[Closed] National Express coaches policy on taking bikes. Anyone know the score?

The wording in bold seems to indicate that you can take a Brompton or similar so long as it is boxed.

Seems a very strange policy.

I would imaging this is to stop your bike damaging other luggage. Bikes have lots of sharp pointy bits and oily bits too.

If it's in a bike bag or box its just another big suitcase innit?

Seems like a reasonable policy to me.

Folding bikes don't take up much space, normal sized bike bags/boxes do.
They have a limited amount of space and while a driver may take your bike if he has space etc, they have to have a policy that they can apply and gives them half a chance of getting all the people and their stuff where they are going.

Do they have size limits for suitcases? Only allowing a folding bike would imply there's size restrictions somewhere so the chances of being allowed to take a boxed MTB would seem slim.

For a coach, that seems pretty reasonable to me - their luggage carrying capacity is not massive and full sizes bikes in bags are big whilst bromptons in bags are smaller than most suitcases. Boxed or bagged also seems eminently sensible - they don't want the driver, the hold or other folks luggage getting oily and snagged. I would suggest of all the journeys on a NE coach where you would get a driver to bend the rules a journey to Heathrow is not one of them - pretty much everyone will have luggage so space will be tight even before you turn up.

only allowing a folding bike would imply there's size restrictions somewhere so the chances of being allowed to take a boxed MTB would seem slim.

I don't think there is from memory (only done it once and just turned up with the bike, no box, bag, nothing) but not many people go on coaches with bags as big as a bike.

I've done it once with a road bike, just turned up and the driver put it in the back on it's own as there was plenty of spare space, but did mention it was lucky as if the bus had been full then he couldn't have bent the rules.

Why not get the train?

I've taken a bike on (in) from London to Aviemore and back.
I think the confusion here is that you can only take a folding bike in a bag on the coach (i.e the seated passenger area) but a bike in a bag to go in the luggage hold is fine.
I put my MTB in a CTC plastic bag with the wheels off and it went in the hold along with all the cases.
they seem to get funny with people taking loads of suitcases. Depends on the driver too. They can be quite moody at the terminal in London Victoria.

I think you'll be ok though.

It seems to be down to luck if the coach is bussy or not. If the bike is bagged in a bike bag then you should be ok, but if you are aiming to catch a plane, and there is a risk that the coach may have lots of passengers with bags is it worth the risk?

Why not get the train?

I will get in touch with National Express to confirm the policy.

The wording in bold seems to indicate that you can take a Brompton or similar so long as it is boxed

Or a bigger folder, or a bike retrofitted with those metal screw links that I always forget the name of.

Suitcases are designed to be stacked bikes arent, also damage to others luggage or damage to a bike resulting in a claim for compo would be high if bikes where left loose, there is quite a bit of space in the underfloor lugage lockers, that a bike would take a part of and not allow anythng to be stacked on top, also no way of tieing the bike down to stop it sliding around

those metal screw links that I always forget the name of.

S&S Couplers.

Rather archaic policy though. Strange how you can run a bus service to an airport where people have booked bikes ahead to take on their flight, but they cannot book the bike in advance to take on the bus to the airport.

Another sad example of a 'non forward thinking' company. Just struggle to see why you just have to take a punt and hope you get on the bus.

This is when you wish Virgin ran an airport coach company.

It's not archaic, there's very limited luggage space and bikes are cumbersome and a bit of a liability...

I think the idea of booking ahead is good though, that way you could offer the potential of knowing what the situation is rather than having to chance it depending on the stars aligning.

Travelling N.E. is always an ordeal IME, uncomfy, slow and inflexable, they used to be cheap to compensate but not any more. The only good point about them is that they do go to places with out train stations.

It's not archaic, there's very limited luggage space and bikes are cumbersome and a bit of a liability...

This

It's nothing to do with being archaic. Coaches just aren't big enough to carry bikes easily.

I'm amazed that NE haven't cottoned on to the rise in cycling popularity and fitted coaches with bike racks.
Just got back from Austria the other week and all the buses in the valley had bike racks.
NE could offer pre-booking and charge for it.

The space underneath is actually pretty big. I took a nukeproof mega in a Planet X bikebag on national express to Heathrow no issues. The coach was a 2am one and it was not very full. I had a backup plan which was a £90 taxi ride if they refused from Southampton.

If you look at this logically a bike box just occupies a given volume like any other suitcase. NE could easily accomodate them for a given extra charge. Nothing difficult about that. They allow you to book extra suitcases when you book your ticket so see no difference between a suitcase and a bike box.

 I had a backup plan which was a £90 taxi ride if they refused from Southampton

OH and NE dont own any coaches,they just rent them off independant companies who run the services, so a different type of coach could be used on each service, look at owners details behind front passenger door, and thats why you see coaches wearing a sign saying on hire to NE when in another livery.