A Megabus rival has announced hundreds of new services in time for Christmas following the Nationwide coach company’s announcement that all their England services would be axed
FlixBus has announced it will be adding hundreds of new services across the country as Megabus axes most of its routes.
FlixBus is adding hundreds of new services through the Christmas period including to major cities like London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The announcement comes after Megabus revealed that it will be withdrawing English services as of December 4, due to ‘low passenger demand’ after the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
Leicester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Plymouth will also enjoy extra journeys from FlixBus, with tickets starting from just £4.49.
“Since our launch in the UK three years ago, we’ve transported millions of happy passengers who have shared glowing customer reviews of our service on TrustPilot. Demand has skyrocketed, with more and more people trying coach travel for the first time and coming back to our excellent services. We’re anticipating our highest-ever number of passengers this year as we build the largest coach network in the UK,” said FlixBus UK managing director, Andreas Schorling.
For those looking to travel on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, there will also be services across over 70 destinations.
Christmas travel often faces disruption, including for many train passengers this year as the main line from London St Pancras to Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield, London Paddington into Wales and South West, and Liverpool Street into Cambridge will all shut down for various periods between Christmas Day and into the first week of the New Year.
“By adding hundreds of extra journeys we have made it easy to visit friends and family while avoiding the chaos of train closures and hassle of driving. Simply hop on a FlixBus and enjoy a comfortable journey to your destination this Christmas!” added Schorling.
Megabus, a Nationwide coach operator, has been known for providing services as little as £1, but services failed to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, hundreds of services will be axed.
The few remaining include routes in Scotland, as well as all cross-border services between Scotland, England, and Wales, according to MSN. The routes would still include links between big cities such as Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and London. One route in the south west, between Bristol and Plymouth, will also continue.
According to the official announcement on the Megabus website, all customers impacted by the service changes will be contacted ‘in the near future’ and arrangements are being put in place to ensure customers who have already booked tickets, will be able to find alternative transport or be given a refund.
Megabus managing director, Simone Walsh said: “This has been an extremely difficult decision. However, unfortunately it is not sustainable for us to continue operating our current network as the customer demand is simply too low. So, we are making these changes to ensure that we have a more efficient network going forward.”
