required a local service registration. But that was at about the same time the wheel was invented; I defer to your more recent knowledge.fatbusblokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-69465763424532433702014-03-26T08:35:05.503+00:002014-03-26T08:35:05.503+00:00If they do not sell separate fares on the bus, the...If they do not sell separate fares on the bus, there is no need to register it at all, distance regardless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-46028434625875240912014-03-26T08:07:43.273+00:002014-03-26T08:07:43.273+00:00A reasonable opinion Greenline. But my beef is not...A reasonable opinion Greenline. But my beef is not that there is no <b>printed</b> timetable but that there is <b>NO</b> timetable <b>at all</b> anywhere. I would have liked a ride to Bude but I still "officially" have no idea when I can go, when I can come back or IF I can go from Honiton at all. The total lack of "proper" Megabus branded vehicles, the lack of even a stick-on label on all but one of the observed vehicles, suggests that the fbb cynicism is well founded! The whole thing is an amateurish, half-hearted effort and does no credit to the Stagecoach or Megabus brands.fatbusblokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-64610275882748992572014-03-26T08:00:30.928+00:002014-03-26T08:00:30.928+00:00The original megabusplus from East Midlands Parkwa...The original megabusplus from East Midlands Parkway does still exist but has never served Lincoln. It goes to the likes of Hull, Bradford and York. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-85435763357617310642014-03-26T07:19:04.374+00:002014-03-26T07:19:04.374+00:00Cynical? Vous? Oui!! (CSE Grade 4 French fro...Cynical? Vous? Oui!! (CSE Grade 4 French from 1973!)<br /><br />Still a tad harsh, fbb. Uncle Brian has said on numerous occasions that he is keen for subsidiaries to trial new ideas, and even if they fall flat, he'll still bankroll them (provided the concept is sound).<br /><br />The whole concept of MegaBusTrain in this case is extending your journey by coach where the train doesn't go. Nothing wrong with the concept, and I really don't think that a printed timetable would have saved the network at all. If it had been possible to include MegaBusTrain on the National Rail website, then perhaps prospective passengers would have been able to find more details. As it is, a passenger looking for London-Bude (for example) will be directed to rail London-Exeter and then X9 (or whatever it is this week). London-Cornwall? Same - Exeter by train; Plymouth by coach and continue by train.<br /><br />A worthy experiment, but probably doomed to failure.<br />(out of interest, does the London-Lincoln offering still exist? {Connections at East Midland Parkway between bus and train}. It appears it may not, so another idea has bitten the dust). Still, nothing ventured . . . . . . !greenline727noreply@blogger.com