National Express Coaches Discussion

[Bletchleyite]

Does anyone know what the rules are for unaccompanied minors travelling on National Express are? Asking for a friend, as they're travelling tomorrow

Min 14 unless accompanied by 16+, may be asked for ID.

Conditions of Carriage

Read the National Express General Conditions of Carriage, governing travel on all of our services

www.nationalexpress.com

(c) Unaccompanied children: We will not be obliged to carry any child under the age of 14 on any Service unless that child is accompanied by a responsible person aged 16 or over. Unaccompanied children under the age of 14 will be refused travel. If travelling unaccompanied using a Child Ticket, you may be asked to present valid proof of age at the point of boarding or at any point during your Journey(s).

 

[dan5324]

THE network will never ever return to what it was in 2019. And why should it? Many of the routes had poor patronage. The company’s sim at present is to optimise the network, cut wasteage and reduce dead mileage and make it more efficient.

 

[matt_splat]

THE network will never ever return to what it was in 2019. And why should it? Many of the routes had poor patronage. The company’s sim at present is to optimise the network, cut wasteage and reduce dead mileage and make it more efficient.

But many of the routes that had supposidly poor patronage was because of poor marketing of them.

The 333 at times could take a full load from Weymouth to Birmingham and onto Manchester, same with the 302 between Bristol and Northampton.

I feel if the route doesn't look good on paper end to end then they don't bother.

The old 300 service between Bristol and Southsea once again could have been ran better and it might have seen usage. This service used to take many between the South coast and Salisbury and once again just before it was taken off many people had discovered it through NX starting to use the trainline.

When I was a CSA I'd always look to see if I could find a destination I'd try and get people to the next best one.

Oxford and Northampton were a great example; people thought they needed to spend a day traveling through London because that's all they could see on a website but once they became aware of the more direct service you'd see them regularly using it.

 

[Ridercross]

Yes, the lack of marketing is poor. I regularly travel to South Pembrokeshire on NX and with direct coaches to London and Birmingham it's more convenient than the train for example. However people don't really know it exists, I don't think there are any local agents down there, and if there were them I guess the ticket commission wouldn't pay for local advertising.

Of course back in the days of NBC then the service would have been promoted by the local NBC company namely South Wales, but obviously First Cymru as successor have no interest to promote the services.

 

[Eyersey468]

We used to run a 567 from Scarborough to London and while sections of the route were well used the section from Scarborough to Hull wasn't, the issue was it left Scarborough too early on a morning to be of use to tourists (0745) and got to Scarborough something like 2030 at night which again was too late for tourists

 

[Titfield]

Yes, the lack of marketing is poor. I regularly travel to South Pembrokeshire on NX and with direct coaches to London and Birmingham it's more convenient than the train for example. However people don't really know it exists, I don't think there are any local agents down there, and if there were them I guess the ticket commission wouldn't pay for local advertising.

Of course back in the days of NBC then the service would have been promoted by the local NBC company namely South Wales, but obviously First Cymru as successor have no interest to promote the services.

I think one of the issues is that as patronage declines so word of mouth marketing / knowledge of the service declines.

The number of agents has also declined considerably; the number of travel agents has declined (for many reasons) and of those that survive very few are full service agents offering rail and coach ticketing, the number of non travel agency agent outlets has also declined (again for many reasons).

Back in the late 70s there would be a Nexp agent in every small town and often in bigger towns one in each suburban shopping area.

National Express doesnt market enough end of story. They are managing decline.

 

[pitdiver]

Are there many Coach Stations that have Nat Ex booking offices these days? There certainly were when I worked for them. (2005-2011)

 

[Eyersey468]

Are there many Coach Stations that have Nat Ex booking offices these days? There certainly were when I worked for them. (2005-2011)

Some do, there's Manchester, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Leeds, Golders Green and of course Victoria Coach Station that do out of the places we go

 

[pitdiver]

Talking of Victoria Coach Station. Has anything else been said about National Express and others moving out as TfL want to be rid of the building?

 

[route101]

Some do, there's Manchester, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Leeds, Golders Green and of course Victoria Coach Station that do out of the places we go

Southampton and Newcastle, National Express coach stations.

But many of the routes that had supposidly poor patronage was because of poor marketing of them.

The 333 at times could take a full load from Weymouth to Birmingham and onto Manchester, same with the 302 between Bristol and Northampton.

I feel if the route doesn't look good on paper end to end then they don't bother.

The old 300 service between Bristol and Southsea once again could have been ran better and it might have seen useage, this service use to take many between the South coast and Salisbury and once again just before it was taken off many people had discovered it through nx starting to use the trainline.

When I was a csa I'd always look to sale of I could find a destrrnstion I'd try and get people to the next best one.

Oxford and Northampton were a great example people thiguht they needed to spend a day traveling through London becsuse that's all they could see on a website but once they became aware of the more direct service you'd see them regually using it.

Speaking of Salisbury, I don't believe has any National Express despite bus times.org saying 033 serves the place.

 

[pitdiver]

Southampton and Newcastle, National Express coach stations.

Do Bournemouth, Oxford, Leicester, Luton Airport, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool still have them?

Talking of routes my favourite was the 339 Westward Ho! to Grimsby. Gave a useful connection at Leicester for onward travel to Lincoln for some passengers travelling from Milton Keynes Coachway.

 

[route101]

Do Bournemouth, Oxford, Leicester, Luton Airport, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool still have them?

Bournemouth I'm sure, the 035 is a well used service. Oxford does have a ticket office but not sure if its operated by NX.

 

[pitdiver]

Bournemouth I'm sure, the 035 is a well used service. Oxford does have a ticket office but not sure if its operated by NX.

Oxford used to I worked on the odd occasion. The office was about as big as my dining Room LOL

 

[JonathanH]

Talking of Victoria Coach Station. Has anything else been said about National Express and others moving out as TfL want to be rid of the building?

It was meant to be a construction site for Crossrail 2. Given that will continue to be safeguarded there isn't much that can be done with the land.

I dont see how shifting the National Express operation to somewhere in the northern suburbs would help the cause of coach travel.

 

[asb]

Oxford office is closed but the sign is still outside.

 

[markymark2000]

I don't think it's even down to NXAgents because people tend to buy more and more online and I don't think a lot of people would go to an agent to buy a ticket without knowing the journey is available.

That said, it won't help that the majority of bus stations travel offices don't sell tickets. Cheshire West claim it would take too much time. And I think it would be too costly for proper ticket machines, especially for lower frequency stops.



As a more general thing though, NX are now relying on being the 'default' choice. Forgetting that people have changed their ways since the pandemic and the network is vastly different with different journeys possible.




If we are talking about the dismal network, that is a fair point. Focussing too much on what is operationally better rather than better for passengers. IE Manchester to almost anywhere south you would have to change at least once at Birmingham because they are trying to prevent cross travel. Presumably so then Digbeth is made more use of and to force people to use their cafe, toilets and whatever to make more money and also helps operationally so drivers can have breaks without passengers sat on the buses etc etc.

Operational convenience put before all passenger demand and passenger convenience. That won't help things at all.

Speaking of Salisbury, I don't believe has any National Express despite bus times.org saying 033 serves the place

The 032 is about to start serving Salisbury in a few weeks hence it saying on bustimes. Bus doing Salisbury - Southampton - Basingstoke - London

 

[route101]

I don't think it's even down to NXAgents because people tend to buy more and more online and I don't think a lot of people would go to an agent to buy a ticket without knowing the journey is available.

That said, it won't help that the majority of bus stations travel offices don't sell tickets. Cheshire West claim it would take too much time. And I think it would be too costly for proper ticket machines, especially for lower frequency stops.



As a more general thing though, NX are now relying on being the 'default' choice. Forgetting that people have changed their ways since the pandemic and the network is vastly different with different journeys possible.




If we are talking about the dismal network, that is a fair point. Focussing too much on what is operationally better rather than better for passengers. IE Manchester to almost anywhere south you would have to change at least once at Birmingham because they are trying to prevent cross travel. Presumably so then Digbeth is made more use of and to force people to use their cafe, toilets and whatever to make more money and also helps operationally so drivers can have breaks without passengers sat on the buses etc etc.

Operational convenience put before all passenger demand and passenger convenience. That won't help things at all.



The 032 is about to start serving Salisbury in a few weeks hence it saying on bustimes. Bus doing Salisbury - Southampton - Basingstoke - London

I see, It was listed as Bournemouth - Salisbury - Andover - London when I seen it, perhaps old listing.

Do National Express services go to the west country via the A303?

I used the 030 yesterday from Fareham and a guy couldn't buy a ticket on the bus, the driver asked him to book online or go to a local post office. The last time I booked a national express coach ticket at a bus station, the ticket was basically a print out.

 

[carlberry]

Talking of Victoria Coach Station. Has anything else been said about National Express and others moving out as TfL want to be rid of the building?

There was a consultation about moving coach stops to a random collection of places around London however, dispite how much TfL wanted to push the idea, passengers were not that keen and, I believe, the plan is to remain at Victoria now.

 

[dan5324]

I see, It was listed as Bournemouth - Salisbury - Andover - London when I seen it, perhaps old listing.

Do National Express services go to the west country via the A303?

I used the 030 yesterday from Fareham and a guy couldn't buy a ticket on the bus, the driver asked him to book online or go to a local post office. The last time I booked a national express coach ticket at a bus station, the ticket was basically a print out.

The 511 was a short lived service back post lockdown in 2020 that went from london to Plymouth via the a303, calling at Victoria coach station, Heathrow, Salisbury, Exeter park and ride, Exeter sidwell street, and Plymouth Coach station The route proved too unreliable and saw little use, so was scrapped.

Back to marketing, it’s always been terrible. Where do you see advertising for national express? No where that’s where. No tv ads. No radio ads. No cinema ads No bus shelter adds. No where. They are an arrogant company I’m sorry to say that believe they don’t need it as they are the nations first Choice so they think. I cannot wait to leave. It isn’t a nice company to work for and I’d wholly advise anyone to steer clear. Both as a passenger and employee. But that’s off topic….

 

[matt_splat]

Southampton and Newcastle, National Express coach stations.



Speaking of Salisbury, I don't believe has any National Express despite bus times.org saying 033 serves the place.

Newcastle was closing I beleve.

Wasn't the 033 replaced by a coach from the Bournemouth area going via Salisbury, and also did a 204 also go via Salisbury?

I see, It was listed as Bournemouth - Salisbury - Andover - London when I seen it, perhaps old listing.

Do National Express services go to the west country via the A303?

I used the 030 yesterday from Fareham and a guy couldn't buy a ticket on the bus, the driver asked him to book online or go to a local post office. The last time I booked a national express coach ticket at a bus station, the ticket was basically a print out.

No the A303 is not allowed to be used due to a breakdown; that happend when the 511 ran and an owned ops coach was sat in a service area for a long period of time while a third party operator struggled to get to them due to road closures, leading to the coach being recovered before the passengers. I think this was Cartgate services. I know of Parks drivers who have asked to use the 303 and have been told no then arrived into Victoria Coach Station a good three to four hours late due to having to follow the National Express diversion.

The 511 was a short lived service back post lockdown in 2020 that went from london to Plymouth via the a303, calling at Victoria coach station, Heathrow, Salisbury, Exeter park and ride, Exeter sidwell street, and Plymouth Coach station The route proved too unreliable and saw little use, so was scrapped.

Back to marketing, it’s always been terrible. Where do you see advertising for national express? No where that’s where. No tv ads. No radio ads. No cinema ads No bus shelter adds. No where. They are an arrogant company I’m sorry to say that believe they don’t need it as they are the nations first Choice so they think. I cannot wait to leave. It isn’t a nice company to work for and I’d wholly advise anyone to steer clear. Both as a passenger and employee. But that’s off topic….

The 511 was not given a decent chance to be successful as people were not aware of it. Berry's do very well along the A303 corridor.

It's like the issue the Parks drivers have of people wanting to get off the 102 in Totnes which the coach passes through and they follow the coach in the taxi through it but it's never been added. When it was suggested to a manager I was told it was not a CSA's (customer service assistant) responsibility to make suggestions. Local marketing campaigns though could boost services.

The other wastes are where two services follow each other for long periods when both could be sped up and interchange in one location like what happend pre- covid. Instead, two coaches will now spend 90 mins following each other before heading off to the end destination. It's all well and good focusing on the youth but I do wonder how much of the bread and butter passengers have been left isolated.

 

[Dai Corner]

The other wastes are where two services follow each other for long periods both could be sped up and interchange in one location like what happend pre covid but instead now two coaches will spend 90 mins following each other but for heading off to the end destination....

I thought one of the selling points of coach travel was through journeys without having to change?

 

[dan5324]

It isn’t the breakdown incident that caused the demise of the 511. Not sure who told you that? Trust me. We have had far far far worse situations on other routes, yet they still run. It was just a poorly advertised, poorly scheduled route. And no one wanted it. Luton ops didn’t want it. Start hill didn’t want it. Various third parties tried it. Then didn’t want it. Drivers regularly getting to Plymouth an hour or more late due to the unpredictability of the A303. It was just a mess. Didn’t help that it launched in the middle of Covid either.

The traditional southwest routes that go via m4/m5 see much higher usage.

 

[matt_splat]

It isn’t the breakdown incident that caused the demise of the 511. Not sure who told you that? Trust me. We have had far far far worse situations on other routes, yet they still run. It was just a poorly advertised, poorly scheduled route. And no one wanted it. Luton ops didn’t want it. Start hill didn’t want it. Various third parties tried it. Then didn’t want it. Drivers regularly getting to Plymouth an hour or more late due to the unpredictability of the A303. It was just a mess. Didn’t help that it launched in the middle of Covid either.

The traditional southwest routes that go via m4/m5 see much higher usage.

Sorry the breakdown wasn't the demise but the reason the 501 and 504 coaches can't use the a303 when going towards London and returning

 

[route101]

I didn't realise the A303 wasn't used.

From the South Coast all routes don't go further north than Birmingham.

 

[Smethwickian]

Back in the late 70s there would be a Nexp agent in every small town and often in bigger towns one in each suburban shopping area.

National Express doesnt market enough end of story. They are managing decline.

National Express's answer to the decline of travel agencies is that there are more than 10,000 Post Offices which sell tickets. Except there's no promotion, no staff training and no support, so (you'll have to trust me on this, I obviously cannot say too much about where I work) many, many potential customers end up ringing NX to say 'the Post Office couldn't do it' - or got the ticket hopelessly wrong or just denied all knowledge of coach tickets.

As for NX itself advertising, forget it. Did you know, for example, that there have for several months been two daily coaches between Stratford-upon-Avon and London? No? Not surprised. Has it been advertised in Stratford at all, through local media or press? No. Have they sent marketing to people on their database in the relevant postcodes? Unlikely. Does anyone hardly ever travel on the journeys to/from Stratford-upon-Avon? What do you think.

Here's another one: Bury St Edmunds. The Suffolk town gets a once-daily service to/from Cambridge, Stansted, London Stratford and London Victoria from April 1, with various other connectional possibilities at those places. Has it been advertised or promoted in Bury St Edmunds? Highly unlikely. Will it be axed in a couple of months because NX claims no-one uses it? Very likely.

Speaking of Salisbury, I don't believe has any National Express despite bus times.org saying 033 serves the place.

Salisbury gets a one-a-day extension of the 032 London-Southampton from April 1. Will it be promoted or advertised? (See above answer and repeat across the NX network).

 

[Deerfold]

National Express's answer to the decline of travel agencies is that there are more than 10,000 Post Offices which sell tickets. Except there's no promotion, no staff training and no support, so (you'll have to trust me on this, I obviously cannot say too much about where I work) many, many potential customers end up ringing NX to say 'the Post Office couldn't do it' - or got the ticket hopelessly wrong or just denied all knowledge of coach tickets.

I've caught National Express coaches regularly since 1992. I started off buying from my on-campus agent in Nottingham and travel agents in Oldham and Halifax.
Initially National Express charged no fee for online tickets, so I moved to these. Then they introduced fees, but didn't have them on self-service units at some locations such as Leeds coach station, so at times I used those.

Until today, I didn't know you could buy tickets at Post Offices. I've no idea how someone would find that out.

 

[Titfield]

I've caught National Express coaches regularly since 1992. I started off buying from my on-campus agent in Nottingham and travel agents in Oldham and Halifax.
Initially National Express charged no fee for online tickets, so I moved to these. Then they introduced fees, but didn't have them on self-service units at some locations such as Leeds coach station, so at times I used those.

Until today, I didn't know you could buy tickets at Post Offices. I've no idea how someone would find that out.

I have been using NExp since 1979 - not that this is Top Trumps!

Likewise I didnt know that the PO sold tickets. Unless the staff have been fully trained, have some idea of the geography of the UK I can see that ending in tears.

Many of the old NExp agents had been agents for years and knew what they were doing. You cant afford to give passengers duff gen. Having said that the system should make sure the answers are correct unlike the old days of using timetable books.

 

[JonathanH]

Will it be promoted or advertised?

Isn't the hope of National Express, Megabus and Flixbus that you see their vehicles on the motorway and think about going by coach in the future?

 

[Deerfold]

Isn't the hope of National Express, Megabus and Flixbus that you see their vehicles on the motorway and think about going by coach in the future?

I suspect many using them don't have regular access to a car.

They certainly don't make it easy to find out their network - when I was a student I used to access the National Express timetable book in the library, complete with map of their network, so I knew exactly what I wanted before booking (which could be useful when an agent told me a service didn't exist).

National Express do now, at least, have their timetables more easily accessible on their website than they used to have.

 

[matt_splat]

National Express's answer to the decline of travel agencies is that there are more than 10,000 Post Offices which sell tickets. Except there's no promotion, no staff training and no support, so (you'll have to trust me on this, I obviously cannot say too much about where I work) many, many potential customers end up ringing NX to say 'the Post Office couldn't do it' - or got the ticket hopelessly wrong or just denied all knowledge of coach tickets.

As for NX itself advertising, forget it. Did you know, for example, that there have for several months been two daily coaches between Stratford-upon-Avon and London? No? Not surprised. Has it been advertised in Stratford at all, through local media or press? No. Have they sent marketing to people on their database in the relevant postcodes? Unlikely. Does anyone hardly ever travel on the journeys to/from Stratford-upon-Avon? What do you think.

Here's another one: Bury St Edmunds. The Suffolk town gets a once-daily service to/from Cambridge, Stansted, London Stratford and London Victoria from April 1, with various other connectional possibilities at those places. Has it been advertised or promoted in Bury St Edmunds? Highly unlikely. Will it be axed in a couple of months because NX claims no-one uses it? Very likely.

Salisbury gets a one-a-day extension of the 032 London-Southampton from April 1. Will it be promoted or advertised? (See above answer and repeat across the NX network).

Id love to know who's stupid idea that is.... What would make sense is to run down the A303 to sailsbury and then continue south. The 511 would be a perfect draw if ran at the correct times for the morning stonehenge Market out of London while a service running Bournemouth Ringwood Salisbury would work or even Weymouth Dorchester Blandford Salisbury onwards could work if marketed well.... Its all well and Good emailing for after journey info but why not spend time advertising what you have to offer prior