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123-617: Megabus is a long-distance intercity coach service operator owned by Scottish Citylink and based in the United Kingdom . Founded by Stagecoach Group (through Midland Red (South) Ltd ) in August 2003, it operates using low-cost fares, formerly starting at £1, based on a yield management model. Services link 90 locations throughout the UK and carry over 4 million passengers a year. From 2012 until 2016, when these services were sold to FlixBus ,

246-434: A bus station with facilities for travellers or from a simple roadside bus stop . A coachway interchange is a term (in the United Kingdom ) for a stopping place on the edge of a town, with connecting local transport. Park and ride facilities allow passengers to begin or complete their journeys by automobile . Intercity bus routes may follow a direct highway or freeway/motorway for shortest journey times, or travel via

369-579: A bypass around the town centre, as well as a new bus station . On 6 April 2012 the city's residents performed the Preston Passion , a dramatised version of the Passion of Christ , which was broadcast live by BBC One . The unparished urban settlement of Preston is represented by 19 of the 22 council wards within Preston City Council which is based at Preston Town Hall on Lancaster Road. From

492-515: A scenic route for the enjoyment of passengers. Intercity buses may run less frequently and with fewer stops than a transit bus service. One common arrangement is to have several stops at the beginning of the trip, and several near the end, with the majority of the trip non-stop on a highway . Some stops may have service restrictions, such as "boarding only" (also called "pickup only") and "discharge only" (also called "set-down only"). Routes aimed at commuters may have most or all scheduled trips in

615-519: A "Proms In The Park", featuring José Carreras , Katherine Jenkins and the Manchester Camerata . In the mid-12th century, Preston was in the hundred of Amounderness , in the deanery of Amounderness and the archdeaconry of Richmond . The name "Amounderness" is more ancient than the name of any other "Wapentake" or hundred in the County of Lancashire, and the fort at Tulketh, strengthened by William

738-482: A 50p booking fee (raised to £1 in 2018), using a yield management model with the lowest fares offered for booking early and on less popular journeys. Typically, only the first six seats were sold at £1. As of 2018 however, the £1 fares have been withdrawn with references to them removed from the website and coach body advertising. Services often use out-of-town coachway interchanges to reduce delays caused by calling at interchanges in urban centres. Megatrain also follows

861-492: A championship since and their latest major trophy was the 1938 FA Cup . The demonym for residents of the city is "Prestonian". Preston was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Prestune . Various other spellings occur in early documents: Prestonam (1094), Prestone (1160), Prestona (1160), Presteton (1180), and Prestun (1226). The modern spelling occurs in 1094, 1176, 1196, 1212, and 1332. The town's name

984-665: A contractor so no route changes were made. This left only domestic UK operations under the control of Stagecoach. On 1 May 2017, Megabus commenced operating five services from London, Gatwick Airport and Heathrow Airport to the West of England . These were operated by South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach . Stagecoach purchased the South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach business in September 2019 and integrated it into its Stagecoach West subsidiary. In October 2017, Megabus created

1107-399: A densely populated engineering centre, with large industrial plants. The town's textile sector fell into terminal decline from the mid-20th century and Preston has subsequently faced similar challenges to other post-industrial northern towns, including deindustrialisation, economic deprivation and housing issues. Preston is the seat of Lancashire County Council , houses the main campus of

1230-411: A few miles per hour. Shakespeare 's first plays were staged at coaching inns such as The George Inn, Southwark . The speed of travel remained constant until the mid-18th century. Reforms of the turnpike trusts , new methods of road building and the improved construction of coaches all led to a sustained rise in the comfort and speed of the average journey—from an average journey length of 2 days for

1353-590: A freight ship collided with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge , resulting in several vehicles, including a Greyhound bus, falling into the Tampa Bay . All 26 people on the bus perished, along with nine others. This is the largest loss of life on a single Greyhound coach to date. On March 5, 2010, a bus operated by Tierra Santa Inc. crashed on Interstate 10 in Arizona , killing six and injuring sixteen passengers. The bus

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1476-483: A half after leaving Manchester." A similar service was begun from Liverpool three years later, using coaches with steel spring suspension. This coach took an unprecedented three days to reach London with an average speed of eight miles per hour (13 km/h). Even more dramatic improvements to coach speed were made by John Palmer at the British Post Office , who commissioned a fleet of mail coaches to deliver

1599-489: A large profile. Preston has places of worship for people of a wide variety of religions, including churches of many Christian denominations. There are also places of worship for Buddhists , Hindus , Muslims , the Jehovah's Witnesses , Latter-day Saints , Sikhs and The Salvation Army , amongst others. Preston was also home to an Ashkenazi Orthodox Jewish synagogue on Avenham Place, formed in 1882, but this closed during

1722-558: A modern-architecture Guild Hall opened in 1972, to replace the Public Hall. The town was by-passed by Britain's very first motorway , built and operated by engineer James Drake, which was opened by Harold Macmillan in December 1958. Within a decade, this formed part of the M6 – giving Preston a direct motorway link with Manchester and Birmingham . The late 1960s saw the completion of Ringway,

1845-482: A month later, on October 3, 2001, Damir Igric , a passenger on a Greyhound bus, slit the throat of the driver (who later survived his injuries and was hospitalized) and tried to take control of the bus, resulting in a crash that killed 7 passengers, including Igric, and injuring six other passengers. It was determined there was no connection between the September 11 attacks and this incident. Nevertheless, this raised concern. On September 30, 2002, another Greyhound driver

1968-509: A more frequent, combined Megabus/Citylink service. As a consequence, passengers who previously used parallel Citylink services from the bus station in Perth town centre were required to use Broxden Park & Ride on the outskirts of the town, with little to no onward connections to the town centre. Tickets for the combined Megabus/Citylink services are available through both companies' websites, though often at different prices. From 16 February 2006,

2091-405: A network of routes from London's Green Line Coach Station to Brighton , Portsmouth , Southampton , Bournemouth , Bristol , Exeter , Plymouth , Cardiff , Swansea and Birmingham were added. On 28 June 2004, routes from London to Milton Keynes , Leicester , Chesterfield , Sheffield , Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow were added and within two months these were followed by the expansion of

2214-533: A new M39 service, running from Aberystwyth to Birmingham, via Welshpool and Shrewsbury. This service is operated by Mid Wales Travel. In March 2018, the Advertising Standards Authority banned Megabus from using adverts promising £1 fares as few seats were available at this price. Megabus' response was to withdraw the £1 fares altogether, leading some passengers to note that the ASA's decision has worked to

2337-512: A new record October high temperature of 26.9 °C was set. The absolute minimum is −13.3 °C (8.1 °F), recorded during February 1969. In a typical year the coldest night should fall to −6.8 °C (19.8 °F), and 40.2 nights should receive an air frost. The lowest temperature in recent years was −9.2 °C (15.4 °F) during December 2010. Annual rainfall totals just under 1000 mm per year, with over 1 mm of precipitation falling on 150 days. All averages refer to

2460-404: A novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion. Obadiah Elliott registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle. Each wheel had two durable steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs attached to the axles . Steady improvements in road construction were also made at this time, most importantly

2583-516: A private letter from Preston on 27 November 1745: "People here are beginning to join [us] very fast; we have got about sixty recruits today". From 10 to 12 December the Prince gave his retreating Army a rest in Preston on their long, last and fatal retreat from Derby through Lancaster and Carlisle to their dreadful day of destiny the following 16 April on Culloden Moor near Inverness . The 19th century saw

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2706-564: A rail strike to run a coach service from Bournemouth to London. The service was so successful that it expanded rapidly. In 1920 the Minister of Transport Eric Campbell Geddes was quoted in Punch magazine as saying "I think it would be a calamity if we did anything to prevent the economic use of charabancs " and expressed concern at the problems caused to small charabanc and omnibus operators in parliament. In America, Carl Eric Wickman began providing

2829-741: A result of expanding road and air travel, and urban decay that caused many neighborhoods with bus depots to become more dangerous. In 1960, American intercity buses carried 140 million riders; the rate decreased to 40 million by 1990, and continued to decrease until 2006. By 1997, intercity bus transportation accounted for only 3.6% of travel in the United States. In the late 1990s, however, Chinatown bus lines that connected New York with Boston and Philadelphia 's Chinatowns began operating. They became popular with non-Chinese college students and others who wanted inexpensive transportation, and between 1997 and 2007 Greyhound lost 60% of its market share in

2952-642: A route between Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich. On 24 June 2015, Megabus launched first intercity bus services in Italy with 22 coaches out of a depot in Bergamo . The five main routes are: On 8 July 2015, a service commenced from Milan to London. On 29 June 2016, Stagecoach Group announced that all operations in the European mainland, as well as those services linking London with Europe, had been sold to German competitor Flixbus from 1 July 2016 with Megabus serving as

3075-424: A speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) for coaches whilst removing any speed limit for private cars. The 1930s to the 1950s saw the development of bus stations for intercity transport. Many expanded from simple stops into major architecturally designed terminals that included shopping and other businesses. Intercity bus transport increased in speed, efficiency and popularity until the 1950s and 1960s, when as

3198-421: A through ticketing agreement with Yorkshire Coastliner . Megabusplus services also used coaches to Southampton Airport Parkway station , then Megatrain ( South West Trains ) to Bournemouth. In 2014, further Megabusplus services were launched using South West Trains services between London Waterloo and Honiton , then the following four coach routes from Honiton: Overnight sleeper services were introduced on

3321-451: A transformation in Preston from a small market town to a much larger industrial one, as the innovations of the latter half of the previous century such as Richard Arkwright 's water frame (invented in Preston) brought cotton mills to many northern English towns. With industrialisation came examples of both oppression and enlightenment. The town's forward-looking spirit is typified by it being

3444-552: Is a bus company that serves the International route such as from Pontianak , Indonesia to Kuching , Malaysia and Bandar Seri Begawan , Brunei Darussalam in Borneo operated by state-owned bus company, DAMRI and some private operators. Another international bus service in Timor connects Kupang , Indonesia and Dili , Timor Leste . Because of the weak-developed rail network and

3567-648: Is a route operated by Antar Lintas Sumatera (ALS) connecting Medan in North Sumatra and Jember in East Java . It is a week long bus travel covering a distance of 2,920 kilometers. The surge in intercity bus travel in Indonesia took place after the completion of Trans-Java highway section connecting Jakarta and Surabaya in 2018. During this time, some intercity bus services began operating fleet of double decker busses . Besides regular domestic public transport, there

3690-524: Is approximately 27 miles (43 km) north west of Manchester , 26 miles (42 km) north east of Liverpool , and 15 miles (24 km) east of the coastal town Blackpool . The current borders came into effect on 1 April 1974, when the Local Government Act 1972 merged the existing County Borough of Preston with Fulwood Urban District as an unparished area within the Borough of Preston . Preston

3813-616: Is derived from the Old English words Presta and tun . The tun (enclosure, farmstead, village, manor, estate) of the Presta . During the Roman period, Roman roads passed close to what is now the centre of Preston. For example, the road from Luguvalium to Mamucium (now Carlisle to Manchester) crossed the River Ribble at Walton-le-Dale , 3 ⁄ 4 mile (1 km) southeast of

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3936-445: Is extensive, intercity coach is a common mean of transport between cities. In some cities, for example Shenzhen , nearly every town / district has a coach station. Coach services can be further categorised into high speed (via motorway, Chinese: 高速客运) and low speed (via national highways, Chinese: 低速客运) services, with the latter stopping along the route to carry rural passengers. The number of people opting for long-distance bus travel

4059-905: Is normally easily identifiable, with the megabus.com name on the front and sides in yellow on a blue base and the Megabus logo on the left side of the coach (facing forward) and rear of the bus. Accessible coaches are operated on routes between England and Wales, the M9 and M90 in Scotland, and the M20. Vehicles are owned and maintained by various Stagecoach subsidiaries. When branded vehicles are unavailable other Stagecoach vehicles can be used or coaches hired in. Substitute vehicles used have been Dennis Trident 2 and Volvo Olympian double deckers, and Dennis Dart and Volvo B10M single deckers. Stagecoach London double deckers from Leyton garage were often seconded to Megabus until

4182-555: Is not available or underdeveloped in other parts of the country. Thus the intercity bus service has become the major provider of land transportation service connecting Indonesian cities, either within an island or inter-island connected through ferry crossings . The intercity bus operator companies in Indonesian with several major companies operating mainly in Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. The longest intercity bus service in Indonesia

4305-421: Is on the decline since 2014. Partly this is due to the development of high-speed rail , with train tickets having a similar price to bus tickets, and train services often being much faster, buses are not competitive anymore. Other reasons are the increase in private car ownership and the popularity of ride-hailing . Long distance buses remain popular on routes where train tickets are quickly sold out and where

4428-564: Is supported by the similarity of the Paschal lamb on Preston's crest with that on St Wilfrid's. When first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book , Preston was already the most important town in Amounderness (the area of Central Lancashire between the rivers Ribble and Cocker , including The Fylde and the Forest of Bowland ). When assessed for tax purposes in 1218 – 19 it was the wealthiest town in

4551-655: Is the only public transit to reach many urban centres in Canada, and Via Rail services are very sporadic outside the Québec City–Windsor Corridor . Coach service is mostly privately owned and operated, and tends to be regionally focused. Greyhound Canada , once Canada's biggest intercity carrier, ceased operations in 2021. Major operators are listed below. In the mid-1950s more than 2,000 buses operated by Greyhound Lines , Trailways , and other companies connected 15,000 cities and towns. Passenger volume decreased as

4674-524: The Domesday Book is recorded as "Prestune". In the Middle Ages , Preston was a parish and township in the hundred of Amounderness and was granted a Guild Merchant charter in 1179, giving it the status of a market town . Textiles have been produced since the mid-13th century when locally produced wool was woven in people's houses. Flemish weavers who settled in the area in the 14th century helped develop

4797-520: The Battle of Preston (1648) , and then the first Jacobite rebellion, whose invasion of England was brought to a conclusion by the defeat of the pro-Catholic and pro-monarchial Jacobite army at the Battle of Preston (1715) . Letitia Elizabeth Landon alludes to this latter defeat in her poetical illustration, Preston , to an engraving of a painting by Thomas Allom , in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1834. In

4920-630: The Cambridge -London route in 1750 to a length of under 7 hours in 1820. Robert Hooke helped in the construction of some of the first spring-suspended coaches in the 1660s and spoked wheels with iron rim brakes were introduced, improving the characteristics of the coach. In 1754, a Manchester -based company began a new service called the "Flying Coach". It was advertised with the following announcement: "However incredible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring incidents) arrive in London in four days and

5043-516: The Freckleton district claimed the lives of 61 people in 1944. For some 20 years after 1948, Preston became home to a significant number of Asian and Caribbean Commonwealth immigrants, who mostly worked in the manufacturing industry. However, an economic decline hit the town once again in the 1970s, capped by the closure of the Courtaulds factory in 1979 (nearly 3,000 job losses) and the decline of

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5166-549: The London low emission zone , all were replaced by Alexander Dennis Enviro400s in 2019. For the first time since Megabus was founded, 'Sid' the Megabus mascot, was given a voice - which could be heard in the automatic commentary on the vehicles whilst they were in motion on the tour. On 9 June 2018, a Megasightseeing bus strayed in to a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in support of the far-right leader Tommy Robinson . The bus

5289-580: The National Safety Council . Crashes involving intercity buses can be disastrous in their magnitude because of the large number of passengers they are capable of carrying. For example, the Kempsey bus crash in Australia on 22 December 1989 involved two full tourist coaches, each traveling at 100 km/h (62 mph), colliding head-on: 35 people died and 41 were injured. Intercity coach service

5412-615: The Preston Power Loom Weavers' Association was founded, and by 1920 it had more than 13,000 members in the town. The Preston Temperance Society, led by Joseph Livesey pioneered the Temperance Movement in the 19th century. Indeed, the term teetotalism is believed to have been coined at one of its meetings. The website of the University of Central Lancashire library has a great deal of information on Joseph Livesey and

5535-553: The Stagecoach in Lancashire X61 Blackpool to Manchester service, which was usually operated by a coach but this service was significantly slower than the equivalent National Express service. Again following the loss of National Express contracts (this time at Stagecoach Warwickshire 's Rugby depot), on 5 December 2005, the London to Birmingham service was increased in frequency to every two hours with an additional stop on

5658-474: The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and is home to Preston North End , a founder member of the Football League and the first English football champions in 1889 . In that season, the team also won the league and cup double and went unbeaten in the league. It took 115 years until another team went a full season unbeaten. After winning another league title the year afterwards, the team has not won

5781-423: The docks on the River Ribble , which finally closed in 1981. Mass unemployment was firmly back in Preston by the early 1980s, although it was now very much a national crisis due to the recession of that time . The rehousing of families from town centre slums to new council houses continued after World War II, though it slowed down to a virtual standstill after 1975. The face of the town centre began to change in

5904-527: The yield management model. Tickets must be bought in advance via the Megabus website or by telephone, when passengers are given a reservation number that they show the driver when they board. The only services on which tickets can be bought on the vehicle are a small number of Scottish services. Megabus serves many towns and cities. For service efficiency it sometimes uses coachway interchanges rather than urban bus stations (e.g. Meadowhall Interchange rather than Sheffield Interchange ). The Megabus fleet

6027-555: The 1830s spelt the end for the stagecoaches across Europe and America, with only a few companies surviving to provide services for short journeys and excursions until the early years of the 20th century. The first motor coaches were acquired by operators of those horse-drawn vehicles. W. C. Standerwick of Blackpool , England acquired its first motor charabanc in 1911, and Royal Blue from Bournemouth acquired its first motor charabanc in 1913. Motor coaches were initially used only for excursions. In 1919, Royal Blue took advantage of

6150-571: The 1960s, with old developments being bulldozed and replaced by modern developments such as the St George's Shopping Centre , which opened in 1966, and the Fishergate Shopping Centre which was built nearly 20 years later. The remains of the Victorian town hall, designed by George Gilbert Scott and mostly destroyed by fire in 1947, were replaced by an office block (Crystal House) in 1962, and

6273-547: The 2024 General Election, Preston is divided between two Westminster constituencies, namely Preston and Ribble Valley . The County Hall is located on Fishergate and is the main office for Lancashire County Council . The River Ribble provides a southern border for the city. The Forest of Bowland forms a backdrop to Preston to the northeast while the Fylde lies to the west. At 53°45′N 2°42′W  /  53.750°N 2.700°W  / 53.750; -2.700 , Preston

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6396-699: The Christian and Catholic faith is long and deep here in Preston." Preston lies in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster and the Anglican Diocese of Blackburn . There are at least 73 churches, chapels, missions and meeting houses, as well as 15 cemeteries and burial sites, for which records exist. Carey Baptist Church , on Pole Street, was built in 1826 for the Calvinistic Methodists of Lady Huntington . Formerly known as St Paul's Chapel, it

6519-750: The Church of St John the Evangelist and prior to the reformation; St Wilfrid's Parish Church, is located on Church Street, in the centre of the city. From its origin, it has been the parish church of Preston. The church of St George the Martyr , located on Georges Road, was founded in 1723. One of the many large active Roman Catholic parish churches is St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs , located on Garstang Road. St Walburge's Church , designed by Joseph Hansom of Hansom Cab fame, has, at 309 feet (94 m),

6642-568: The Conqueror , shows that the strategic importance of the area was appreciated even then. The location of the city, almost exactly midway between Glasgow and London, led to many confrontations with Scotland . Preston was burned by the Scots during The Great Raid of 1322 but two years later had quickly recovered. Decisive battles were also fought here, most notably during the English Civil War at

6765-578: The Guild Court, which since the 16th century has traditionally been on the first Monday after the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist celebrated on 29 August. As well as concerts and other exhibitions, the main events are a series of processions through the city. Numerous street parties are held in the locality. In 1952 the emphasis was on the bright new world emerging after the war. The major event, held in

6888-559: The London to Glasgow route in 2011, using Jonckheere Mistral articulated coaches with a flat bunk bed as well as a seat for each passenger. Luxury Megabus Gold coaches were introduced from 8 July 2013 on selected sleeper services between London and Edinburgh/Aberdeen, as well as some day services. This sub-brand is in line with the upmarket Stagecoach Gold and Citylink Gold brands already used by Stagecoach subsidiaries. This service ended in May 2017, due to it being consistently loss-making, and

7011-731: The London to Southampton and London to Portsmouth routes became feeders to the London to Bournemouth service, with passengers required to change at Winchester. Some London to Bristol journeys were extended to Cwmbran . On 1 October 2007, the London hub moved from Bulleid Way to Victoria Coach Station . From October 2009, M35 Cardiff to Newcastle began. In May 2011, services were introduced between London and Norwich , Leeds and Edinburgh, and London and Swansea and Pembroke Dock with through ferry fares to Rosslare Europort in Ireland. Additional journeys were added to several existing routes. From April 2012, Megabus began cross-nation services linking

7134-492: The London to Swansea service was withdrawn between Cardiff and Swansea. A joint venture between Scottish Citylink and Megabus led to co-ordination of services in Scotland. On 21 November 2005, the 900 Motorvator service was replaced by an enhanced Citylink service, with the facility to buy seats through the Megabus website was retained. The next week, most of the faster Citylink services between Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and Glasgow, and Inverness, Perth and Edinburgh were replaced by

7257-484: The Megabus site, the remainder being available without booking in advance, at regular fares. This enabled Stagecoach to cancel the dedicated Megabus service between the two cities. On 15 November 2004, the London to Oxford service was replaced by seats on the Oxford Tube . On 31 January 2005, Stagecoach bus route X5 between Oxford and Cambridge became part of the Megabus network, selling a number of seats per journey in

7380-861: The Northeast Corridor, compared to 1.7 billion passenger miles for Amtrak trains. Traditional depot-based bus lines also grew, benefiting from what the American Bus Association called "the Megabus effect", akin to the Southwest Effect , and both Greyhound and its subsidiary Yo! Bus , which competed directly with the Chinatown buses, benefited after the federal government shut several Chinatown lines down in June 2012. Between 2006 and 2014, American intercity buses focused on medium-haul trips between 200 and 300 miles (320 and 480 km); airplanes performed

7503-436: The River Ribble. Preston is home to the world's oldest continuous branch (a small congregation) of the church. An official memorial to the church pioneers may be found in the Japanese Garden in Avenham Park. In 1998 the church erected a large temple at Chorley , near Preston, described by The Telegraph newspaper as "spectacular". The temple is officially known as the Preston England Temple . St. John's Minster , formerly

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7626-399: The Scottish routes to include Aberdeen and Inverness . Stagecoach West lost the contract to run the National Express route between London, Cheltenham and Gloucester , prompting it to introduce competing Megabus services from 5 September 2004. On 6 September 2004, Stagecoach took over the Motorvator service between Edinburgh and Glasgow, selling a number of seats per journey through

7749-415: The Temperance Movement in Preston. Preston was one of only a few industrial towns in Lancashire to have a functioning corporation (local council) in 1835 (its charter dating to 1685), and was reformed as a municipal borough by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 . It became the County Borough of Preston under the Local Government Act 1888 . In 1974, county boroughs were abolished, and it became part of

7872-504: The UK to continental Europe, from Birmingham and London to Paris and from Leicester and London to Brussels and Amsterdam. This was announced a month prior to the introduction of the services. A third route, which operates entirely outside the UK, links Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam . In 2013, Megabus started a route between Cologne, Brussels, Gent and London. In 2014, Megabus launched a route between London, Paris, Toulouse and Barcelona. In Germany, as megabus.com GmbH, they also launched

7995-519: The bulk of longer trips and automobiles shorter ones. For most medium-haul trips curbside bus fares were less than the cost of automobile gasoline, and one tenth that of Amtrak. Buses are also four times more fuel-efficient than automobiles. Their Wi-Fi service is also popular; one study estimated that 92% of Megabus and BoltBus passengers planned to use an electronic device. New lower fares introduced by Greyhound on traditional medium-distance routes and rising gasoline prices have increased ridership across

8118-406: The centre of Preston, and a Roman camp or station may also have been here. At Withy Trees, 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2 km) north of Preston, the road crossed another Roman road from Bremetennacum (the Roman fort at Ribchester ) to the coast. An explanation of the origin of the name is that the Priest's Town refers to a priory set up by St Wilfrid near the Ribble's lowest ford. This idea

8241-451: The city centre including the Miller Arcade , the Town Hall, the Harris Museum , the Minster Church of St. John the Evangelist (formerly Preston Parish Church, elevated to Minster church status in June 2003), the former Corn Exchange and Public Hall , St. Wilfrid's Catholic Church , Fishergate Baptist Church, and many beautiful Georgian buildings on Winckley Square . Many Catholic and Anglican parish churches are also to be found throughout

8364-437: The city centre, and surrounded by built-up areas, suggesting a degree of urban warming is likely, particularly during clear and calm nights. The absolute high recorded at the weather station was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F) during July 2022. In a typical year the warmest day should reach 27.6 °C (81.7 °F) and 5.9 days in total should attain a maximum temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or more. In October 2011,

8487-488: The city including: Latin Church Catholics, Baptist , Christadelphian , Congregational , Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion , Evangelical , Methodist , Pentecostal , Presbyterian , Swedenborgian and Wesleyan Methodist . The Society of Friends meet at the Preston Friends Meeting House at 189 St George's Road. Preston has a strong Roman Catholic Christian history and tradition, recently noted by Archbishop Vincent Nichols in his Guild 2012 Mass Homily: "The history of

8610-556: The city of Hong Kong and the border crossing at Shenzhen , without entering the city centre in Shenzhen or further. These services are termed 'short-haul cross-boundary coach service' by the Transport Department which nearly the whole journey is within the limits of Hong Kong, as opposed to 'long-haul cross-boundary coach service' which runs between cities. As an archipelagic nation, travel between Indonesian cities are done mostly through air and sea travel. Intercity railways are available primarily in Java and Sumatra , while it

8733-480: The city's Avenham Park , had every school participating, and hundreds of children, from toddlers to teenagers, demonstrated different aspects of physical education in the natural amphitheatre of the park. The 2012 guild formally opened on 2 September with a mayoral proclamation and the return of "friendship scrolls" that had travelled the world. Highlights in the programme for the 2012 celebration included two concerts in Avenham Park – one by Human League and another,

8856-436: The city's patron saint who is historically linked to the city's establishment. The "PP" on the city shield stands for "Princeps Pacis" (Prince of Peace), another title for Christ invoking Him as protector of the city, though it is also often taken to stand for the city's nickname "Proud Preston". In fact, there were originally three letters "P" on the coat of arms , with one being lost over time. The 2001 Census recorded 72% of

8979-519: The coaches are now only used on daytime services. On 23 April 2018, Megabus, along with Stagecoach London , started operating three non-stop open top bus sight seeing routes in London under the Megasightseeing brand. Each trip on the route was approximately two hours long, and used a GPS activated pre-recorded 'guide'. The three circular routes, which ran hourly on the hour started from Tower of London , The London Eye , and Park Lane . Tickets for

9102-469: The cotton industry. Electrical goods manufacturing and engineering arrived in the town, and the building sector enjoyed a boom with nearly 3,000 council houses being built between 1920 and 1939. Some 1,500 houses were built for private sale. Despite its heavy industry, Preston endured only a handful of Luftwaffe air raids in World War II and there were no fatalities in the town, although an air crash in

9225-556: The county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding district obtained city status in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II 's reign. Preston has a population of 114,300, the City of Preston district 132,000 and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322. The Preston Travel To Work Area, in 2011, had a population of 420,661, compared with 354,000 in

9348-446: The decline of Pakistan Railways and the unaffordable prices of airplanes for the average Pakistani. Numerous companies have started operating within the country such as Daewoo Express and Niazi Express, Manthar Bus Service and have gained considerable popularity due to their reliability, security and good service. Smaller vans are used for transportation in the mountainous north where narrow and dangerous roads make it impossible for

9471-530: The detriment of Megabus customers. In August 2022, as part of the Stagecoach Group sale to DWS, it was agreed that Megabus' retail activities (the sale and marketing of tickets) would be sold to Scottish Citylink . An earlier proposed sale of Stagecoach to National Express would have seen Megabus sold in its entirety to ComfortDelGro . Scottish Citylink is a longstanding joint venture between Stagecoach Group and ComfortDelGro, which also took over Falcon at

9594-413: The driver are generally off limits. The growing popularity in the United States of new bus lines such as Megabus and BoltBus that pick up and drop off passengers on the street instead of bus depots has led to a rise in the perceived security of intercity buses. Megabus states that a quarter of its passengers are unaccompanied women. In relatively developed regions of China where the motorway network

9717-557: The first English town outside London to be lit by gas. The Preston Gas Company was established in 1815 by, amongst others, a Catholic priest: Rev. Joseph "Daddy" Dunn of the Society of Jesus . The Preston and Wigan Railway arrived in 1838, shortly afterwards renamed the North Union Railway . The Sheffield firm of Thos. W. Ward Ltd opened a ship breaking yard at Preston Dock in 1894. The more oppressive side of industrialisation

9840-439: The first service in 1913. Frustrated about being unable to sell a seven-passenger automobile on the showroom floor of the dealership where he worked, he purchased the vehicle himself and started using it to transport miners between Hibbing and Alice , Minnesota . He began providing this service regularly in what would start a new company and industry. The company would one day be known as Greyhound . In 1914, Pennsylvania

9963-497: The industry. In the early-18th century, Edmund Calamy described Preston as "a pretty town with an abundance of gentry in it, commonly called Proud Preston". Sir Richard Arkwright , inventor of the spinning frame , was born in the town. The most rapid period of growth and development coincided with the industrialisation and expansion of textile manufacturing . Preston was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution , becoming

10086-539: The introduction of a new once-daily service from London to Norwich . A number of changes to routes were made on 27 March 2006. A direct service was introduced between Ferrytoll Park & Ride in Fife , Edinburgh and London via Newcastle and Sheffield . Together with changes to the Leeds to London services, this meant that changes at Tibshelf services were no longer needed. In addition, many routes had timetable changes. In particular,

10209-415: The larger part of the new non-metropolitan district, the Borough of Preston , which also included Fulwood Urban District and much of Preston Rural District . The borough acquired city status in 2002. By 1901, nearly 120,000 people were living in Preston, now a booming industrial town. New industries arrived in Preston during the interwar years which helped ease the pain felt through the sharp decline of

10332-779: The last great Jacobite Rising, on 27 November 1745 the Jacobite Prince of Wales and Regent, Bonnie Prince Charlie passed through Preston with his Highland Army on the way south through Chorley and Manchester to Derby intending to take London and the Crown. Preston was the first of quite a few places in England where the Prince was cheered as he rode by and where he was joined by some English volunteers for his Army. One Jacobite eyewitness noted that from Preston onwards, "at every town we were received with ringing of bells, and at night we have bonfires, and illuminations". Another Jacobite eyewitness noted in

10455-726: The mid-1980s. Preston has a significant Muslim ( Sunni Branch, particularly Hanafi school) population, the majority of which is of Gujarati Indian descent. The Muslim population is centred in the Deepdale, Riversway, Fishwick, Fulwood and Frenchwood areas. Preston has 12 mosques: five in Deepdale & St George's, one in Frenchwood, one in Riversway, two in Adelphi and three in Fishwick. A wide range of denominations are, or have been, represented in

10578-544: The morning heading to an urban central business district , with trips in the evening mainly heading toward suburbs . Intercity coaches may also be used to supplement or replace another transport service, for example when a train or airline route is not in service. Statistically, intercity bus service is considered to be a very safe mode of transportation. For example, in the United States there are about 0.5 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles traveled according to

10701-527: The movement of larger buses. Most of the time, coaches in Taiwan is driving on Controlled-access highway , so it is mainly called Highway Coach (Chinese name: 國道客運 ). e.g. KBus (國光客運), UBus (統聯客運), HoHsin (和欣客運). Preston, Lancashire Preston ( / ˈ p r ɛ s t ən / ) is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire , England. The city is the administrative centre of

10824-440: The neighbouring city of Lancaster . On 10 August 1893, approximately 32 millimetres (1.3 in) of rain fell in Preston in 5 minutes, being a record for the most rainfall to fall in that time in the United Kingdom . One of the proposed derivations of the city's name coming from 'Priests' town'. The lamb on the city shield is a biblical image of Jesus Christ, and the same image that represented 7th-century bishop St Wilfrid ,

10947-646: The network and made bus travel cheaper than all alternatives. Effective June 25, 2014, Greyhound reintroduced many much longer bus routes, including New York – Los Angeles , Los Angeles – Vancouver , and others, while increasing frequencies on existing long-distance and ultra-long-distance buses routes. This turned back the tide of shortening bus routes and puts Greyhound back in the position of competing with long-distance road trips, airlines, and trains. Long-distance buses were to have Wi-Fi , power outlets , and extra legroom, sometimes extra recline, and were to be cleaned, refueled, and driver-changed at major stations along

11070-571: The northeast United States to the Chinatown buses. During the following decade, new bus lines such as Megabus and BoltBus emulated the Chinatown buses' practices of low prices and curbside stops on a much larger scale, both in the original Northeast Corridor and elsewhere, while introducing yield management techniques to the industry. By 2010 curbside buses' annual passenger volume had risen by 33% and they accounted for more than 20% of all bus trips. One analyst estimated that curbside buses that year carried at least 2.4 billion passenger miles in

11193-465: The operator also ran routes to continental Europe . Some services linked with Stagecoach-operated Megatrain value rail services. Services from London to Oxford commenced on 4 August 2003, and from Edinburgh to Glasgow and Perth and Glasgow to Dundee were added one month later. During November 2003 routes from Manchester to Liverpool and Leeds were added, but these ceased on 27 June 2004 and 3 October 2004 respectively. On 1 March 2004,

11316-473: The outskirts of Coventry, and the withdrawal of the direct once-a-day service to Coventry city centre. One journey a day in each direction was extended to Wolverhampton . The stops in the south of Birmingham were no longer served. Further changes on this day were the doubling of the London to Nottingham service to twice a day with one journey extended to Chesterfield (which regained the service lost in April 2005) and

11439-422: The passenger compartment. In contrast to transit buses, motor coaches typically feature forward-facing seating, with no provision for standing. Other accommodations may include onboard restrooms, televisions, and overhead luggage space. A sleeper bus is an example of a vehicle with optimum amenity for the longest travel times, specially adapted for passengers to sleep in. An intercity coach service may depart from

11562-453: The pattern for various reasons, but an unbroken series were held from 1542 to 1922. A full 400-year sequence was frustrated by the cancellation of the 1942 guild due to World War II , but the cycle resumed in 1952. The expression '(Once) every Preston Guild', meaning 'very infrequently', has passed into fairly common use, especially in Lancashire. Guild week is always started by the opening of

11685-520: The period 1971–2000. In October 2014 Preston was officially ranked "the wettest city in England", and third wettest in the UK behind Cardiff and Glasgow . It was also ranked "the gloomiest city in England", as it gets fewer hours of sunshine in a year than any other English city or town. However, in March 2018 the Lancashire Evening Post reported that Preston has lost its "soggy city status" to

11808-607: The popularity of the private automobile has increased, the use of intercity bus service has declined. For example, in Canada in the 1950s, 120 million passengers boarded intercity bus service each year; in the 1960s, this number declined to 50 million. During the 1990s, it was down to 10 million. Intercity buses, as they hold passengers for significant periods of time on long journeys, are designed for comfort. Intercity buses, also known as coaches or motor coaches are almost always high-floor buses, with separate luggage hold mounted below

11931-522: The population of the City of Preston as Christians, 10% as having no religion, and 8% as Muslims. The Hindu and Sikh populations are smaller at 3% and 0.6% respectively, but in both cases this represents the highest percentage of any local authority area in the North West. 2% of the city's population were born in other EU countries. Though still small in number in Preston, the Latter-day Saints maintain

12054-453: The post across the country. His experimental coach left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later. The golden age of the stagecoach was during the Regency period , from 1800 to 1830. The era saw great improvements in the design of the coaches, notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system , and

12177-450: The present time. Megasightseeing followed the same yield pricing model of traditional Megabus routes, where fares can start from as little as £1, plus booking fee. The buses initially used on the service were former East London and Selkent 2005/06 Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents . These vehicles were refurbished and converted to open and part open top by Alexander Dennis . They were housed at Bow bus garage . To comply with

12300-546: The previous census. The south bank of the Ribble is part of the Preston urban area, although it forms the South Ribble borough that is administratively separate. Preston and its surrounding area have provided evidence of ancient Roman activity, largely in the form of a Roman road that led to a camp at Walton-le-Dale . The Angles established Preston; its name is derived from the Old English meaning "priest's settlement" and in

12423-506: The sale of that company to Macquarie Bank . When using substitute vehicles, there may not always be an onboard toilet, and in such cases rest stops are made. Some journeys are contracted to other operators using non-Megabus liveried vehicles, including Turners Coachways of Bristol, Tetleys of Leeds, Hamiltons of Uxbridge and Compass Royston from Stockton-on-Tees. Initially, most routes used buses designed for short journeys that had neither toilet facilities nor luggage space, and each passenger

12546-523: The same time. Contracts to operate Megabus services are still held mainly by Stagecoach subsidiaries. In October 2024 Megabus announced the withdrawal of most of its remaining routes in England and Wales, citing low passenger numbers. Megatrain offered low-cost intercity train travel on some East Midlands Railway . Services were available Monday to Saturday only, with no service on Sundays or public holidays. Service ceased by 2024. Megabusplus services combined Megabus and Megatrain for through journeys. It

12669-455: The same way as the Oxford Tube and Motorvator. From 18 April 2005, Nottingham , Worthing and Winchester were added to the network by slight extensions/modifications to existing routes, but rationalisation of the rest of the network took place, with some early morning and late evening services were withdrawn. On 13 June 2005, a new service was introduced between London and Coventry . However,

12792-504: The service were pre-booked from the Megabus website, and cash was not accepted at the roadside, however, bookings could be made for a particular journey right up to the time of departure, subject to availability. Megasightseeing was the only non-stop sightseeing service in London. Each sightseeing trip on the service carried up to 44 passengers. By reducing the number of bookings per trip, a top deck seat could be guaranteed, something other sightseeing operators in London are unable to offer at

12915-681: The slower Citylink service between Dundee, Perth and Glasgow became available to book through the Megabus website, restoring Perth bus station to the Megabus network. The same day of the Citylink service modifications, the London to Manchester route was extended to Preston , with some journeys extended to Blackpool or Lancaster . This coincided with the loss of National Express work at Preston depot. The extensions to Blackpool and Lancaster were short lived, and were withdrawn in February 2006, citing low passenger numbers. Following this Megabus tickets were sold on

13038-601: The small size of the country and the resulting low domestic air traffic, the long-distance bus cooperative Egged is the main public transport service in the country. Because of the widespread network, Egged is considered one of the largest bus companies in the world, in part because of the long-distance bus lines. However, in recent years Israel railways has expanded and upgraded its route network and other companies have taken over routes previously served by Egged. Intercity bus transportation has risen dramatically in Pakistan due to

13161-471: The soldiers and demonstrators represented are facing the wrong way). In the 1850s, Karl Marx visited Preston and later described the town as "the next St Petersburg ". Charles Dickens visited Preston in January 1854 during a strike by cotton workers that had by that stage lasted for 23 weeks. It is believed that the town of "Coketown" in the novel Hard Times was inspired by this visit to Preston. In 1858,

13284-641: The tallest spire in England on a church that is not a cathedral and the third tallest in the UK. In July 2016, St Ignatius Church in Preston, which had been gifted by the Catholic Diocese of Lancaster to the Syro-Malabar Catholic community, was raised to the status of a cathedral by Pope Francis . It now serves as the seat of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Great Britain . There are many notable buildings dotted in and around

13407-525: The train station is located far from passenger destinations. Since 2019, new bus routes longer than 800 km (500 miles) are restricted by law. There are numerous inter-city coach services between Hong Kong and various cities of Guangdong Province , e.g. Shenzhen , Guangzhou , Zhongshan and Zhuhai . These kinds of coaches are legally classified as a kind of non-franchised public bus, as "International Passenger Service". In addition, there are some coach services which just carry passengers between

13530-486: The way, coinciding with Greyhound's eradication of overbooking . It also represented Greyhound's traditional bus expansion over the expansion of curbside bus lines. On August 4, 1952, Greyhound Lines had its deadliest crash when two Greyhound buses collided head-on along then- U.S. Route 81 near Waco, Texas . The fuel tanks of both buses then ruptured, bursting into flames. Of the 56 persons aboard both coaches, 28 were killed, including both drivers. On May 9, 1980,

13653-485: The whole county. The right to hold a Guild Merchant was conferred by King Henry II upon the burgesses of Preston in a charter of 1179; the associated Preston Guild is a civic celebration held every 20 years, the last being in 2012. It is the only guild still celebrated in the UK. Before 1328, celebrations were held at irregular intervals, but at the guild of that year it was decreed that subsequent guilds should be held every 20 years. After this, there were breaks in

13776-433: The widespread implementation of Macadam roads up and down the country. Coaches in this period travelled at around twelve miles per hour (19 km/h) and greatly increased the level of mobility in the country, both for people and for mail . Each route had an average of four coaches operating on it at one time – two for both directions and a further two spares in case of a breakdown en route. The development of railways in

13899-438: Was allowed only one bag. Intercity bus service Intercity bus services are of prime importance in lightly populated rural areas that often have little or no public transportation . Intercity bus services are one of four common transport methods between cities, not all of which are available in all places. The others are by airliner , train , and private automobile . The first intercity scheduled transport service

14022-410: Was assaulted near Fresno, California , resulting in two passenger deaths after the bus then rolled off an embankment and crashed. Following this attack, driver shields were installed on most Greyhound buses that now prevent passengers from directly having contact with the driver while the bus is in motion, even if the shield is forced open. On buses which do not have the shield, the seats directly behind

14145-408: Was called the stagecoach and originated in the 17th century. Crude coaches were being built from the 16th century in England, but without suspension, these coaches achieved very low speeds on the poor quality rutted roads of the time. By the mid 17th century, a basic stagecoach infrastructure was being put in place. The first stagecoach route started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith . This

14268-584: Was designated as part of the Central Lancashire new town in 1970. The climate of Preston is of a temperate maritime type, with a narrow range of temperatures, similar to the rest of the British Isles. Being relatively close to the Irish sea, this is more pronounced than areas to the south and east of Preston. The official Met Office weather station is located at Moor Park, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) north of

14391-446: Was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the country. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between London and Liverpool by the mid 17th century. The coach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. They also became widely adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century and generally travelled at

14514-506: Was launched on 30 March 2009. As at August 2019, Megabusplus services use coaches to East Midlands Parkway station , then Megatrain ( East Midlands Railway ) services to London St Pancras . Even though Stagecoach ceased operating rail services in August 2019, when East Midlands Trains was superseded by East Midlands Railway , services continue to operate as of May 2021. As at August 2019, services operated were: Services previously operated from York but ceased in 2017 when Megabus entered

14637-469: Was not carrying insurance, and had also been operating illegally because the company had applied for authority to operate an interstate bus service, but had failed to respond to requests for additional information. Though generally rare, various incidents have occurred over time involving both drivers and passengers on intercity buses. Security became a concern following the September 11 attacks . Less than

14760-491: Was overtaken by protesters and a significant amount of damage occurred to the vehicle, which resulted in it needing to be towed away. In May 2021, Megasightseeing services were withdrawn and replaced by City Sightseeing services jointly operated by Stagecoach and Julià Travel on behalf of the company. The same Alexander Dennis Enviro400 vehicles that were used on the Megasightseeing service were repainted into City Sightseeing livery. Advertised fares initially started at £1 with

14883-583: Was purchased by the Baptists in 1855. It is a Grade II listed building. The church survives remains active in the community. Preston was the location of the world's first foreign mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormons). As early as 1837 the first Latter-day Saint missionaries to Great Britain began preaching in Preston and, in particular, other small towns situated along

15006-512: Was seen during the Preston Strike of 1842 on Saturday 13 August 1842, when a group of cotton workers demonstrated against the poor conditions in the town's mills. The Riot Act was read and armed troops corralled the demonstrators in front of the Corn Exchange on Lune Street. Shots were fired and four of the demonstrators were killed. A commemorative sculpture now stands on the spot (although

15129-442: Was the first state to pass regulations for bus service in order to prevent monopolies of the industry from forming. All remaining U.S. states would soon follow. The coach industry expanded rapidly in the 1920s, a period of intense competition. The Road Traffic Act 1930 in the UK introduced a national system of regulation of passenger road transport and authorised local authorities to operate transport services. It also imposed

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