A tale from a Hitrans staff member, who happened to be catching a train at Garve after a site visit (by bike & train naturally)
A couple touring on bikes rolled in to catch the train having ridden from the ferry at Ullapool (massive hill to Braemore Junction & sharing A835 with .... )
Completely unaware that Scottish Citylink are now actually promoting the 961 Ullapool-Inverness coach (operated by D&E Coaches) for cycle carriage - but not yet sorting out bike reservations, when you have to reserve your seats!
They had also cycled from Glasgow to Oban to start the tour, as the 6 space on the train that connects with the ferry to S Uist are usually solidly booked through the summer (whilst the 12 spaces on the other parts of the train to Fort Bill & Mallaig are typically just 25-50% used). Totally unaware that the Citylink 976 (Glasgow-Oban - West Coast Motors) runs to meet the same ferry connection, and leaves Glasgow at roughly the same time - I've put people on this coach regularly
Could I get this as a piece in a magazine & get greater exposure, as well as kicking a few silos (& a*ses) to get the total travel options better promoted? I've pestered the last 4 Scottish Citylink MD's to get the bike reservation detail sorted out. If Ember can run a 24 hour Dundee-Edinburgh coach service (1h 10m journey times) with reservable bike spaces, and looking at a 5-6 bike clip-on 'ski-box' for peak demand (on a 40-seat coach!) what's stalling these folk?
posts
