The Competition

FCC may have monopolies on many of its routes, but not at Ely station. So what are the competitiors up to?

Arriva CrossCountry

CrossCountry are very good at punctuality, and I'm a little teapot. Their Birmingham - Stansted line seems to play second fiddle to the other routes.

National Express East Anglia

Hurrah! NXEA offer reasonably priced student tickets, just not to everyone. And they have lots of Class 317s. I used one the other day, and they make lots of weird noises. As we pulled out of Waterbeach it sounded like some pipe carrying liquid had ruptured. It can get a bit scary at times.

Stagecoach East Midlands Trains

Not bad, but they still haven't refurbished their trains, so I ended up on a train from Sheffield to Ely with no seat reservation, nasty seats (like those on the 317s) and all the information stickers in Welsh.

Stagecoach Cambridge

2 words. EPIC FAIL. A return ticket on the train from Ely to Cambridge is £2.00 with Groupsave 4. The return ticket from Cambridge Station to the centre is £2.40. Stagecoach love money even more than FCC's dearly beloved Shareholders.