Megabus / Megatrain Runs Off The Rails

Glasgow by Megatrain for £1. But is it standing room only?

Last time I wrote about my Megatrain journey of discovery. I wondered why Virgin Trains was unloading cheap tickets to the consolidator Megatrain for as little as a pound when the trains were full to bursting. Today I took the return leg of my Glasgow to Birmingham bargain fare. There were plenty of Megabus bargain hunters aboard. I saw the train manager's print-out of reference numbers and she even made an announcement especially for us. Apparently today's train (where I'm typing this - thanks at least for the onboard electrical outlet Mr Branson) has no carriage for customers without a seat reservation. 'Please find a seat where you can' announced the Train Manager. Fortunately I'm one of the first aboard and eventually locate one of the precious few unreserved seats. So is Megabus designed to equal 'standing'? Perhaps that's why the seats, sorry aisles, are so cheap.

To compound matters the train is running 51 minutes late. I know this because I've just asked the train manager to validate my fixed price connecting ticket so that I'm not forced to pay again for my non-flexible Birmingham – London Euston leg. After a 60 minute delay passengers can usually reclaim their fare. It's unlikely even I will bother to submit a claim for £1. As it is we arrive in Birmingham just 22 minutes late – but 2 minutes after my connecting train departed. So I reach London 30 minutes late. I don't think I'll be in any hurry to repeat my Megatrain experience – especially when an advance single airfare from BMI Glasgow to London Heathrow starts from as little as £41. The off-peak standard return rail fare is £101.90. Oh the absurdities of Britain's public transport.

The Train to Glasgow for Just £1

Virgin Trains before departure at London Euston

Yesterday I made my cheapest ever journey from London to Glasgow. Actually my headline tells a lie. It didn't quite cost a pound, but there's nothing straightforward about rail ticket prices in the UK, as I'm about to find out.

A month ago I noticed an offer on Travelzoo co.uk for the Megabus. Confusingly the Megabus also sells tickets for the train. There was an offer to travel by rail from Birmingham to Glasgow for just a pound.

The British train booking system is incomprehensible. A scandal actually. The government wants more travellers to use public transport - but the cost of long distance peak time rail travel is usually outlandishly expensive. Booking a ticket for immediate travel is a mugs game. So booking a 300 mile journey for just £1 was simply too good to miss.

Of course I still had to get from London to Birmingham. I checked thetrainline.co.uk and a single fare booked a month ahead was available for just £10.50. It slightly took the gloss off my £1 fare to Glasgow, but the total was still only £11.50.

When I arrived at London Euston the Virgin Trains 08.46 service direct to Glasgow was due to depart. There are 12 different types of single advance tickets available for this train. The cheapest (The Standard Single Advance) costs £40.50 it arrives 1 hour 39 minutes earlier than going via Birmingham. Turn up on the day and buy a single ticket for this train and it costs £101.90 (single saver).

If you make the mistake of buying a single when you want to come back as well, your mistake will cost dear. A return fare costs just £1 more -£102.90. so if you didn't know this and make the mistake of buying 2 walk up single tickets your return journey will set you back £203.80. No wonder travellers find the train service bewildering and prefer to get in their cars and drive.

So I was slightly nervous my roundabout trip via Birmingham might go wrong and I would be charged a full fare at some point. My tickets were all only applicable for specific times. In fact I didn't even have a ticket for the £1 journey - just a reference number.

The first leg was uneventful. I got a table seat and made use of the handy plug-point provided for laptops. The connecting train was already sitting at the adjacent platform when I arrived on time in Birmingham, so I was able to bag another prime seat. This was the most satisfying leg of the trip - it was the longest ride, yet cost just £1.

As we headed North the train rapidly filled up, until passengers were standing in what the train manager announced to be 'the vestibules'. Left standing for 4 and a half hours on a £101.90 ticket you might feel like you'd been landed one in the vestibules too. Painful. Quite why Virgin had offloaded tickets for a £1 when passengers were standing is a mystery to me - unless we were all enjoying their generosity (which I very much doubt).

The train arrived in Glasgow just 4 minutes behind schedule - not bad for a 438 mile journey via Birmingham - costing a total of just £11.50. But as I've discovered there's nothing straightforward about low cost train travel on Britain's railways.

The journey in numbers:
The tube from West London to Euston cost £2.50 (10 miles = 25p per mile)
The Train from Euston to Birmingham cost £10.50 (116 miles = 9p per mile)
The train from Birmingham to Glasgow cost £1 (290 miles = 0.35p per mile)
The taxi from Glasgow Central station to my meeting cost £5 (2.5 miles = £2 per mile)