During I my visit to London in late August I plan to take a bus from the Victoria coach station to Bath to see a play at the Royal Theatre Bath that starts at 2:30 on a Wednesday and on a Saturday. My bus ride selections are: National Express leaving at 7:00 am/arriving at 10:10 am, and leaving at 9:00 am/arriving at 12:00 noon; and Flix Bus departing at 7:00 am/arriving at 10:25 am. Can someone tell me if any of the three options should be avoided because of a crowded bus or because of a lack of on-board toilets or any other factor. Thanks for your advice.
George
Posted by
Surrey, UK
841 posts
You should book tour ticket in advance to guarantee a seat - on National you can also reserve a specific seat.
Both services have a toilet, but Flixbus in particular states it may not always be available.
Posted by
Lake District, England
11368 posts
As a matter of law no intercity bus in the UK can travel with standing passengers, but clearly every company wishes to have every seat full.
Flix Bus charter all their routes out to other operators, and the seat pitch can vary a lot depending on operator.
However you can, for an extra charge, book the seat next to you to be vacant.
National Express also charter out their routes, but with a consistent standard of vehicle (almost always in Nat Ex livery), and always with a toilet. So you know exactly what your seat will be like.
The 0900 is scheduled to be run by Edwards Coaches. They have no vehicles without toilets in their fleet. I've been on a lot of Edwards vehicles, the only thing is that more often than not the WiFi is not operative, but not a big problem on a 3 hour run.
It started that day on an 0350 from Bath to Victoria.
The 0700 is scheduled to be run by Chalfont Coaches- I've never been on one of their vehicles. While it should never ever be put on a NatEx route (especially on a first run of the day) they do apparently have some non toilet equipped vehicles (not in Nat Ex livery).
Posted by
Arctophilia, Northamptonshire, England
36485 posts
or the Paddington / Reading GWR railway train to Bath Spa has toilets in most coaches, disabled access in some. Smooth, no traffic, walk around if you like...
Posted by
Preston UK
1815 posts
And only takes c75 minutes rather than 3 hours plus.
Posted by
London
1193 posts
I agree with those suggesting the train- is there a reason you prefer the bus? The train also has much more frequent departures so you don't have to leave so early. As mentioned above, it's about half the time of the bus.
Posted by
OP
10 posts
Thanks to everyone who has or who will respond to my question. The principle reason for only mentioning bus service at this time is because the place where I will be staying is about four blocks from the Victoria coach station which makes it is easy to take a bus to Bath. Also, depending on what time I will be willing to leave the fare can vary from $20 or less by bus to around $50 or more by train plus fare to Paddington station. Also, I wanted to hear complaints or praise that people who are familiar with these transportation options might have.