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Go north for £1 ... Stagecoach offers cheap new fares by rail then coach
Evening Standard26 Mar 2009
A NEW combined rail and coach service connecting London and the North with fares as low as £1 was unveiled today.
Transport giant Stagecoach will begin operations this Monday between St Pancras and nine northern destinations.
Brian Souter, Stagecoach chief executive, said a single ticket for a 200-mile trip could now be bought "for the price of a loaf of bread".
Passengers will travel by train from London to East Midlands Parkway station and then transfer to a 49-seater coach for the remainder of the trip. Fares will be up to a maximum £20, a fraction of the price of a normal train ticket.
Exactly how much it will cost depends on how early the booking is made on-line - there is a 50p fee - and availability. Advance bookings will be charged only a few pounds but late bookings will cost the maximum.
The nine destinations are Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Hull, Castleford, Harrogate, York, Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield.
The catch is that most journeys by rail and road will take much longer and passengers cannot break their trip by getting off at an intermediate station before the booked final destination. If they do that they will be charged a £20 penalty and the price of a full standard rail ticket. There are no half or reduced fares for children and there will be 300 seats available from St Pancras each day. The coach section of the trip will take up to three hours 15 minutes and passengers will have to bring their own food and drink. There are lavatories on board. A normal single rail ticket to Doncaster, purchased three weeks in advance, costs £16 or bought on the day £70.80. To York, a ticket purchased three weeks in advance would cost £33 or on the day £83. The journey time to Doncaster is about one hour 50 minutes, with York two hours. By Megabusplus, journey times are two hours 55 minutes and four hours 45 minutes respectively.
Stagecoach, which runs South West Trains serving Waterloo, said the cost-cutting deal was to help "hard-pressed consumers beat the credit crunch".
The lowest fare is £1 plus the 50p booking fee. All bookings are through megabusplus.com. To promote the service, all tickets in the first week will cost £1.50.
Mr Souter, said: "Megabusplus is a real boost for people looking to travel between London and the North.
"You can get on a comfortable coach, transfer easily to a high-speed train and make the 200-mile trip to London in just three-and-a-half hours for the price of a loaf of bread."
He said the new service was even more appropriate because BMI is axing the last direct flights between Leeds-Bradford airport and Heathrow from this weekend.The train journey time between St Pancras and East Midlands Parkway is one hour 30 minutes.
Reader views (11)
sounds good is there a booking phone number?
- David Proctor, southend on sea, 03/04/2009 16:43
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Good value !
We are all going WEST for much more are we not Mr Brown ?
- Bernard Parke, GUILDFORD, 26/03/2009 22:51
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Ben, who in their right mind would want to go to London anyway.
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK, 26/03/2009 16:53
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It sounds alright until you read the small print but lowering fares on trains to and from anywhere will attract customers while keeping them high will result in liquidation as we have seen during the past few months.
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK, 26/03/2009 16:51
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So it takes three and half hours? Look out of the window or read a book. If there's no rush, why not? And given check in times and all the security related faffing about at airports, flying is probably no quicker.
- Paul, London, 26/03/2009 14:59
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"Sounds like a nightmare journey to a variety of northern hell holes."
Must be a typo - I thought for a moment the author of those comments was from Enfield.
- Mike, Blackheath, 26/03/2009 14:36
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I'd be delighted to purchase a ticket for a Mr G.Brown, Esquire. One way, that is.
- Marianne, SW France, 26/03/2009 14:35
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Sounds like a nightmare journey to a variety of northern hell holes. Wouldn't want to go if I had the entire coach to myself!
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 26/03/2009 14:01
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Just where is East Midlands Parkway is it in fact Luton Parkway?
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England, 26/03/2009 13:08
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Ben, what a childish comment. As for the new service, it offers an alternative, so why not?
- Nick, Woking, UK, 26/03/2009 12:31
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I wouldn't go to Scunthorpe if you gave me a pound. So why would I pay a pound to get there. I'd rather stay in London and 'spash out' on that loaf of bread Brian mentioned.
- Ben, W1, London, 26/03/2009 10:34
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