Megafeces

Just about the cheapest way to travel between cities in the UK is via a discount bus service called Megabus, and let me just say that the old adage of "you get what you pay for" is wholly accurate with this company. When we booked our trip to Oxford this past weekend, we received a confirmation email that said our bus left from a particular street near Victoria tube station. Fair enough, although that description is a bit vague. Undeterred, we arrived a good half an hour early to give us time to locate our stop.

Upon arrival at 7 a.m., we realized that it was in no way obvious where our Megabus would stop, so I went and asked two different drivers from rival companies, who directed me to a well hidden internal bus garage at the base of a building, where several Megabus busses awaited. Confident that one of these was our bus, we kept our eyes open for the one that would leave at 7:35. We slowly realized that none of these were leaving at this time, and I finally asked a driver where the bus for Oxford left from, and was informed it was on the other side of the road, outside the buildling. Right.

We then waited out on the street, at stand 9 as indicated, for our Megabus to arrive. None did. We waited about twenty minutes, until we asked again, and it turns out that our bus arrives at stand 10, and is not actually a Megabus, but rather some other company named Oxford tube. What the hell? We booked on Megabus, although this company has its own website, and there was nothing on our booking slip about actually taking Oxford tube, which have very visibly different busses, and in no way have any signs showing their affiliation with Megabus. So Megabus, you get the lost in translation rubbish communication award for not telling me where my bus stop was, or even that I was being shifted to an entirely different company.