The Modern Age of Coach Travel. BBC documentary.

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Available on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) iPlayer until 10pm, 19th Jan 2011:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xf6xk/Time_Shift_Series_10_The_Modern_Age_of_Coach_Travel/

Documentary which brings the story of the coach up to date, as it explores the most recent phase of Britain's love affair with group travel on four wheels - from school trips and football awaydays to touring with bands and 'magic bus' overland treks to India.

The establishment of the National Coach Company may have standardised the livery and the experience of mainstream coach travel in the 1970s, but a multitude of alternative offerings meant the coach retained its hold on the public imagination, with even striking miners and New Age travellers getting in on a very British act.

A fascinating documentary on the genesis of scheduled long distance coach travel in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). The documentary also covers the deregulation of scheduled coach services under the 80's Tory government, and National Express's rise to dominance in the marketplace. With comparisons to the rail alternative and interesting asides to the current state of affairs with Stagecoach's Megabus and First Group's Greyhound products.

Well worth a watch..... reluctant to admit it, but a train isn't always the only option. 

And for the best song ever written about coach travel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3NVPOedkEk

Ignore the rather arty video and instead listen to the lyrics:

On the National Express, there's a jolly hostess selling crisps and tea.
She'll provide you with drinks, and theatrical links for a sky high fee.
Mini-skirts were in style when she danced down the aisle back in '63.
But it's hard to get by when her arse is the size of a small country.

^Music and lyrics, Neil Hannon.

[inspector_blakey]

Except in certain very specific circumstances (e.g. Oxford to Heathrow, X70 service runs every 30 mins straight to T5, takes less than an hour and used to stop at the end of my road when I lived in Headington!) coaches are very much an option of absolute last resort for me anyway.

Bit of an aside, but would anyone care to guess how much NEx bilked me for a single journey, Heathrow T5 to Marlborough Street bus station in Bristol on 26 Dec when there were no trains running...?!

[thetrout]

National Express Charged me ^7 to do London Victoria - Penzance overnight a few months back...

Booked the day before travel. Coach was quite well loaded towards Exeter and Plymouth. But by the time we got to Penzance I was the only one onboard But there was a distinct lack of available catering

Whilst yes I can't grumble that I only paid ^7 for my journey of 10.5 hours and did have a ^5 ticket to go back again to London, so I could fly to Spain... The thought of not getting much sleep and then having to endure the delights of a 3 hour flight with Ryanair was not too appealling, So I opted for the Sleeper Train instead, which was a very good idea!!