Inter City Owl coach

[ewanarm68]

I might be being really stupid but the last time I caught the Inter City Owl it was a train!!!

Am booked on this Saturday for the MK Dons game and I have a couple of questions which I am hoping someone can help me with!

 

1) It states that it picks up from Hillsborough and Flat Street, departing at 10:30am. Does this mean it leaves Hillsborough at 10:30am and then picks up at Flat Street on its way out of Sheffield?

2) Whereabouts at Hillsborough does it leave from? Is it from the main car park area or from the other side of Penistone Road?

3) Whereabouts does it pick up from at Flat Street?

I know these are pretty basic questions but just trying to get things clear in my ageing brain!!!

 

Thanks

[Guest mrbluesky]

It's coaches, both departing at the same time I'm guessing 

 

1 leaves Hillsborough @10.30 Penistone Rd outside ground

1 leaves Flat Street @ 10.30 halfway up Flat St

 

Just get there early, and you'll see the coach/fans at either destination

[alanharper]

It's a rather weird setup these days. I used to go on it regularly but stopped for many years (travelling to Yeovil and back on the same coach as Fishcake will do that to a man). Coach travel is a last resort for us, we only use it if it's an awkward trip by train or car, but Wednesdayite started doing these pointless stops in random little towns, plus they do the excruciating football bingo, so we went back to the ICO last season for a number of trips.

 

They give the same pick up time from both Hillsborough (Penistone Road opposite ground, outside the old car park) and Flat Street (picks up opposite bus station), but it tends to leave from Hillsborough and then go to town, they don't have separate coaches at each place. For southern trips like Saturday I guess both coaches (there's usually only one ICO coach but there are two on Saturday) will stay at Hillsborough until 10:30 and then leave to pick up in town and then go to the M1 via the Parkway, but for trips which go north up the M1, which includes Lancashire games, they tend to randomly leave Hillsborough at about 15 minutes before the departure time, go and pick up in town, often to pick up only about 2-3 people, then make their way back to Hillsborough to pick up the people who didn't get there early, which is usually about 15 minutes after the stated departure, basically it takes half an hour to get to the other side of Penistone Road! 

 

Why they can't just give a Hillsborough departure time, and then the city centre time for 10-15 minutes after that, rather than stating the same time for both, I have no idea. 

[ewanarm68]

Thanks for this - managed to get through to the Ticket Office on the phone (wow!) and they explained the procedure to me. Yes, there are two coaches that leave from Hillsborough and pick up in town before heading south.

Would have normally looked at getting the train but it is so convoluted with changes and then at least a half hour walk from the nearest station so thought would try the ICO.

[morganowl]

5 hours ago, ewanarm68 said:

Thanks for this - managed to get through to the Ticket Office on the phone (wow!) and they explained the procedure to me. Yes, there are two coaches that leave from Hillsborough and pick up in town before heading south.

Would have normally looked at getting the train but it is so convoluted with changes and then at least a half hour walk from the nearest station so thought would try the ICO.

you will be fit to do the walk in 30 mins , mk central is over 3 miles away and other stations aint really going to take you home . the train journey aint that bad , you can get a train to tamworth then a fast one to mk , or it maybe a change in derby 1st but there all pretty quick trains . just the ground is a way from the main station . last season some grounds were very close ie crewe,bolton, ipswich . then some miles away ie oxford shrewsbury . we have a game in 2 weeks where station couldn't be closer peterborough , look like another away game where it goes on sale a bit last minute , royal mail have voted for strikes by the way swfc 

[alanharper]

18 hours ago, morganowl said:

we have a game in 2 weeks where station couldn't be closer peterborough

 

Really? It's nearly a mile away, so prob about 15 minutes walk. Not particularly far, but I wouldn't say it "couldn't be closer"!

 

[The coach]

20 hours ago, morganowl said:

you will be fit to do the walk in 30 mins , mk central is over 3 miles away and other stations aint really going to take you home . the train journey aint that bad , you can get a train to tamworth then a fast one to mk , or it maybe a change in derby 1st but there all pretty quick trains . just the ground is a way from the main station . last season some grounds were very close ie crewe,bolton, ipswich . then some miles away ie oxford shrewsbury . we have a game in 2 weeks where station couldn't be closer peterborough , look like another away game where it goes on sale a bit last minute , royal mail have voted for strikes by the way swfc 

Couldnt imagine a load of trains back to Sheffield after the game

[TheGreatNebber]

In some respects I find the whole set up with the ICO to be bizarre with the club selling the tickets but with then limited info on the website about it and it being a bit disorganised in terms of exact timings and arrangements. A few years ago for example Flat Street was closed off because of works and there was absolutely no information from the club about whether it was still picking up in town and if so from where. 

 

The Wednesdayite coach on the whole seems better organised but as Alan says you do have to put up with the  bingo on the way down and for longer Saturday trips there was usually a 90 odd minute stop over at a random town on the way, although interestingly they aren't planning on doing this for MK this year so maybe they have taken Alan's feedback on board.  There is also a bit of a whiff of it being a bit of a clique with some people who go to every away game and must have been doing so for years. The ICO tends to go straight there with maybe a stop at the services and has the advantage of actually having a pick up / drop off in Sheffield city centre.