Funny results with National Express

[Deerfold]

There was chat in another thread about local journeys with National Express.

Some that used to be possible are now quite difficult and seem to be available intermittently.

Off topic i know but what time were you looking at travelling? The reason for asking is some journeys are pick up only at Leeds

As per my image, there were no services on the day I searched.

I've just tried looking for tomorrow from Leeds to Bradford (returning Saturday) - it's returned one coach which is on Sunday at 0700 on the 465 (and no return journey). It is a bargain £1.50 (until you add the £1 booking fee). I can't find another day with any results - I assumed the following Sunday might have one, but it doesn't. Having caught the 465 a few times I'd be surprised if it was regularly full from Leeds to Bradford, having started in London.

The longer journey from Leeds to Halifax has availability every day, but ludicrous fares (cheapest is £6.60) - in the other direction no direct journeys are available, they're all £10 and take over 4 hours with a change at Sheffield!

Anyone any idea why local journeys are sometimes available, but not often?

 

[markymark2000]

There was chat in another thread about local journeys with National Express.

Some that used to be possible are now quite difficult and seem to be available intermittently.


As per my image, there were no services on the day I searched.

I've just tried looking for tomorrow from Leeds to Bradford (returning Saturday) - it's returned one coach which is on Sunday at 0700 on the 465 (and no return journey). It is a bargain £1.50 (until you add the £1 booking fee). I can't find another day with any results - I assumed the following Sunday might have one, but it doesn't. Having caught the 465 a few times I'd be surprised if it was regularly full from Leeds to Bradford, having started in London.

The longer journey from Leeds to Halifax has availability every day, but ludicrous fares (cheapest is £6.60) - in the other direction no direct journeys are available, they're all £10 and take over 4 hours with a change at Sheffield!

Anyone any idea why local journeys are sometimes available, but not often?

It depends on the journey length and if the route is registered. To carry passengers 15miles or less from their origin to destination, the route needs to be registered.


Leeds to Halifax via Sheffield is actually separate journeys. Leeds to Sheffield and Sheffield to Halifax are legal as they are above 15 miles.


NatEx are going through a phase now of not registering routes and scrapping local journeys on all routes.

 

[railwaytrack]

There was chat in another thread about local journeys with National Express.

Some that used to be possible are now quite difficult and seem to be available intermittently.


As per my image, there were no services on the day I searched.

I've just tried looking for tomorrow from Leeds to Bradford (returning Saturday) - it's returned one coach which is on Sunday at 0700 on the 465 (and no return journey). It is a bargain £1.50 (until you add the £1 booking fee). I can't find another day with any results - I assumed the following Sunday might have one, but it doesn't. Having caught the 465 a few times I'd be surprised if it was regularly full from Leeds to Bradford, having started in London.

The longer journey from Leeds to Halifax has availability every day, but ludicrous fares (cheapest is £6.60) - in the other direction no direct journeys are available, they're all £10 and take over 4 hours with a change at Sheffield!

Anyone any idea why local journeys are sometimes available, but not often?

National Express are no longer accepting passengers for most local journeys. As markymark2000 says i think it is to do with them not having to register the services as local bus services if they do not accept passengers for short local journeys. I presume National Express are saving money by doing this.

You can download the faretables here (these show the prices you pay if you buy your ticket onboard the coach from the driver) and these show which journeys are still possible for each route:

National Express Coaches - Coach Guide Pages

www.nxagents.com

It is a shame as National Express used to let you travel pretty much anywhere. Even for short local journeys in towns with plenty of local bus routes. It could be quite useful as it was quicker and often much cheaper than the normal local buses. So it is a shame this is no longer allowed.

 

[Titfield]

National Express are no longer accepting passengers for most local journeys. As markymark2000 says i think it is to do with them not having to register the services as local bus services if they do not accept passengers for short local journeys. I presume National Express are saving money by doing this.

You can download the faretables here (these show the prices you pay if you buy your ticket onboard the coach from the driver) and these show which journeys are still possible for each route:

National Express Coaches - Coach Guide Pages

www.nxagents.com

It is a shame as National Express used to let you travel pretty much anywhere. Even for short local journeys in towns with plenty of local bus routes. It could be quite useful as it was quicker and often much cheaper than the normal local buses. So it is a shame this is no longer allowed.

Not just the registration of local routes but the condition of having to give 56? days notice of changes. Can be quite an inflexible condition.

£60 to register a route and £60 to vary (alter) it.

 

[Deerfold]

It depends on the journey length and if the route is registered. To carry passengers 15miles or less from their origin to destination, the route needs to be registered.


Leeds to Halifax via Sheffield is actually separate journeys. Leeds to Sheffield and Sheffield to Halifax are legal as they are above 15 miles.


NatEx are going through a phase now of not registering routes and scrapping local journeys on all routes.

You've missed my point.

I can get a Leeds to Bradford ticket. But only on one journey on Sunday. If they were simply not available I'd understand that. Surely that section of route is either registered locally or not.

 

[RT4038]

Not just the registration of local routes but the condition of having to give 56? days notice of changes. Can be quite an inflexible condition.

£60 to register a route and £60 to vary (alter) it.

I should imagine it is also to do with not having to comply with Traffic Commissioner punctuality targets, which long distance routes using the UK road network find diffcult.

 

[Smethwickian]

I should imagine it is also to do with not having to comply with Traffic Commissioner punctuality targets, which long distance routes using the UK road network find diffcult.

And it means that individual journeys can be curtailed, diverted or otherwise altered if necessary, due to delays, road closures, driver shortages, being empty or whatever, without having to worry about serving places where no-one is booked to travel but which might be a registered section.

Unfortunately, it does also have the effect of reducing connectional possibilities to/from some places because 'local' fares are not available. For example Wolverhampton has plenty of services heading via Birmingham to London and Heathrow, but because bookings cannot be made between Wolverhampton and Birmingham you can't get a connection from Wolverhampton to anywhere else (such as the south-west or north-east) by changing at Birmingham.

 

[johncrossley]

Because cheap fares were only available from main destinations (usually those also served by Megabus) you could save money by split ticketing. For example from Oldham to London, you could split tickets at Manchester. National Express no longer have a service from Oldham to London.

 

[Deerfold]

Because cheap fares were only available from main destinations (usually those also served by Megabus) you could save money by split ticketing. For example from Oldham to London, you could split tickets at Manchester. National Express no longer have a service from Oldham to London.

Oh, definitely. Going from Keighley to London, fares were more than £20 single, whilst places on the same coach from Leeds could be as little as £1. It was cheaper to split tickets, or cheaper *and* quicker to get the train to Leeds (as the coach went via Bradford, taking more than an hour to get to Leeds). The rare megabus(plus) to Keighley never made it cheaper to split tickets.

 

[yorksrob]

Leeds to Wakefield has also disappeared from National Express. This is particularly problematic as there are now no public transport services from Leeds to the Wakefield area after 23:30.