National Express! Manchester! Give me advice

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I want to go to Manchester (well, Bury actually) to see a football match on a Saturday. I don't fancy driving up and back (from London) in a day, the trains are ludicrously overpriced (at least £60), the cheapest plane would be nearly £80, so I'm considering going by National Express coach, which would only cost about £20 or about a tenner if I can get a 'fun fare' (whatever that is).

There's a coach that leaves London at 8.30am and is supposed to get to Manchester at 1.15pm. The coach back would leave Manchester at 6.00pm. It takes just under an hour to get from central Manchester to Gigg Lane in Bury, so I'd be cutting it very fine: if the coach is delayed on the way up I might miss the start of the match, and if the tram is delayed on the way back I might miss my coach home.

A number of questions occur to me:
-how reliable are the coaches? the journey up is supposed to take 4 hours and 45 minutes, but they have the same timetable every day - could it actually take less time on a Saturday?
-how comfortable are the coaches? the only time I travelled this way before (more than a decade ago) I spent many miserable hours between York and London squashed next to a sizeable man with body odour, my only respite being the occasional visit to a disgusting chemical toilet.
-would this be the act of a mentalist? is it really worth it?

― Teh HoBBler (the pirate king), Saturday, 1 April 2006 09:34 (nineteen years ago)

you will miss the coach back

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 1 April 2006 09:41 (nineteen years ago)

The coaches are very reliable, the timetables are usually pretty accurate in my experience, the only thing that fucks w/them is road works/road accidents w/associated 16-mile tailbacks, and even this often fucks with it less than you'd think.

I always found the seats reasonably comfortable, though I wised up pretty quickly that a/ one of those inflatable neck cushions is worth its weight in gold, and b/WINDOW SEAT ONLY.

There isn't much you can do abt smelly people, unfortunately. Except hope they don't sit too near to you.

That said 4.45 is about as long as I'd want to put up with it for. I did Newcastle-London last year when I came down to see VdGG, and it was an unbelievably miserable experience.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

So basically, it's worth it if it's much cheaper than alternative methods.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

Also, if you get your tickets from megabus.com you can get it for £12.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

It is much cheaper.

you will miss the coach back

This is a possibility. I'm thinking 15-minute walk to Bury metrolink, maybe a 5-minute wait for a tram, 25 minutes on the tram into town and then a mad dash to the coach station. It should be alright, but I might have to break the habit of a lifetime and sneak out the game with five minutes left.

The megabus leaves at 5.45 instead - I would definitely miss that.

― Teh HoBBler (the pirate king), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:18 (nineteen years ago)

why dont you stay at friends in mcr?

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:28 (nineteen years ago)

http://mychemicalromanceweb.yaia.com/mychemicalromanceindex.jpg

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:32 (nineteen years ago)

That's what I normally do, but can't this time, hence my quest. (xpost)

― Teh HoBBler (the pirate king), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:33 (nineteen years ago)

Which weekend are you going up? Is it the last one of the season? I might be able to help.

You could also get the 135 down to Whitefield station, which cuts out the 15 mins to the Metrolink, then the roundabout trip via Radcliffe. It could help.

― Dave B (daveb), Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:51 (nineteen years ago)

I was thinking Sat 22 April, which I think is the final home game.

― Teh HoBBler (the pirate king), Saturday, 1 April 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

After a lot of thought I've just spent £57 on a train ticket. Now I'll only spend 6 hours travelling instead of about 9, I'll get to Manchester in plenty of time for the match, and I won't have to run away before the end of the game and miss any end-of-season-celebrations. But it's vital I get out of Manchester before the end of the Chelsea-Liverpool cup semi-final at Old Trafford.

― Teh HoBBler (the pirate king), Monday, 3 April 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

£9 for a national express ticket from london to leeds on a friday evening

i did get a one way train ticket for this journey for £6 once, but i booked quite far in advance

― 696, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 12:44 (eighteen years ago)

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