Buses

Coach travel is a different product from rail, not a worse one. It is slower and much cheaper, it reaches towns no train serves, and on short intercity hops it is competitive on total time once you account for how central the stops are.

What actually differs is everything around the journey. The stop may be a kerb rather than a building. The luggage allowance is a physical hold with finite space, not an airline-style revenue line you can settle with a card. Refunds often come back as vouchers. And if the coach is late, the law owes you noticeably less than it would if it were a train. None of that is a reason to avoid the coach — it is a reason to read four specific things before you pay.

Kerb or terminal, and why it changes what you are owed

Many intercity stops in the United States are now a kerb rather than an indoor terminal. Part of that is the curbside model Megabus and FlixBus built the business on, and part is a property story: when Greyhound was sold to Flix in October 2021 the station real estate stayed behind and was sold on separately in 2022. Stations have closed in Philadelphia, Knoxville, Houston and Columbus among others. A kerbside stop means no waiting room, no restroom, no ticket counter and no staff, sometimes at an intersection rather than a street address.

In Europe the distinction is written into law. Under EU Regulation 181/2011 the right to meals, refreshments and, if an overnight stay becomes necessary, a hotel room applies to a cancellation or a departure delay over 90 minutes from a terminal — a staffed facility with a ticket office or waiting room. A motorway service area or a city kerb is a “bus stop”, and there the care package does not apply. The right to re-routing or a refund after 120 minutes does still apply at a bus stop.

So before booking an overnight or a long layover, open the operator’s own stop page and find out which of the two you are standing at.

Luggage is a hold with finite space, not a fee you pay at the door

This is the single most common way a coach trip goes wrong. Exceeding the allowance is not an excess charge you settle at the kerb: Megabus in the US tells passengers to buy a whole extra ticket in advance for an extra piece, and turning up over the allowance means the items are refused — with no refund if you then abandon the trip. FlixBus sells one additional bag but only in advance, online or through Manage My Booking, never from the driver.

The published allowances are worth checking against your actual case. FlixBus North America gives a carry-on at 16 x 12 x 7 in and 25 lb plus one stored bag at 31 x 20 x 12 in and 50 lb. Greyhound’s standard US and Canadian fare includes one carry-on and one hold bag, with two hold bags on Mexico routes. National Express in Britain is the most generous of the big operators: one large case up to 75 x 50 x 32 cm or two medium cases up to 70 x 30 x 45 cm, each to 20 kg, plus hand luggage — and extra hold items cost £10 added online against £15 bought at a coach station. BlaBlaCar Bus allows two hand bags plus one hold bag to 23 kg and 200 cm combined, with further bags at a few euros each.

Changes and refunds: read the ladder before you book

FlixBus has the most forgiving deadline and the least forgiving currency. You can cancel or change online up to 15 minutes before departure, but a voluntary cancellation comes back as a voucher rather than money, on a sliding scale: 100% of the fare at 30 or more days out, 70% at 7 to 29 days, 40% at 2 to 6 days, and 20% inside two days. Changing your date or time counts as a cancellation, so the same haircut applies. The voucher is valid 12 months. If Flix cancels the service, or it is delayed over two hours, EU rules entitle you to cash instead.

The others each draw the line somewhere different. Megabus in the US sells non-refundable tickets on a booking window that opens about 45 days out and lets you trade in up to three hours before departure. ALSA in Spain requires changes at least two hours before, with surcharges up to 30% and refund deductions up to 50%. BlaBlaCar Bus wants 30 minutes and only on standard fares. National Express is the outlier in the other direction: its Fully Flexible tier is genuinely refundable if cancelled at least 24 hours before departure, which no other major operator here offers.

One more National Express rule that surprises people: the ticket is tied to a specific boarding point, and joining the same coach at a different stop is not allowed without amending it first. Reserved-but-empty seats are normally released within about 10 minutes of the published departure time, which is also the latest you should plan to arrive.

Delay rights are weaker than rail, and that is structural

Rail passengers in the EU have an arrival-delay ladder: under Regulation 2021/782 a delay of 60 to 119 minutes earns 25% of the fare back and 120 minutes or more earns 50%, payable on request. Coach has no equivalent. Under Regulation 181/2011, on a scheduled service of 250 km or more, a cancellation or a departure delay over 120 minutes obliges the carrier to offer you a choice between re-routing and a refund — and the 50% compensation becomes payable only if the carrier fails to offer that choice at all.

Note the 250 km threshold applies to the scheduled distance of the whole service, not your leg, so a short hop on a long route is still covered. Where an overnight stay is owed, the carrier may cap it at €80 a night for two nights, or £70 in the UK version, and that duty falls away entirely if severe weather caused the disruption — the refund and the refreshments survive, the hotel does not. On a winter route, travel insurance is the real backstop, not passenger-rights law.

Punctuality is genuinely a factor to plan for. France’s transport regulator found that nearly a quarter of liberalised long-distance coach services arriving in 2025 were more than 15 minutes late at their terminus. Leave a real margin before anything that will not wait.

Canada, and other places with no national network

Canada has no national intercity bus network. Greyhound Canada left Western Canada in 2018 and closed its remaining Ontario and Quebec operations permanently on 13 May 2021. What is left is a patchwork: Megabus and FlixBus in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor, Rider Express in the west, Ontario Northland in northeastern Ontario, Orléans Express in Quebec and Maritime Bus in the Atlantic provinces.

Aggregators will search across most of them, but a long cross-regional trip is still sold as separate tickets on separate operators, and connections between carriers are not protected. A missed link is your problem, not the carrier’s. Build in a buffer or an overnight, and do not book the last connection of the day if anything depends on it.

The same logic applies anywhere the network is thin. The one North American exception worth knowing is Amtrak Thruway, where the connecting bus and the train sit on a single ticket and the bus waits if the train is late.

Checking an operator you have never heard of

In the United States you can look up almost any interstate operator before you book. The federal regulator’s Bus Safety Search and SAFER Company Snapshot show licensing, insurance, roadside inspection and crash history, and any safety rating, free. Search by USDOT number rather than by name, because trading names overlap — and federal rules require the carrier’s name and USDOT number to be legible on both sides of the vehicle from 50 feet, so you can read it off the bus at a kerbside stop.

Read the rating carefully. Satisfactory is the highest; Conditional means violations were found but the carrier may still operate; most carriers are simply Not Rated, because a rating is only assigned after a compliance review — unrated is not the same as unsafe.

Elsewhere, treat the brand on the ticket as a clue rather than an answer. Flix runs an asset-light model: more than a thousand independent bus partners operate around 5,000 vehicles under the FlixBus brand, so on most routes the coach and the driver belong to a regional company. Greyhound and Kâmil Koç are the exceptions Flix owns and runs directly.

Where to book buses

Common questions

Is a coach ticket refundable?

Usually not in cash. FlixBus refunds a voluntary cancellation as a 12-month voucher on a sliding scale — 100% at 30 or more days out, 70% at 7 to 29 days, 40% at 2 to 6 days, 20% inside two days — and treats a date change as a cancellation. Megabus tickets are non-refundable. National Express is the exception: its Fully Flexible tier is refundable if cancelled at least 24 hours before departure.

How much luggage can I take on a coach?

Typically one hold bag and one small carry-on, and the allowance is a capacity limit rather than a fee. Extra bags must be bought in advance online — you generally cannot pay the driver. FlixBus North America publishes 16 x 12 x 7 in for the carry-on and 31 x 20 x 12 in and 50 lb for the stored bag; National Express in Britain allows one large or two medium cases up to 20 kg each plus hand luggage.

What happens if my coach is very late?

Less than you might expect. On EU services of 250 km or more, a cancellation or a departure delay over 120 minutes entitles you to choose between re-routing and a refund; 50% compensation is due only if the carrier fails to offer that choice. There is no arrival-delay compensation ladder of the kind rail passengers have. Meals and, where an overnight becomes necessary, a hotel apply to journeys over three hours delayed more than 90 minutes — but only when you are departing from a terminal.

Is the stop a station or just a kerb?

Check the operator’s own stop page before you book, especially for an overnight or a long connection. Many US intercity stops are kerbside with no waiting room, restroom or staff. In the EU it also changes your legal rights: the meals-and-hotel provisions apply to delays departing a terminal, not a roadside stop.

How do I check an unfamiliar bus company?

In the United States, look the carrier up on the federal Bus Safety Search or SAFER Company Snapshot, using its USDOT number rather than its name. Both are free and show licensing, insurance, inspection and crash history. The USDOT number must be legible on both sides of the vehicle from 50 feet, so you can also check it at the stop.

Can I book a bus and a train on one ticket?

Rarely, and the exception is worth knowing. Amtrak Thruway connecting buses are sold on the same ticket as the train and the connection is protected — the bus waits. Almost everywhere else, a bus leg and a rail leg are separate contracts, and a missed connection is your problem, so leave a real buffer between them.