Coach service offers journeys across the UK for knockdown price of £2 each way

FlixBus began in Germany in 2013 and now operates in more than 40 countries. Photograph: PR

A transport company is offering £2 tickets for coach trips across the UK to be taken up to May 12. With a £1 service fee, that means travellers planning journeys can book long-distance tickets from £3 on the FlixBus website or app.

In England there is a government-backed scheme capping local bus tickets at £2 until December 2024, but this offer opens up longer routes and also applies to journeys into and around Wales and Scotland, where the £2 cap doesn’t exist. So, if you fancy a trip through the blossoming valleys from Bristol to Swansea, or from Glasgow to Inverness via the Cairngorms, now is the time to book. The deal is available until Sunday 21 April.

The international travel tech company is celebrating three years of business in the UK. It runs in partnership with local coach companies using green, branded vehicles. Earlier this year FlixBus launched the first direct electric coach service between London Victoria station and Newport in south Wales two of around 75 UK destinations currently covered by the network.

FlixBus began as a German startup in 2013 and has grown exponentially since then to cover thousands of routes in more than 40 countries, entering the UK market in 2020. Last summer it launched the first ever regular routes from several UK cities, including Leeds and Cambridge, direct to Amsterdam. The buses aim to be cheap, sustainable, easy to book and comfortable, with free wifi and charging points on board.

The lowest-priced journeys include direct routes such as Manchester to Edinburgh, London to Bridgend, Bristol to Newcastle and hundreds more intercity connections. The whole FlixBus Scottish network is part of the £2 scheme with Inverness added as a new destination this month. In Scotland, National Entitlement Card and Young Scot cardholders can get free travel.

Andreas Schörling, managing director of FlixBus UK, said the network offers affordable tickets and “comfortable, modern vehicles” and is celebrating its third anniversary with “£2 travel around the vibrant cities and towns of the UK”. The company aims to “become the best-loved coach brand in the country”, he added, offering “reliable services to as many passengers as possible”.