See Coaches - a bit of a shambles...

[justperfect]

2 hours ago, SPTFRE said:

Bit of a mixed coach experience from Taunton (Wednesday 9:15 departure) this year:

About 100 of us were waiting in the wrong pick up point, possibly our fault but the instructions weren't exactly clear and that's an awful lot of us to all get it wrong. Turns out that the departure point was a layby about 3 minutes walk away.

The driver checked IDs from everyone against the envelopes but gave them out BEFORE boarding. This has happened three times before when I've got the coach from Taunton.

Departed about 30 minutes late. No problem.

The air conditioning was broken on the coach so it was a pretty uncomfortable journey. At least it was only around one hour, any longer and I would have preferred it to be fixed prior to leaving. The driver tried his best and thankfully all passengers stayed calm and didn't give him a hard time.

The designated entry point meant that we came into the side of pedestrian gate A and from getting off the coach at 10:45am I had my wristband on by 11:00am. My friend who arrived by car at the same time walked through PGA around 2 1/2 hours later. I was tempted to get my ticket, turn around and drive in, but in hindsight with the £50 car park fee on the gate and a much longer queue in that Wednesday heat, I made the right decision to stick it out. 

Your post has just reminded me that ours dropped us off in a completely different place in Manchester than where we got picked up from. Frantic phone calls to taxis and loved ones from Everyone on board to rearrange pickups

[mattrik3]

On 27/06/2017 at 1:39 PM, The Nal said:

Always the same. A free for all. Only do 1 way now. Taxi cost us 12 quid each back to Bristol airport yesterday. 

The queues yesterday seemed horrific. 

How easy is it to get a taxi?

[simian_mobile_mushrooms]

My friends had a total nightmare getting home. Left the festival at about 9:30 am and didn't get back until about 7:30 pm. The driver did a U turn on the motorway and admitted to some of the guys he'd never driven in London before. Seems a bit ridiculous they'd be that short of qualified/experienced drivers. It's not exactly a difficult journey from Glasto to Victoria. Apparently after the U turn and the ten hour journey there were quite a few unhappy folk!

[simian_mobile_mushrooms]

48 minutes ago, mattrik3 said:

How easy is it to get a taxi?

There are plenty of companies you can book through. We had to walk to Pilton and away from the closed road signs because you can't pick up or drop off there, but if you walk down one of the smaller back roads they can normally meet you there. We also got a taxi to the airport, 50 quid for a 7 seater. There was only two of us so it was perfect for a snooze

[tullux]

our bus leaves only 5 minutes delayed to manchester.

i reckonize, that there is a first come, first served,

because not erveryone managed to get the bus back home in time.

 

[phillyfaddle]

On 27/06/2017 at 1:36 PM, Hugh Jass said:

I imagine the clusterfuck that was the A303 on Monday morning didn't help. We saw coaches turned around at sent back towards the festival.

To be fair, the A303 is often a complete clusterfuck. I live in Andover and go out of my way to avoid it. Cross-country rocks!

[The Nal]

12 hours ago, mattrik3 said:

How easy is it to get a taxi?

Very easy if you prebook!

[squirrelarmy]

My experience with them wasn't too bad. Yeah the coach wasn't brilliant, but do you really expect a coach company to use their best coaches for a load of sweaty, smelly, potentially muddy hungover glasto goers? 

We were actually on the same coach for the trip there and back, there was no aircon. Was a toilet and just about enough legroom. Drivers were friendly and compared to my mates who were driving back, we got home around 8 hours before them.

My only real criticism is the timing of the stops on both journeys. On the way there we stopped for an hour after only driving for 2. Most of us were eager to get to the festival and that extra long break wasn't really necessary. 

On the way back we stopped at the same services, this meant a very long first leg, not good when the coach was full of very hot, very smelly people, many of whom were either on the verge of passing out or already had done. 

[verrymerry]

On 6/27/2017 at 0:46 PM, justperfect said:

 

Was anyone on the return to Manchester which had the cracked front window?

I saw the damage at the services then passed it again pulled up on the hard shoulder not long after

No but ours had no water in the loo and was a goddamn sauna, the driver was also terrible, I genuinely thought we were going to crash!

On 6/28/2017 at 8:35 PM, justperfect said:

Your post has just reminded me that ours dropped us off in a completely different place in Manchester than where we got picked up from. Frantic phone calls to taxis and loved ones from Everyone on board to rearrange pickups

Same!  Did you get dropped near Piccadilly?  It was more convenient, but confused everyone!

[DownlnAlbion]

I used NE coaches for the first time this year and couldn't complement them enough. 

On the way down they got us from Bristol at 4am Wednesday, to the site in under an hour.

On the way home on Monday, we turned up at our allotted time of 9am and we were back in Bristol for half 10. They were very thorough with checking tickets, I must note.

[Curlygirl]

Our coach was an hour and 20 minutes late arriving to go to Glastonbury, he gave tickets out prior to boarding the coach with no id checks, coach tickets were also not checked upon boarding. Once we were on he told us all not to piss him off or we'd be walking as he was having a bad day!! We couldn't eat, drink, breath, laugh, talk! Right misery! There was also no water. On the way back the coach was an hour and 15 minutes late... due to the accident. No tickets were  checked but the driver was lovely! And the coach was comfortable. 

 

Edited to say some people that shouldve been on the coach had to wait for wait for the next one! There were 4 coaches to Lincoln and some people didn't get the same coach as their mates. 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Curlygirl

[BlackHole2006]

Was a breeze there and back for me although I was sick in my mouth on the journey back but that wasn't the fault of the driver.

[gooner1990]

I didn't get the coach this year but I did from Oxford in 2015.

Coach there was efficent, checked ID on tickets arrived on time etc.

Coming back, it arrived 90 mins late, then the driver got lost on the way back trying to take a shortcut 

Got back to Oxford about 1pm....having been at the departure gate for 7.30am!

[Bisque]

See coach 2015 from Reading, driver decided to wait 30mins for 2 tits who went to the wrong Reading station... Let's say we all berated them to the point they handed out cider to other passengers. Smooth journey down two pit stops to piss on the side of the motorway at layby's, girls weren't happy they had to jump into a farmers field to find some cover.

Coming back, I tempted it & the coach supposed to be an hour earlier was less than half empty so breezed on & drank the leftover neighbours crate of cider on the way back. No toilet so pissed in a milk cartoon.

[Hotchilidog]

I have to say they were good for me this year. No traffic on the way in (other than Worthing rush our traffic) meant a good journey down. For the return, whilst I cursed the 4.30 am start, it did turn up and avoided the morning rush hour until worthing again. On the approach to brighton the driver cut down to the dockside road in portslade rather than continue on the A27 to Dyke or London Rd, thus missing the chronic traffic there. So it would a be a thanks to See from this year.

[The Nal]

On 6/28/2017 at 6:30 PM, SPTFRE said:

Bit of a mixed coach experience from Taunton (Wednesday 9:15 departure) this year:

About 100 of us were waiting in the wrong pick up point, possibly our fault but the instructions weren't exactly clear and that's an awful lot of us to all get it wrong. Turns out that the departure point was a layby about 3 minutes walk away.

I was on that coach, 1 of the 3 anyway. Wasn't our fault, thats where it always leaves from. Tangiers carpark.

Wooderson was on the 3.45pm coach and was waiting on the bridge where we were moved to but someone came along and told them all to go the carpark they moved us from! 

Shambles indeed. 

[Newtoit]

15 minutes ago, The Nal said:

I was on that coach, 1 of the 3 anyway. Wasn't our fault, thats where it always leaves from. Tangiers carpark.

Wooderson was on the 3.45pm coach and was waiting on the bridge where we were moved to but someone came along and told them all to go the carpark they moved us from! 

Shambles indeed. 

We were on the Thursday 1.45 coach from Taunton and everyone (literally 2 coach loads of people) was waiting by the 'layby' near the bridge on Tangiers Way - as directed. The coaches arrived at the Car park and it was only the fact that someone had gone to have a look and had taken a random glastonbury goers phone number that we found out where the coach was.

The instructions were wrong and See tickets uncontactable.

Once on the coach however, it was all fine.

[StePotts]

On 6/27/2017 at 0:46 PM, justperfect said:

A shambles that works is best way to describe the seetickets coach park on Monday morning. Thing that pisses me off the most is the state of the coaches they send us in. Understandably they might get shit up a bit but some of the coaches we've been on in recent years have been shockers. We pay top dollar for the privilege of a coach, a working air conditioning system and a toilet you could actually use should be a minimum requirement (both of which our coach on the way down didn't have).

Was anyone on the return to Manchester which had the cracked front window?

I saw the damage at the services then passed it again pulled up on the hard shoulder not long after

my friends were on that one, looked a right mess

[Skoo]

1 hour ago, Hotchilidog said:

I have to say they were good for me this year. No traffic on the way in (other than Worthing rush our traffic) meant a good journey down. For the return, whilst I cursed the 4.30 am start, it did turn up and avoided the morning rush hour until worthing again. On the approach to brighton the driver cut down to the dockside road in portslade rather than continue on the A27 to Dyke or London Rd, thus missing the chronic traffic there. So it would a be a thanks to See from this year.

What coach number were you? We were coach 98 to Brighton.

The journey there was perfect. Had a 4:30am Monday return, which we dutifully arrived for at 4am.

Found that loads of people were ahead of us without tickets, and we didn't manage to fit on the 4:30am coach that arrived. 

Eventually got on a coach at about 5:15am.

Will only book a one way See Tickets coach if we're lucky enough to get tickets in 2019, and book an NE return, seems a bit more organised!

 

[Keithy]

Excellent experience for me; I've yet to have a bad See Coaches experience.

Weds 6:30am from Bristol, names all checked off before we could board. Tickets handed out once seat and then we were off. Driver quite chatty and nice, coach perfectly fine. Was very quickly on site and through gate A and pitching up in Paines around 9-9:30 am.

Didn't catch my See return as it was stupid o'clock so booked on a National Express. Was a queue but was allowed to get on a different coach time so I was with my friend.

Unless I can't get a coach ticket, will never go back to driving.

[___S_o_m_a__]

[The Nal]

16 minutes ago, Keithy said:

Unless I can't get a coach ticket, will never go back to driving.

Oh me neither. The "inconvenience" consisted of having to walk 4 minutes to the bridge. Bus left on time ish and we were set up in Michaels Mead by 1pm. I'm a 100% card carrying bus w*nker. 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

3 hours ago, The Nal said:

I was on that coach, 1 of the 3 anyway. Wasn't our fault, thats where it always leaves from. Tangiers carpark.

Wooderson was on the 3.45pm coach and was waiting on the bridge where we were moved to but someone came along and told them all to go the carpark they moved us from! 

Shambles indeed. 

I was on coach 75 which by an amazing coincidence, thanks to the broken air conditioning, was exactly the temperature in celsius on board

[Beerqueen]

On 29/06/2017 at 9:32 AM, squirrelarmy said:

 Yeah the coach wasn't brilliant, but do you really expect a coach company to use their best coaches for a load of sweaty, smelly, potentially muddy hungover glasto goers? 

If they've paid the same price as other users, yes!

[squirrelarmy]

3 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

If they've paid the same price as other users, yes!

It does depend on how much See pay for the coaches, they were all subcontracted out to local firms. The basic facilities were there but certainly a later model coach rather than a top of the line modern coach. 

If I ran a coach company and See offered a Glasto contract I'd definitely use an older model rather than a brand new one.