alright good morning guys from Birmingham city centre I tell you what I've got toothache this morning
I don't know why I'm feel really tired as well but that's not gonna put me off because I'm taking
a couple of journeys today on the coach the national express coach the first one is from
here down to Bristol um which is going to take about two hours I think and then I've got about
an hour's wait there before I get on my next coach which is going to take me from there down
to Tiverton in Devon and yeah I've never changed coaches before so it's a bit of a novelty for me
this why don't you come with me for the trip and I'll see you on board cheers for now
Birmingham Coach Station - formerly known as Digbeth Coach Station and do you know what,
there’s something about the name ‘Digbeth’ it’s just like it could be a multi-million pound house,
Digbeth Mansion let’s say and it would still sound horrible. ‘Digbeth’ err maybe that’s why they
changed the name - let me know what you think! Hmm, anyway, this was my first ever time arriving
at the coach station by foot. I’d actually caught the train to Birmingham and let me tell you,
it’s a bit of a hike from New Street Station, certainly not as convenient as Flixbus or Megabus
but of course, once you’re here, there are much better facilities to hand.
I wasn’t sure if I’d gone through the front door or not tbh but it was the first one I
came too and you’ve got a shop here and all the bus gates are laid out
to the right hand side. It was a nice day and the sun was streaming through
the windows so I had a quick sit down and familiarised myself with the surroundings.
okay Digbeth Coach Station Birmingham yeah first impressions are pretty good actually of the
waiting area is spacious bright and airy and so yeah I I quite like it and there's a separate
waiting lounge just opposite me there um there's a shop and information point about halfway down
and I reckon there's getting on towards 16 gates
um quite busy I would imagine um especially today actually and the next few days because
the trains are affected by ongoing rail strikes in the UK which isn't helping so I'm expecting
this particular service I'm going to be on to be quite busy today but we'll see how it
goes i've got about an hour or so to wait now so I'm gonna have a bit of a mooch around and
yeah and the coach will turn up and we'll get ourselves down to Bristol shall we
yeah so this is the waiting lounge here as seen from the concourse and uh yeah once you
go through the doors you have the ticket office and the ticket machines to the right and the
coach station by the way is exclusively used by national Express who also have the headquarters
on site and there's a Starbucks within this area and opposite that a cafe with no name that
seems to do baguettes mainly but you know what I would recommend going outside if you're hungry
because there are loads of small cafes which will charge you less than half the price of these two
are there are toilets available um though these will cost you 30 Pence a go and like
I said an information desk right in the middle of the cold course and at least a couple of
large departure boards like this one displaying all the information you need about your coach
Talking of which, my first chariot of desire had turned up, at gate 16 - a Scania Caetano Levante
2 with the ‘100’ service to Weston-super-Mare. I joined the queue of happy travellers waiting
to board. As per usual with National Express the driver greeted me with a friendly welcome,
checked my ticket, offered to put my bag in the hold (to which I declined
on this occasion) and I made my way onto the coach. Being a cheapskate on a budget,
I hadn’t bothered reserving a seat today, I just settled for a window on the left-hand side. First
impressions, usual National Express clean, fresh and well-kept, looked-after interior.
It was going to be quite busy this leg so I had a quick look at the seat before somebody sat next to
me. This coach had the drop down seat back table with cup holders and a pouch beneath that to store
your bits and pieces. You will also have noticed the handle with integrated coat hook. There’s a
three pin power socket here between the seats in front and yep the seats themselves, lovely winged
headrests which I always think sets the National Express seat apart from the rest. With recline
functionality it’s overall a very comfortable seat this. Above your head you have the expected
individual air vents and reading lights built into the luggage racks and leg room well, again it’s
pretty good with the hinged footrest adding to the comfort if you like that sort of thing. Before we
left, the driver (Simon) made sure everyone had their seatbelts on, a safety announcement was
played (plus adverts) and we reversed out of our bay at Digbeth (sorry, Birmingham) coach
station 13 minutes late, heading west down the Hagley Road onto junction 3 of the M5.
OK did anyone notice the overhead warning sign and the roadworks signs on the side of the road. Well
there was a lane out at junction 8 southbound which I thought was causing a massive tailback.
We slowly ground to a halt but it turned out that, before the roadworks, some idiot in a
beaten-up old Fiat Punto had become ‘stranded’ somehow and that was the cause of the hold-up.
The actual lane reduction was no big deal in itself. I had an hour to connect in Bristol and,
added to the fact we’d left late, this did cause a bit of stress
but fortunately we managed to get going again without too much delay in the end.
Right so as we turned off the M5 towards Bristol,
I managed to prise myself away from my next-door neighbour and go and have a look at the toilet.
Located at the rear of the coach, access is via a sliding door, usual National Express thing really.
There was water in the tap and liquid soap in the dispenser. The hand drier worked, grab handle here
and appropriate signage regarding the use of the toilet. Nothing much to say about the loo really
because it was clean and tidy and everything worked. Top marks again on this occasion.
I returned to my seat, tried out the WIFI which didn’t work unfortunately
but a small issue really on a journey of around two hours and with plentiful
mobile coverage anyway in this part of the country.
We arrived into Bristol approximately 35 minutes late in the end. Not too bad considering the late
departure and hold-ups en route. I had enough time to go and grab something to eat from the
Greggs bakers outside the coach station and just took a seat and waited for my second coach of the day to arrive.
okay guys um yeah first leg completed I'm at Bristol and just waiting for my connection now the
um coach was approximately 35 minutes late in the end due mainly to
um some guy in a Fiat Punto blocking up the M5 Southbound around abouts Junction eight but it's
fine we're here and yeah I've got a few minutes to kill now 17:00 is the time of departure for my second
leg which is the 502 service from London heading to Barnstaple and I'm going to be going as far as
Tiverton so why don't you come with me for this part of the journey and I'll see you on the coach
National Express again have ticket machines here below the departure boards and also an information
desk. The likes of Megabus and Flixbus are again banished to the surrounding streets but obviously
the coach station is shared by other local buses and the airport express coach to name but one other.
The coach arrived at 17:00 and, as I had hoped,
most people got off here and only about half-a-dozen of us got on!
I climbed on board and as you can see there was loads of room. I was spoilt for choice
really but eventually settled for a seat on the right-hand side (for a change).
Now this was a lovely coach - a Scania Caetano Levante 3 this time on a 2022
plate it was pretty new and it even smelt new too!
Whilst we were parked up, the interior main lights were on so I had a little bit of time to check out
some of the inside. The seats themselves were very smart with the expected National Express dark grey
leather colour scheme. I thought they had pretty good leg room as well but let me know how you
find it if you travel on coaches regularly. Do National Express have the best leg room
or do you prefer Megabus or Flixbus in this respect? There were double usb charging points
on this coach above a drop-down seat back table. The main lights were turned off prior to departure
and we left Bristol at 17:06. By the way guys, have you been thinking about buying presents for
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Although it was fairly dark by now this did accentuate the array of blue led lighting
inside. It seemed to be everywhere, from the usb charging points (which you expect) to the
overhead air vents, the luggage racks, even the screen at the front of the coach. I wouldn’t go
as far as to say it felt like a spaceship shooting across the galaxy but, you know,
travelling on something like this really questions the preconceived idea that coach
trips are something to be endured and not enjoyed. I’ve had one or two ‘challenging journeys’ shall
we say over the last year or so, but I felt pretty relaxed on this one. We stopped at
Sedgemoor Services South for a driver change (this coach had come all the way from London remember)
and then we continued down the M5 towards Bridgwater and beyond.
OK, so after a bit I thought I’d try the WIFI and, yep we did actually get a
reasonable connection on this coach. Whilst it was no where near fast enough to watch video,
it did load up social media text and some pictures after a while. Put it this way,
I had more success with it on this trip thanI had had on most of my other experiences.
I thought it was only fair to check out the toilet again which was, unsurprisingly, almost identical
to the one on the previous coach - the Levante 2. Only difference here was that there was no soap in
the dispenser and no alternative was provided. The only negative on this journey really.
The only other thing I guess is that rather than carrying on down the M5, we went round
and round various places I’d never heard of like North Petherton and Wellington which I kind of
understand in that National Express are providing a service to these places but by the time we
got to Tiverton here I was starving and yeh I think I was ready for the hotel at this point.
And yeh Tiverton
bus station is a bit desolate at this time of the day in November but fortunately,
my hotel was just across the way. Price I paid for both legs today was £15.40
and you can’t really complain about that can you?
I watched the coach disappear off into the night and headed off for a well-deserved bite to eat.
right guys yeah here at Tiverton in the hotel guess what sort of hotel it is
not difficult is it and I tell you what I'm absolutely shattered that last hour and
a half between where was it Bridgewater and um Tiverton was just tortuous turns off the M5
and honestly it's just like round and round these little towns and Villages as well uh but we made
it and we made it safe and we made it probably about quarter of an hour late something like that approximately uh
but yeah nice nice coach on that second leg wasn't it I think it was almost brand new
um but I have to say um the first coach I kind of preferred in a way it was um more comfortable
and um yeah it just just seemed a little bit smoother the ride that's my opinion anyway thanks
for watching I hope you've enjoyed it I certainly have like I said it's been a long day
um but yeah 've had a good time and um yeah I'm sure I will see you on another adventure
again soon as always guys thanks for watching and cheers for now