written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . june 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message megabus plaxton panther 2 bodied volvo b13r in dunfermline scotland in april 2013 slogan low cost inter city bus travel serving europe parent flixbus group founded august 2003 headquarters germany service area europe service type intercity coach services routes 19 destinations 41 jurisdictions served hubs london victoria coach station perth broxden park & ride glasgow buchanan bus station aberdeen union square website uk.megabus.com megabus is a long distance coach operator operated by flixbus . flixbus purchased megabus from stagecoach group in 2016 it commenced operating in august 2003 initially in the united kingdom and now serves over 120 destinations in scotland england ireland france belgium the netherlands germany luxembourg spain and italy . 1 some services link with megatrain services also operated by stagecoach . advertised fares start at 1 1 with a 50p 50c booking fee using a yield management model . contents 1 history 1.1 2003 to 2005 1.2 2006 to 2009 1.3 2010 to present 2 other services 2.1 megatrain 2.2 megabusplus 2.2.1 north of england 2.2.2 south west england 2.3 sleeper and gold services 3 tickets and fares 4 stop locations 4.1 united kingdom 5 fleet 5.1 fleet history 6 incidents 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit megabus mascot sid alexander rh bodied volvo b10m in perth in 2004 2003 to 2005 edit services from london to oxford commenced on 4 august 2003 and from edinburgh to glasgow and perth and glasgow to dundee were added one month later . during november 2003 routes from manchester to liverpool and leeds were added but these ceased on 27 june 2004 and 3 october 2004 respectively . on 1 march 2004 when a network of routes from london s green line coach station to brighton portsmouth southampton bournemouth bristol exeter plymouth cardiff swansea and birmingham were added . on 28 june 2004 routes from london to milton keynes leicester chesterfield sheffield leeds manchester and glasgow were added and within two months these were followed by the expansion of the scottish routes to include aberdeen and inverness . stagecoach lost the contract to run the national express route between london cheltenham and gloucester prompting it to introduce competing megabus services from 5 september 2004 . on 6 september 2004 stagecoach took over the motorvator service between edinburgh and glasgow selling a number of seats per journey through the megabus site the remainder being available without booking in advance at regular fares . this enabled stagecoach to cancel the dedicated megabus service between the two cities . on 10 october 2004 routes from london to liverpool and newcastle . on 15 november 2004 the london to oxford service was replaced by seats on the oxford tube . on 31 january 2005 stagecoach bus route x5 between oxford and cambridge became part of the megabus network selling a number of seats per journey in the same way as the oxford tube and motorvator . from 18 april 2005 nottingham worthing and winchester were added to the network by slight extensions modifications to existing routes but rationalisation of the rest of the network took place with some early morning and late evening services were withdrawn . on 13 june 2005 a new service was introduced between london and coventry . however the london to swansea service was withdrawn between cardiff and swansea . a joint venture between scottish citylink and megabus led to co ordination of services in scotland . on 21 november 2005 the 900 motorvator service was replaced by an enhanced citylink service with the facility to buy seats through the megabus website was retained . the next week most of the faster citylink services between aberdeen dundee perth and glasgow and inverness perth and edinburgh were replaced by a more frequent combined megabus citylink service . as a consequence passengers who previously used parallel citylink services from the bus station in perth town centre were required to use broxden park & ride on the outskirts of the town with little to no onward connections to the town centre . tickets for the combined megabus citylink services are available through both companies websites though often at different prices . from 16 february 2006 the slower citylink service between dundee perth and glasgow became available to book through the megabus website restoring perth bus station to the megabus network . the same day of the citylink service modifications the london to manchester route was extended to preston with some journeys extended to blackpool or lancaster . this coincided with the loss of national express work at preston depot . the extensions to blackpool and lancaster were short lived and were withdrawn in february 2006 citing low passenger numbers . again following the loss of national express contracts this time at rugby depot on 5 december 2005 the london to birmingham service was increased in frequency to every two hours with an additional stop on the outskirts of coventry and the withdrawal of the direct once a day service to coventry city centre . one journey a day in each direction was extended to wolverhampton . the stops in the south of birmingham were no longer served . further changes on this day were the doubling of the london to nottingham service to twice a day with one journey extended to chesterfield which regained the service lost in april 2005 and the introduction of a new once daily service from london to norwich . 2006 to 2009 edit a number of changes to routes were made on 27 march 2006 . a direct service was introduced between ferrytoll park & ride in fife edinburgh and london via newcastle and sheffield . together with changes to the leeds to london services this meant that changes at tibshelf services were no longer needed . in addition many routes had timetable changes . in particular the london to southampton and london to portsmouth routes became feeders to the london to bournemouth service with passengers required to change at winchester . some london to bristol journeys were extended to cwmbran . the london to norwich and london to wolverhampton and chesterfield services were withdrawn on 14 may 2006 the london to cheltenham service introduced an extra stop at reading coachway on 20 november 2006 . early in february 2007 it was announced that the service between london milton keynes leicester and nottingham would be withdrawn on 11 march 2007 . these services were restored monday saturday following the acquisition of the east midlands trains franchise by stagecoach to and from london by megatrain . from 21 may 2007 services between london and leeds were extended to middlesbrough sunderland and newcastle . on 1 october 2007 the london hub moved from bulleid way to victoria coach station . 2 from october 2009 m35 cardiff to newcastle began . 3 2010 to present edit van hool tdx27 astromega at union square aberdeen bus station in may 2011 services were introduced between london and norwich leeds and edinburgh and london and swansea and pembroke dock with through ferry fares to rosslare europort in ireland . additional journeys were added to several existing routes . 4 from april 2012 megabus began cross nation services linking the uk to continental europe from birmingham and london to paris and from leicester and london to brussels and amsterdam . this was announced a month prior to the introduction of the services . a third route which operates entirely outside the uk links paris brussels and amsterdam . 5 6 in 2013 megabus started a route between cologne brussels gent and london . in 2014 megabus launched a route between london paris toulouse and barcelona . in germany as megabus.com gmbh they also launched a route between cologne frankfurt stuttgart and munich . 7 on 24 june 2015 megabus launched first intercity bus services in italy with 22 coaches out of a depot in bergamo . the five main routes are 8 9 turin venice stopping at milan verona and padua turin naples stopping at milan bologna florence and rome milan naples stopping at bologna florence and rome venice naples stopping at padua florence and rome milan rome west coast stopping at genoa and pisa on 8 july 2015 a service commenced from milan to london . 9 on 29 june 2016 stagecoach group announced that all operations in the european mainland as well as those services linking london with europe had been sold to german competitor flixbus from 1 july 2016 with megabus serving as a contractor so no route changes were made . 10 11 this left only domestic uk operations under the control of stagecoach . other services edit megatrain edit main article megatrain megatrain offers low cost intercity train travel on some east midlands trains and south west trains routes both operated by stagecoach . services are available monday to saturday only with no service on sundays or public holidays . megabusplus edit megabusplus services combine megabus and megatrain for through journeys . it was launched on 30 march 2009 . 12 north of england edit megabusplus services use megabus from the following destinations to east midlands parkway station then megatrain east midlands trains services to london st pancras burnley colne nelson skipton keighley huddersfield halifax bradford & east midlands parkway harrogate york castleford & east midlands parkway hull scunthorpe & east midlands parkway south west england edit megabusplus services also use coaches to southampton airport parkway station then megatrain south west trains to bournemouth . 13 in 2014 further megabusplus services were launched using south west trains services between london waterloo station london waterloo and honiton then the following four coach routes from honiton 14 honiton okehampton bude honiton collumpton tiverton barnstaple honiton exeter airport newton abbot torquay paignton totnes plymouth honiton launceston bodmin st austell truro penzance sleeper and gold services edit jonckheere bodied volvo sleeper coach at buchanan bus station in february 2012 overnight sleeper services were introduced on the london to glasgow route in 2011 15 using jonckheere mistral articulated coaches with a flat bunk bed as well as a seat for each passenger . luxury megabus gold coaches were introduced from 8 july 2013 on selected sleeper services between london and edinburgh aberdeen 16 as well as some day services . this sub brand is in line with the upmarket stagecoach gold and citylink gold brands already used by stagecoach subsidiaries . tickets and fares edit advertised fares start at 1 with a 50p booking fee using a yield management model with the lowest fares offered for booking early and on less popular journeys ; typically only the first six seats are sold at 1 . 17 services often use out of town coachway interchanges to reduce delays caused by calling at interchanges in urban centres . megatrain also follows the yield management model . tickets must be bought in advance via the megabus website or by telephone when passengers are given a reservation number that they show the driver when they board . the only services on which tickets can be bought on the vehicle are a small number of scottish services . tickets can be paid for in pounds sterling or euro . stop locations edit megabus serves many towns and cities . for service efficiency it sometimes uses coachway interchanges rather than urban bus stations e.g. meadowhall interchange rather than sheffield interchange . united kingdom edit london victoria coach station manchester shudehill interchange sheffield meadowhall interchange university of the west of england fleet edit the megabus fleet is normally easily identifiable with the megabus.com name on the front and sides in yellow on a blue base and the megabus logo on the left side of the coach facing forward and rear of the bus . accessible coaches