Lincolnshire coach

County advice overview

Both local and national coach services operate within Lincolnshire, including National Express and Megabus with wheelchair-accessible coaches.

It is advisable to contact the coach provider directly to check wheelchair accessibility and mobility requirements as these can vary between providers and routes.  

The Lincs Bus website provides information on coach routes and timetables. Plus, a detailed guide to all Lincolnshire travel including bus, rail and community transport services. 

Contact the Linc Bus transport helpline on 0345 456 4474, 9.00am – 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, and 9.30am – 4.00pm on Saturday. 

Key tips 

Always allow yourself plenty of time to plan your journey. It may be worth considering:

• If you will need help to access the coach and will you be travelling with mobility equipment. Consider whether it is easier to take equipment with you or hire it at your destination from an outlet such as ShopMobility.
• Booking assistance in advance. Before you contact the coach operator to arrange, consider all aspects of your journey so you can obtain all the information in one call. For example, if travelling by coach are you able to access the onboard toilets? Will your destination stop be accessible?
• When booking transport assistance, you should be able to provide the size of a wheelchair or mobility scooter, including the total weight with or without the user.
• What local transport do you need once you arrive at your destination? Will you need to pre-book an accessible taxi?
• Will you be making this journey more than once a year? If so, it may be worth researching concessionary travel schemes.

Remember that your local Hubs Mobility Advice Service can signpost you to the correct travel operator and mobility organisations.

Regional operators

Various operators provide coach hire for holidays and day trips across Lincolnshire. 

Hunts Coaches

Hunts Coaches wesbite

Coach provider for trips in and out of Lincolnshire.
Contact: 01507 463000 or email travel.office@hunts-coaches.co.uk  

Stephenson’s Coaches

Stephenson’s Coaches website

Lincolnshire based (Lincoln) coach provider providing coach holidays and day trips.
Contact: 01673 878335 or email travel@stephensonscoaches.co.uk  

Bland’s

Bland’s website

Private coach hire, as well as scheduled local bus services in and around Stamford, Rutland and Peterborough. 
Contact: 01780 751671 or email adam@blands.info  

National operators

National Express

Provides a coach service from Lincoln to London/Hull/Birmingham. Peterborough might be the closest pick up/drop off for some parts of Lincolnshire 

Megabus

Provide services from locations within Lincolnshire, connecting with many other destinations countrywide.

Help with cost

Check my Bus

Check my Bus will help you to find the cheapest fares for your journey.

National Express Senior Coachcard

If you are 60 or over you can apply for a National Express Senior Coachcard. It offers a 1/3 saving on Standard and Fully Flexible fares to hundreds of towns, cities and airports across the UK.

There are no restrictions on peak and off-peak travel times, so you can travel when it suits you and your plans. This includes public holidays, bank holidays and weekends.

Benefits include:

• Save 1/3 on Standard and Fully Flexible fares, even at peak times.
• £15 day-return on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to anywhere in the UK (excluding airports), just book 3 days in advance of your travel.
• Free journey if your coach is delayed for over an hour
• You can apply for a coachcard on the National Express website, by phoning 0871 781 8181, or at any National Express ticket outlet.

National Express Disabled Coachcard

A Disabled Coachcard offers a 1/3 saving on Standard and Fully Flexible fares to hundreds of UK towns, cities and airports. For more information, please use the link below: 

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/offers/coachcards/disabled

Special assistance

Journey Assistance Cards

National Express have created a selection of Journey Assistance Cards for passengers. 

These explain to staff and drivers any need for assistance or exemptions from requirements. For example, if you have a hearing impediment. 

Journey Assistance Cards can be downloaded on the National Express website. 

Travelling with mobility equipment

Coaches are generally equipped with a wheelchair lift. However, it cannot be deployed at all stops, so it is best to check in advance if your coach is accessible. Call the coach company to double check.

National Express

Have a dedicated Assisted Travel Team who you can contact on 03717 818181 to talk through your needs. (Lines open 9.00am – 5.00pm, 7 days a week.) It is not a requirement to book your assistance in advance, but it will help National Express to provide your assistance if you do so.

Wheelchair users are advised to book travel in advance, although this is not essential. This will allow National Express to carry out the following checks:

• that the wheelchair is compatible with the space on the coach
• that the combined weight of the customer and the wheelchair do not exceed the maximum weight capacity of being lifted by the wheelchair lift
• that the locations at which the customer plans to board and alight the coach from are accessible stops at which the wheelchair lift can be deployed
• that the specific coach on which the customer plans to travel is not already fully booked

It is recommended that you contact National Express 36 hours in advance of travel. This will ensure they are able to carry out checks. If you book same-day travel, National Express will make all reasonable efforts to carry out checks on the day. 

Customers cannot travel in their mobility scooters. However, small lightweight mobility scooters that can be dismantled and safely stowed in the luggage hold of the coach are accepted.

In order to check if your scooter will be accepted, you will need to give National Express details of the size, make and model. You will be advised either at the time of booking, or by National Express calling you back, about the suitability of your mobility scooter for carriage in the luggage hold.

Megabus

Offer assistance to people with walking difficulties or those who normally use wheelchairs.

Megabus recommend that all wheelchair users contact them before purchasing their tickets (at least 36 hours before their intended journey), to book the wheelchair space.

All coaches are wheelchair accessible and can carry one seated wheelchair user subject to size and weight limits. (Max weight 300kg, length 1200mm x width 700mm x height 1350mm including the seated passenger.)

Megabus are unable to accommodate passengers seated in mobility scooters. However, if you use a wheelchair (max weight 20kg) or mobility scooter and are able to climb the few steps into the bus, your mobility device can be stored in the luggage bay and the driver will help you to your seat.

In order to be accepted for transit, your mobility scooter must break down into separate parts each weighing no more than 20kg. You or a companion must be able to dismantle and reassemble the mobility scooter for carriage in the luggage hold.

Assistance Dogs

Are accepted on both Megabus and National Express services.

Routes and timetables

Traveline

Traveline is a partnership of transport companies, local authorities and passenger groups which have come together to bring routes and times for all travel in Great Britain by bus, rail, coach and ferry. They can help you find the way that best suits you for making your journey, using the most up to date information. 

On the Traveline website, you can plan your journey door-to-door, see the different ways you can travel, view journey times and your route on a map.

If you need help to plan a journey, Traveline’s national call centre can be contacted on 0871 200 2233.