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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2009 16:59:01 GMT
I would quite like to see how much extra legroom the removal of 8 seats can create on one of these Scania coaches. It is quite impressive how so many fares are being sold at £1 (+ booking fee) - even in the days of National Express and Megabus initiating their price wars, there were not that many £1 bargains And AFTER all the initial bells and whistles with Greyhound, I doubt if their will be many £1 'bargain' tickets available either!
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Post by DLA 365 on Aug 25, 2009 17:06:49 GMT
I guess I did the sensible thing then and went on their website on the first day to book a couple of trips (one on each route) ;D Every single departure was a quid!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2009 18:29:03 GMT
I would quite like to see how much extra legroom the removal of 8 seats can create on one of these Scania coaches. It is quite impressive how so many fares are being sold at £1 (+ booking fee) - even in the days of National Express and Megabus initiating their price wars, there were not that many £1 bargains And AFTER all the initial bells and whistles with Greyhound, I doubt if their will be many £1 'bargain' tickets available either! A bit like the emails I kept getting from National Express - eg, go to York for only £10, what a bargain until you realise you cant get back for less than about £70.
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Post by DLA 365 on Aug 28, 2009 22:43:24 GMT
Unless you decide to book 3 months in advance and get the quietest journey (which probably just means no standing passengers) ;D
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 12:07:19 GMT
Unless you decide to book 3 months in advance and get the quietest journey (which probably just means no standing passengers) ;D Much of it is just marketing tactics. They advertise heavilly the £1 fare but very few are actualy available. Most of th Nat Express & Megabus services are also very basic with basic buses & facilities, It will be interesting to see how the Greyhound buses get on. They are clearly targeting the upmarket end and not the cheap & chearfull end. I think there could be a good market for quality coach services, far cheaper then rail but dearer the the current basic services. To really work though it neds proper waiting lounges with proper facilities at th main stopping point
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 13:36:08 GMT
Unless you decide to book 3 months in advance and get the quietest journey (which probably just means no standing passengers) ;D Much of it is just marketing tactics. They advertise heavilly the £1 fare but very few are actualy available. Most of th Nat Express & Megabus services are also very basic with basic buses & facilities, It will be interesting to see how the Greyhound buses get on. They are clearly targeting the upmarket end and not the cheap & chearfull end. I think there could be a good market for quality coach services, far cheaper then rail but dearer the the current basic services. To really work though it neds proper waiting lounges with proper facilities at th main stopping point Regardless of the price you actually finish up paying, be it with National Express, Megabus, or the new Greyhound service, the actual vehicle you travel on will be the SAME. So the reference to 'basic' is totally irrelevant to the vehicle used in your arguement!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 10:15:15 GMT
I would quite like to see how much extra legroom the removal of 8 seats can create on one of these Scania coaches. It is quite impressive how so many fares are being sold at £1 (+ booking fee) - even in the days of National Express and Megabus initiating their price wars, there were not that many £1 bargains I know!!!! When they start routes that are more convienient for me, I'll definaltely be using them!... come on Essex routes! (I know its a tall order lol)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 17:12:16 GMT
Much of it is just marketing tactics. They advertise heavilly the £1 fare but very few are actualy available. Most of th Nat Express & Megabus services are also very basic with basic buses & facilities, It will be interesting to see how the Greyhound buses get on. They are clearly targeting the upmarket end and not the cheap & chearfull end. I think there could be a good market for quality coach services, far cheaper then rail but dearer the the current basic services. To really work though it neds proper waiting lounges with proper facilities at th main stopping point Regardless of the price you actually finish up paying, be it with National Express, Megabus, or the new Greyhound service, the actual vehicle you travel on will be the SAME. So the reference to 'basic' is totally irrelevant to the vehicle used in your arguement! The actual vehicles though will not be the same. They are marketing the "Greyhound" brand as well as a quality service. It's not aimed at the cheap & chearfull end of the market. I think they are correct in that there is a gap in the market for quality long distance services. THe price will still be highly competative with the train services and if it can shake of the down market, poor reliability & standards image then it could succeed. If you have ever used some of the Megga bus & NE service you will se how low the standards are. The attire of many of their staff leaves a lot to be desired. When you are providing a service Quality & standards are everything. Just look at hotels. They would not let their staff dress like tramps nor would they tolerate dirty rooms but these things are deemed acceptable by bus companies.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 17:26:18 GMT
Regardless of the price you actually finish up paying, be it with National Express, Megabus, or the new Greyhound service, the actual vehicle you travel on will be the SAME. So the reference to 'basic' is totally irrelevant to the vehicle used in your arguement! The actual vehicles though will not be the same. They are marketing the "Greyhound" brand as well as a quality service. It's not aimed at the cheap & chearfull end of the market. I think they are correct in that there is a gap in the market for quality long distance services. THe price will still be highly competative with the train services and if it can shake of the down market, poor reliability & standards image then it could succeed. If you have ever used some of the Megga bus & NE service you will se how low the standards are. The attire of many of their staff leaves a lot to be desired. When you are providing a service Quality & standards are everything. Just look at hotels. They would not let their staff dress like tramps nor would they tolerate dirty rooms but these things are deemed acceptable by bus companies. Whilst I take your point about improving the perceived QUALITY of the product offered, you would need to be living on another planet to suggest that a company offering fares for a 75 miles journey for (from) £1 plus 50p booking charge are NOT aiming at the cheap and cheerful end of the market! Come on, get real! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 18:51:25 GMT
And exactly how 'good quality' will the coaches be? Volvo B12M/B or Scania K340 bodied by Plaxton, Irizar or Caetano? Oh wait aren't they the exact vehicles used on current NX/Megabus services? ;D
Lether seats and all your little extras are just tinkering at the edge as far as costs are concerned (they don't cost a significant amount compared to the vehicle cost itself - you are only looking at a few percentage points extra). At the end of the day you are just getting a coach service that's still aming at the cheap and cheerful end of the market!
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Post by DLA 365 on Sept 1, 2009 20:45:08 GMT
Agreed with Bighat and NCT - although trying to 'bridge the gap between cheap & cheerful and luxury', the prices indicate otherwise. I didn't book the Greyhound tickets for the perceived quality - just because it was £2.50 return. I suspect most other customers would think the same. However I suspect the fact that there would still be 41 seats means that the seating layout will still be 2+2. With fewer seats, there goes my chance of grabbing two seats to myself
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Post by metrobusfan on Sept 5, 2009 19:11:34 GMT
Shame first cudnt get da rail franchise aswell
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Post by smiler52 on Sept 8, 2009 20:15:06 GMT
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