# Taking the National Express....



## Brandane (27 Apr 2011)

I am planning to do the Way of the Roses next week. Due to the forecast of a strong breeze from the east to west, that is my chosen direction! So; how to get to Bridlington from the west of Scotland?

Train fare is just stupid. £105 SINGLE! Yet a single going from Morecambe to home can be had for £22! I tried different combinations, like a return to Lancaster and then a single to Bridlington. The Lancaster to Bridlington leg is £54. What is it with BRIDLINGTON ??

I then thought about going by coach. National Express can get me to Scarborough for about £45. The major problem is their official line on the carriage of bicycles. According to the website, they only take folders.....



> _*Can I take my bicycle?*_
> 
> _You can take your bicycle on your National Express journey, as long as it is designed to fold in half by means of a special link in the main frame and is carried in a proper protective carrying case._
> 
> ...



Has anyone tried taking a normal bike onto a National express coach? I am guessing that it would probably depend very much on the discretion of the driver and the space available. Wouldn't like to risk it all the same.

The other option is to throw the bike into the car and head to Bridlington. Which obviously involves finding safe parking for 3 days or so; and a single rail ticket from Morecambe back to Bridlington comes in at £54 . It's only 200 miles FFS!


----------



## Bodhbh (27 Apr 2011)

Brandane said:


> Has anyone tried taking a normal bike onto a National express coach? I am guessing that it would probably depend very much on the discretion of the driver and the space available. Wouldn't like to risk it all the same.



I've tried it once and got the bike on once ("well, it's your fault if it gets damaged"), but I'm not sure I'd rely on it.

If the costs are silly on a particular train journey I generally check other stations on different lines within striking distance on the bike. Without looking at the map/trainlines...would it save you alot cycling up from Hull or down from Middlesbrough for example?


----------



## delport (27 Apr 2011)

You may have left it a bit late for rock bottom fares, you can do hundreds of miles for under £15 on the train booked 3 or 4 weeks in advance.london to edinburgh cost me £14 for example, that was taking the bike too.
Have you looked for things like Glasgow to Manchester or Leeds?
Glasgow to Manchester used to be only £1- on the train, but megatrain has stopped that service i think.
I tried for national express at Dover and was told folding bikes only.

Check the trainline website and look for the cheapest possible fare to any big city even within 50 miles of the area you want to go to, some cheap fares can still be found only 1 to 3 days before travel.

An example, i was coming back from Penzance to Portsmouth last year, turned up at a railway station somewhere in Cornwall only 1 day before i was due to leave from penzance.
And after a lot of checking, the assistant found me a fare for £30+ for the whole journey, that is fairly cheap for a late booking, and for a journey of over 200 miles.

I think i would have had to change trains twice for that fare, but many people have to change train once doing that same journey anyway.
Penzance then change at Plymouth is fairly common.


----------



## Brandane (27 Apr 2011)

delport said:


> Check the trainline website and look for the cheapest possible fare to any big city even within 50 miles of the area



Problem with booking far in advance as we know all too well in this country, is the unpredictable weather!

I tried trainline.com, and they were the same price as Scotrail at £105.

Problem now solved however . After some more searching, I have booked on east coast trains website. Largs to Bridlington £46 single. As an added bonus, they are the only train company I know that let you book a bike space on-line.

So I now need to get away from this computer and get out there for some training! Roll on next Tuesday, and please weather; stay nice!


----------



## lowrider73 (27 Apr 2011)

Brandane said:


> I am planning to do the Way of the Roses next week. Due to the forecast of a strong breeze from the east to west,



I'm doing the C2C the week after, but still on course from St. Bees to Whitby, despite the east winds. However, it looks like keeping dry and average temps for May, that will do me, not bothered by winds.


----------



## andym (27 Apr 2011)

Brandane said:


> I then thought about going by coach. National Express can get me to Scarborough for about £45. The major problem is their official line on the carriage of bicycles. According to the website, they only take folders.....
> 
> [...]
> 
> Has anyone tried taking a normal bike onto a National express coach? I am guessing that it would probably depend very much on the discretion of the driver and the space available. Wouldn't like to risk it all the same.



I know this probably doesn't help any, but their Spanish subsidiary (ALSA) does allow you to take bikes so long as they are in a bag. I don't know why the UK has decided to be more restrictive. If you're in the CTC you could try getting them to raise the issue.


----------



## bigjim (27 Apr 2011)

I,d be tempted to take the car. you have the bike so just choose a decent area like a nice housing estate etc near to Brid and park it up. I've done it often but I don,t have a flash car to worry about. 3 days is nothing, I,ve left mine for over a week. Plus I,ve got back to it knackered before now and its a comfy,dry,warm, private place to have a kip and a brew.


----------



## ttony002 (30 Apr 2011)

Hi there
If its not to late this may help.
I am planning west to east tour and this is what i found. http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach_ims/pdf/NXConditionsofCarriage2011.pdf section 7:1 Luggage.
The last but one paragraph is interesting .
Hope it helps all the best tony...


----------



## andym (30 Apr 2011)

... combine that with paragraph 7.2 which includes in the list of prohibited items 

"bicycles which are not folded, or dismantled and wrapped"

and their policy actually seems to be that they will carry bikes but reserve the right to refuse.


----------



## Brandane (30 Apr 2011)

andym said:


> ... combine that with paragraph 7.2 which includes in the list of prohibited items
> 
> "bicycles which are not folded, or dismantled and wrapped"
> 
> and their policy actually seems to be that they will carry bikes but reserve the right to refuse.



That reads as if they WILL take normal bikes then, as long as they are dismantled and wrapped. Which contradicts the paragraph I read which I quoted in the original post ......



> _You can take your bicycle on your National Express journey, as long as it is designed to fold in half by means of a special link in the main frame and is carried in a proper protective carrying case._



I read that to mean that they only carry folders AND it has to in a proper protective carrying case.

Thanks for the replies. I will be travelling by train now anyway. East Coast trains to Bridlington via Doncaster; then Virgin trains up the west coast on the way home. Please stay dry for another week and don't let the wind change direction!!


----------



## andym (30 Apr 2011)

Brandane said:


> That reads as if they WILL take normal bikes then, as long as they are dismantled and wrapped. Which contradicts the paragraph I read which I quoted in the original post ......



Or at least it's a "definite maybe".

I'm not a lawyer but I've had a lot of dealings with lawyers in my previous life. I think a lawyer might say that it means that they won't automatically refuse to carry them ... but not that they definitely will ...

And people think travelling by train is complicated!


----------



## Lyn (3 May 2011)

Hi guys

When I contacted them they said the official line was no but that some drivers would take them (bagged or otherwise), so I'd probably not bet my house on it.

If it's of interest, I have a few posts on buses on my website. They relate to visiting/riding in France but are still relevant to the UK because of the National Express/Eurolines tie-up.
http://www.freewheel...-to-france.html

More relevant even would be this blog highlighting the new campaign to encourage bus use in the UK - though I've still not had any response about whether it will mean more sympathetic bike carriage policies to allow cyclists to use bus networks.
http://www.freewheel...buses-blog.html

Cheers
Lyn


----------



## soltour (8 May 2011)

A couple of years ago I had occasion to fly my bike into heathrow from the easter block. However, I had to get to Gatwick to catch another flight home but inadvertently they had broken the axle on my wheel. I tried to get a my bicycle, which was unrideable, onto the National Express...tried two or three of them but I got the impression the drivers just couldnt be assed...anyway got a taxi to Gatwick instead and got the money back from British Airways.....lucky for me...............wont be doing that again.


----------



## ttony002 (4 Jun 2011)

Have just used National Express to take me , the bike and luggage from Norwich ish to St David's and then cycle home.
This is how it went. Got a box from LBS partly dismantled bike and packed it away couple of days before departure.
Booked tickets for Thursday 26 may, on line about two weeks early for better prices ,Norwich to London £4.50 (fun fair)
,London to Swansea £12.00 plus extra £1.00 priority booking ( so i could get bike in hold first ), Swansea to Haverfordwest £9.00 .
Having looked on here and National Express site info, thought it would be a good idea to pay extra £10 single multi leg journey for bike .
Could not find any way of doing this on line so called the National Express help line next day and was told that excess luggage should be paid for at time of booking on line. So if i wanted to do this i would have to cancel original booking and all together.This would mean paying extra charges
or as the bus i was catching was not an airport service there should be space in the hold and i could pay the driver when i boarded .
On the day due to breakdown coach was half hour late ( consider this if connections involved ) Driver a little stressed firstly said i could not put bike in hold because there was no room when i said i was prepared to pay he said OK and would write me a ticket. Once paid we're on the way.
Arrived at London Victoria driver said i could stay on bus because he would be going through to departure as soon as everyone else had got of save me struggling with big bag and even bigger bike in box. Drove through helped me unload showed me where to go relay helpful. Thank you. Luckily coach to Swansea then Haverfordwest was also half hour late due to Chelsea flower show. New driver came to ask if any priority ticket holders showed him tickets for me and excess, then we loaded in hold, boarded coach no problems.
Change of Drivers at Swansea . Arrived at Haverfordwest station last of coach asked driver where to catch local bus to St Davids, not only did he tell me he helped with luggage to the correct bus stop .Thank you again. Local bus ( Richards brothers ) They had no problems with large box put it where prams etc go £3.60 to St Davids . All in all a great start. Hope this is of help.
P.S The ride home was pretty good too.


----------

