With the UK still hoping to enjoy the festive celebrations this year, megabus is set to double its service in an effort to ensure that families aren’t separated for a second Christmas running.
The operator is expecting to operate over 9,000 miles on Christmas Day alone, more than double last years’ service, connecting locations including London, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff, Reading, Leeds, Birmingham Nottingham and elsewhere. Across the festive period between 17 December and 3 January, over half a million miles will be travelled by the firm’s coaches, averaging almost 40,000 per day, including a scheduled 48,000 on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
With over 2,700 trips operating this festive period, the company says it is working to ensure that families to spend Christmas together. Figures showed that almost three quarters (73%) of grandparents say not seeing their grandchildren has been the worst thing about the pandemic. Seven in 10 parents (74%) claimed to be making a concerted effort to reunite children with grandparents, with 80% saying that their kids missing grandparents has been one of the hardest things to deal with over the past year.
Mark Venables, Managing Director from megabus said: “After so many families were forced to spend last Christmas apart, and we’ve all dealt with more restrictions this year, we’re determined to help bring as many people together as possible this festive season. Complying with all current Government guidelines, we have over 13,000 seats available for Christmas Day and Boxing Day alone – so we’re really excited to help Brits get around and travel with confidence to see their loved ones this Christmas.
“Seats are already selling fast, so I’d really like to thank all of our fantastic people who are working over the festive period and especially those who have volunteered to work on Christmas day to provide these services to our customers.”
megabus will be operating up to every 30 minutes between Heathrow Airport and London Victoria on Christmas Day and Boxing Day when there are no other public transport options available.
