National Express
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- This article is about the company responsible for most long distance bus and coach services in the UK and the brand it uses; for information on the owning group, see the National Express Group article.
National Express is the brand under which the majority of long distance bus and coach services in the United Kingdom are marketed, and also the company that manages this network and operates some of the services. Many other services are subcontracted to local bus and coach companies throughout the UK.
The brand and company are based in Birmingham and are owned by the National Express Group, a group of diverse transport interests also including passenger rail operators and local bus operators.
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[edit] History
The National Express brand was created in 1972 by the state-owned National Bus Company (NBC) to bring together the express bus and coach services operated by companies within the NBC group. The National Express network was largely a branding and management exercise, with services continuing to be operated by the individual companies.
With the privatisation of the NBC in the 1980s, National Express was subject to a management buy-out in 1988. In 1992, National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange with a remit to acquire new businesses in the passenger transport market, with National Express as a subsidiary company.
During 2001, National Express took a very unpopular decision to end the historic on-board steward/ess service, leaving many passengers on buses for up to six hours without food or drink. Phil White, their then MD had stated he felt they made the company look old fashioned and passengers did not need them. The ensuing campaign by the hundreds of sacked staff, and thousands of complaints from customers did not seem to bother National Express, who carried on anyway. It was after this, many ex-staff approached rival Stagecoach, for assistance in their fight against National Express.
For most of its existence National Express Coach Division had little, if any, competition in the long distance coach market. However, in 2003 Stagecoach Group introduced a "no-frills" service, Megabus, whose GBP £1 fares sparked a price war with National Express in autumn 2004. Passenger numbers on core routes have also suffered severely due to cut-price rail fares, such as Virgin Trains' value tickets and the Megatrain (Stagecoach & Virgin) web fares.
[edit] Accidents
On January 3, 2007, a National Express coach crashed near Heathrow Airport. A double-decker 77 seat vehicle overturned killing two passengers, and leaving several passengers with amputated limbs in the accident itself as well as several passengers that had to have their limbs amputated later in hospital. The 67 passengers and the two drivers were all taken to hospital with injuries. The coach was operated by subcontractor Trathens, an arm of Park’s of Hamilton. Early indications show the late running coach failed to negotiate a slip road between the M4 and M25. [1]. It is regarded as the worst crash in National Express' history. The coach driver, Philip Rooney, 47, of Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was arrested and later released on police bail on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Several of the passengers said the bus appeared to be going at 80mph when the accident occurred. However, by law, the vehicle was equipped with a device that restricts the bus' speed to 62mph[2]. All 12 of National Express' double deckers, which all belong to Trathens, were withdrawn for safety checks after the accident.
[edit] Service Brands
Network
Most domestic National Express services fall into this category, with the exception of:
Shuttle
Frequent services from London operate as National Express Shuttle services. Most of these services operate at least once an hour and operate over direct routes - some other services deviate to serve smaller destinations. The London - Birmingham and London - Bristol services are marketed as NXL (National Express London) services and operate with Irizar PB / Scania K124 coaches. Unusually, the London - Birmingham service is operated directly by National Express and is not franchised out. Also the 040 Bristol - London Shuttle defies National Express's norm by continuing to Burnham on Sea (a small westcountry seaside resort) once a day in each direction, usually early morning to London and late evening from, but still retains its NXL shuttle branding.
Shuttle services:- From / To London
- 010 - Cambridge
- 025 - Gatwick Airport and Brighton
- 032 - Southampton
- 035 - Bournemouth
- 040 - Bristol/Burnham on Sea (NXL Shuttle)
- 420 - Birmingham and Wolverhampton (NXL Shuttle)
Non-London Shuttle services
- 060 - Leeds - Manchester - Liverpool
Airport
National Express Airport services operate to a variety of destinations from London Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted. The Airport brand was created in 2003 when the National Express image brand was updated - it merged the former Airlink, Flightlink and Jetlink brands, which were confusing, especially to passengers travelling between Heathrow and Gatwick airport. Most coaches on these services operate with the National Express Airport brand, the airport being in white inside a red box below the 'National Express' name on the side of the coach. The exception to this is the 210 service between Wolverhampton and Gatwick Airport, operated by National Express Group company Travel West Midlands, for which new vehicles purchased in early 2006 carry the standard National Express livery. It is not unusual to see 'Airport' coaches on other services.
Selection of Airport services
- 200 Gatwick Airport - Heathrow Airport - Reading - Bristol
- 201 Gatwick Airport - Heathrow Airport - Newport - Cardiff - Swansea
- 205 Gatwick Airport - Heathrow Airport - Southampton - Bournemouth - Portsmouth
- 210 Gatwick Airport - Heathrow Airport - Banbury - Birmingham - Wolverhampton
- 230 Gatwick Airport - Heathrow Airport - Milton Keynes - Leicester - Nottingham
- 240 Bradford - Leeds - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Nottingham East Midlands Airport - Coventry - Warwick Parkway - Heathrow Airport - Gatwick Airport
- 707 Gatwick Airport - Heathrow Airport - Hemel Hempstead - Luton Airport - Luton Bus Station - Milton Keynes - Northampton
- 777 Stansted Airport - Luton Airport - Birmingham
[edit] Franchise Operators
- Ambassador Travel (Great Yarmouth)
- Arriva Midlands
- Bebb Travel (Llantwit Fardre)
- Bournemouth Transport
- Bruce's Coaches (Salsburgh)
- Burton's Coaches (Haverhill)
- Chenery (Dickleburgh)
- Classic Buses (Annfield Plain)
- Dunn-Line Travel
- East Yorkshire Motor Services (Hull)
- Excelsior Coaches (Bournemouth)
- First Coaches (Various)
- First Cymru (Swansea)
- First Devon & Cornwall
- First Somerset & Avon, Bath
- Flights-Hallmark Ltd, Birmingham
- Galloway European Coachlines, Mendlesham
- Go Northern, Chester-Le-Street
- Go West Midlands (Tividale)
- Go Wilts & Dorset (Salisbury)
- Haytons Executive Travel (Burnage)
- Park's, Hamilton
- Rapson's Coaches, Inverness
- Selwyns Travel, Runcorn
- Silverdale Tours, Nottingham
- Stagecoach Cambridgeshire, Peterborough
- Stagecoach East Kent, Dover
- Stagecoach East Midlands (Mansfield)
- Stagecoach Oxfordshire (Oxford)
- Stagecoach Yorkshire (Barnsley)
- Swans Travel, Chadderton (near Oldham, Greater Manchester)
- Tellings Golden Miller (Fratton)
- Trathens Travel Services (Plymouth)
- Travel West Midlands, Birmingham
- Travellers Choice (Carnforth)
- Truronian (Truro)
- Yeomans Canyon Travel (Hereford)
[edit] Discount Fare Brands
Coachcards National Express offers a range of coachcards to customers which allows discounts on National Express tickets. At one point this consisted of a Student, Young Persons and Advantage 50 coachcards which allowed the holder up to 30% of the price of coach tickets. This has since been rationalised with the company only offering an NX2 card, offering the same discount to Students and Young Persons cards. Since the introduction in 2004 of half price fares for the over 60's the Advantage 50 card was scrapped, although cards are still valid until expiry. A Family coachcard is also offered and is cheaper than the NX2 card and allows the holder of the card to take one child free with them, in many cases the cost of the Family Coachcard is cheaper than the fare for a child.
Brit Xplorer This is a card valid for a set period of time which allows non-UK residents (a passport of another country is needed to purchase this) travel as a standby passenger on all National Express services, the holder does however for a small fee have the option to reserve a seat.
Funfares Launched as a result of severe competition from easyBus and Megabus, funfares are cheap single fares, some as low as £1, purchased only on the internet as an 'e-ticket', similar to low-fare airlines, thus reducing overheads. Further restrictions are put on these tickets such as the inability to change the time on the ticket or to travel on a different coach. Funfares were launched on Shuttle services but have since been rolled out across the network. A percentage of seats on off-peak services can be booked in this way.
[edit] Major Destinations
- Aberdeen
- Birmingham (Digbeth Coach Station)
- Blackpool
- Bournemouth
- Bradford Interchange
- Brighton
- Bristol (Marlborough Bus Station)
- Cambridge
- Canterbury
- Cardiff (Central Bus Station)
- Cheltenham Spa
- Coventry (Pool Meadow Bus Station)
- Dundee
- Edinburgh
- Exeter
- Glasgow (Buchanan bus station)
- Inverness (Farraline Park)
- Leeds (Bus & Coach Station, Dyer Street)
- Leicester (St. Margaret Bus Station)
- Liverpool (Norton Street Coach Station)
- London Canary Wharf
- London Gatwick Airport
- London Golders Green
- London Heathrow Airport
- London Stansted Airport
- London Victoria Coach Station
- Luton Airport
- Manchester (Manchester Central Coach Station)
- Milton Keynes (Coachway)
- Newcastle upon Tyne (St James Boulevard)
- Newport
- Newquay
- Nottingham (Broad Marsh Bus Station)
- Oxford (Gloucester Green Bus Station)
- Plymouth
- Sheffield (Interchange)
- Southampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- Stoke-on-Trent (Hanley Bus Station)
- Swansea (Quadrant Bus Station)
- Swindon
[edit] See also
- Scottish Citylink Scottish Express Coach services
- ALSA Spanish Operator part owned by National Express
- 2007 National Express coach crash
[edit] External links
- The main National Express homepage
- History of the National Express Group
- National Express Gallery & Fleet lists (Unofficial site)
[edit] References
Bus Companies of Scotland  |
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Regional: Arriva Scotland West • Blue Bus of North Lanarkshire • First Aberdeen • First Edinburgh • First Glasgow • First Stop Travel • Lothian Buses • Stagecoach Group • Stagecoach East Scotland • Stagecoach West Scotland • Strathtay Scottish • Travel Dundee |
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National: Magicbus • Megabus • National Express • Scottish Citylink |
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