National Express Coaches Discussion

[busestrains]

May i ask does anyone have a current up to date list of which National Express coach routes are operated by who? Is there any websites that display this? I think a large amount are still contracted out to other operators?

 

[route101]

That is in no way to be relied upon, as it is against the vast majority of ticket types' T&C's, and drivers are entitled not to accept tickets booked for other times. If a ticket is amendable it should be amended before the journey time, paying the appropriate amendment fee.

I see, I have seen a few times someone is asked to wait for everyone to board and if there is space they are allowed on at Victoria.

May i ask does anyone have a current up to date list of which National Express coach routes are operated by who? Is there any websites that display this? I think a large amount are still contracted out to other operators?

All the Scottish routes are Bruce Coaches.

 

[Eyersey468]

May i ask does anyone have a current up to date list of which National Express coach routes are operated by who? Is there any websites that display this? I think a large amount are still contracted out to other operators?

I've PM'd you

 

[Smethwickian]

Newbury returns to the network from 3 February, once per day to/from London Victoria CS via Reading (Mereoak P&R) and Heathrow (Central BS) as service 402.
Looks remarkably like the positioning journey for Newbury & District's coach that runs one daily return journey London - Swansea - London on route 507 made available to passengers.
Timetable on NX website at https://timetables.nationalexpress.com/routes/NX/402/London-Newbury/O/2023-02-03--2023-04-05

 

[route101]

Newbury returns to the network from 3 February, once per day to/from London Victoria CS via Reading (Mereoak P&R) and Heathrow (Central BS) as service 402.
Looks remarkably like the positioning journey for Newbury & District's coach that runs one daily return journey London - Swansea - London on route 507 made available to passengers.
Timetable on NX website at https://timetables.nationalexpress.com/routes/NX/402/London-Newbury/O/2023-02-03--2023-04-05

I am surprised the 160 does not stop at Newbury. I swear I seen a NX coach back in 2021 passing through Newbury.

 

[busestrains]

I've PM'd you

Many thanks for that information. Sorry i have just seen it now. Much appreciated.

Newbury returns to the network from 3 February, once per day to/from London Victoria CS via Reading (Mereoak P&R) and Heathrow (Central BS) as service 402.
Looks remarkably like the positioning journey for Newbury & District's coach that runs one daily return journey London - Swansea - London on route 507 made available to passengers.
Timetable on NX website at https://timetables.nationalexpress.com/routes/NX/402/London-Newbury/O/2023-02-03--2023-04-05

I suppose that makes sense if it has to get between the depot in Newbury and London anyway. They might as well make some extra money by carrying passengers. Even if they only pick up few passengers they are not really losing out much as the coach would have to run dead anyway.

 

[route101]

I notice Andover is on the list to come back. How do you reckon this town will be served?

 

[317 forever]

I'm due to travel from Bristol to London on coach 040 in June. I recognise that scheduled workings could change by then. It's just that I hope to catch one of the double-deck coaches on that route.

Are any morning workings usually double-deck? I hope that by booking 2 successive coaches and foregoing the fare on the coach I do not use, at least 1 of them will be double-deck.

Is this a safeish option, or are double-deck workings few or random?

Thank you to anyone who can answer this!

 

[Martin1988]

That is in no way to be relied upon, as it is against the vast majority of ticket types' T&C's, and drivers are entitled not to accept tickets booked for other times. If a ticket is amendable it should be amended before the journey time, paying the appropriate amendment fee.

I've tended to notice that in the past drivers have often been more flexible about letting passengers on earlier services if its quiet and there is sufficient space on board that coach whereas when its busy passengers are made to get on the service they are booked on. I've noticed that its tended to be when there are plenty of seats on a coach and there are passengers for a later service who have turned up early, the station staff and the drivers try to get them away earlier. Have been aware of a couple of instances where even passengers with restricted tickets have been allowed on an earlier service but this has been rare. I remember it being suggested to me by a driver friend a decade or so ago that NX issued new guidance to drivers stating all passengers must travel on the service they are booked on due to issues with E-Tickets being able to be printed and fraudulently reused but not sure if that's changed now with the QR codes?

At one time I was a regular user of the 040 Bristol to London route and don't mind admitting I used to turn down the offer by NX staff in Bristol or London VCS to go on an earlier coach to the one I was booked on. So I could be first on the service I was booked on and sit in my preferred choice seat and/or because the service I was booked on was being worked by a hired in coach from an independent operator as opposed to being a regular NX one.

 

[route101]

I'm due to travel from Bristol to London on coach 040 in June. I recognise that scheduled workings could change by then. It's just that I hope to catch one of the double-deck coaches on that route.

Are any morning workings usually double-deck? I hope that by booking 2 successive coaches and foregoing the fare on the coach I do not use, at least 1 of them will be double-deck.

Is this a safeish option, or are double-deck workings few or random?

Thank you to anyone who can answer this!

I think you can check if the service is operated by a double decker by looking at the seating map at the reserve seats section while booking.

 

[dan5324]

I've tended to notice that in the past drivers have often been more flexible about letting passengers on earlier services if its quiet and there is sufficient space on board that coach whereas when its busy passengers are made to get on the service they are booked on. I've noticed that its tended to be when there are plenty of seats on a coach and there are passengers for a later service who have turned up early, the station staff and the drivers try to get them away earlier. Have been aware of a couple of instances where even passengers with restricted tickets have been allowed on an earlier service but this has been rare. I remember it being suggested to me by a driver friend a decade or so ago that NX issued new guidance to drivers stating all passengers must travel on the service they are booked on due to issues with E-Tickets being able to be printed and fraudulently reused but not sure if that's changed now with the QR codes?

At one time I was a regular user of the 040 Bristol to London route and don't mind admitting I used to turn down the offer by NX staff in Bristol or London VCS to go on an earlier coach to the one I was booked on. So I could be first on the service I was booked on and sit in my preferred choice seat and/or because the service I was booked on was being worked by a hired in coach from an independent operator as opposed to being a regular NX one.

This is still the case. Tickets re used on the same service will be detected and flagged up. Tickets used on say one service, then on another won’t be flagged up and could allow fraudulent travel.

 

[gray1404]

I noticed National Express plan on reinstating the stop in Pensarn this year. Does anybody know what service this would likely consist of and where it would be heading?

 

[317 forever]

I think you can check if the service is operated by a double decker by looking at the seating map at the reserve seats section while booking.

Although there was no option to reserve a seat, I saw the £5 facility to change the timing on the day. I therefore booked the earliest clearly convenient coach on a semi-flex fare together with this £5 supplement in case a single-deck coach turns up and I therefore change my coach from there.

 

[Welshman]

I noticed National Express plan on reinstating the stop in Pensarn this year. Does anybody know what service this would likely consist of and where it would be heading?

In the past the service has begun in Bangor and served Rhyl and the coastal holiday resorts/camps to Flint, then Ellesmere Port, Birkenhead and Liverpool to Manchester.
Its anyone guess where Llew Jones' coach may be going this season.

 

[gray1404]

In the past the service has begun in Bangor and served Rhyl and the coastal holiday resorts/camps to Flint, then Ellesmere Port, Birkenhead and Liverpool to Manchester.
Its anyone guess where Llew Jones' coach may be going this season.

Hopefully they'll start this service soon. The timings of the current 175 are quite restrictive.

 

[Smethwickian]

Service 075 (Bury St Edmunds - Cambridge - Stansted Airport - London) to be withdrawn after 2 March, wiping Bury off the network map and leaving Cambridge with no direct London service. It only restarted in the middle of 2022 but knowing NX it probably went unadvertised and unpromoted.

 

[markymark2000]

It only restarted in the middle of 2022 but knowing NX it probably went unadvertised and unpromoted.

Knowing NX, I think you're spot on. They take passengers for granted. Start up a route and expect everyone to flock to it. Considering how good NatEx was just a few years ago at promotion, they've become a shambles since Covid.

 

[philthetube]

Cambridge London was never that busy, the trains are too good and quick.

 

[Titfield]

Knowing NX, I think you're spot on. They take passengers for granted. Start up a route and expect everyone to flock to it. Considering how good NatEx was just a few years ago at promotion, they've become a shambles since Covid.

I had a look at it for a journey I am taking soon but there simply isnt the frequency hence I am taking the train.

 

[Deerfold]

Cambridge London was never that busy, the trains are too good and quick.

It managed to run every hour for many years, with separate services to Stansted.

 

[markymark2000]

It managed to run every hour for many years, with separate services to Stansted.

Was that back when Whippets were on the network though? Being based in Cambridge I feel like they may have used that route in the same way they use Flixbus 006 route, as a feeder into their other, busier work. If they make a few quid off it, it's better than running empty sort of thing.

 

[Stan Drews]

Was that back when Whippets were on the network though? Being based in Cambridge I feel like they may have used that route in the same way they use Flixbus 006 route, as a feeder into their other, busier work. If they make a few quid off it, it's better than running empty sort of thing.

It was operated by Stagecoach (Cambus) for many years, including its ‘Shuttle’ era hourly timetable, with some peak extensions to Ely, Kings Lynn etc.

 

[Sealink]

National Express will be facing new competition at Weymouth

Currently they offer two buses a day to London.

Megabus return on 27th March with three buses a day to London, via Heathrow; increasing to four a day from 3rd April. Operated by Heathrow based Air-Sym.

One of the four buses is overnight, leaving Weymouth at 2315 and from London at 2359.

National Express seem to do no marketing of Route 035 down here. Perhaps Megabus will wake them up.

 

[Mike99]

National Express will be facing new competition at Weymouth

Currently they offer two buses a day to London.

Megabus return on 27th March with three buses a day to London, via Heathrow; increasing to four a day from 3rd April. Operated by Heathrow based Air-Sym.

One of the four buses is overnight, leaving Weymouth at 2315 and from London at 2359.

National Express seem to do no marketing of Route 035 down here. Perhaps Megabus will wake them up.

That's interesting a night service. Do you know what time does 23:15 from Weymouth arrives in London?

Service 075 (Bury St Edmunds - Cambridge - Stansted Airport - London) to be withdrawn after 2 March, wiping Bury off the network map and leaving Cambridge with no direct London service. It only restarted in the middle of 2022 but knowing NX it probably went unadvertised and unpromoted.

The 075 wasn't very attractive timings. From Bury St Edmunds, the only service departed at 06:45 arriving Stratford at 09:40 and London Victoria at 10:50, the return was 19:30 from Victoria, 20:17 at Stratford and arriving Bury St Edmunds at 23:10

 

[JonathanH]

That's interesting a night service. Do you know what time does 23:15 from Weymouth arrives in London?

0435 at Victoria - runs via Reading, calling at 0245. Using a non motorway route might not make it great for sleeping.

 

[pitdiver]

It managed to run every hour for many years, with separate services to Stansted.

Pardon my ignorance but was that route 10? If it was i used travel up to Cambridge on it most weekends from Turnpike Lane to see a girl who lived just outside of Cambridge itself

 

[Deerfold]

Pardon my ignorance but was that route 10? If it was i used travel up to Cambridge on it most weekends from Turnpike Lane to see a girl who lived just outside of Cambridge itself

It was the 010. I used to visit Cambridge one evening a fortnight when I worked in Victoria and lived in Hitchin, and later when I commuted weekly to London from further north. Sometimes I'd get the coach because it was easy and cheap. Sometimes I'd get a rail ticket Hitchin-Cambridge. I usually returned on an airport service at about 0200 to Hitchin on its way to Luton and Heathrow or to Stansted to change for London.

There used to be a few commuters from villages along the route who must have liked the direct connection to various parts of London.

 

[route101]

0435 at Victoria - runs via Reading, calling at 0245. Using a non motorway route might not make it great for sleeping.

I reckon it will go via the M3 and A33 to Reading.

National Express will be facing new competition at Weymouth

Currently they offer two buses a day to London.

Megabus return on 27th March with three buses a day to London, via Heathrow; increasing to four a day from 3rd April. Operated by Heathrow based Air-Sym.

One of the four buses is overnight, leaving Weymouth at 2315 and from London at 2359.

National Express seem to do no marketing of Route 035 down here. Perhaps Megabus will wake them up.

I am sure Megabus used to serve Weymouth from London.

National Express dont do any marketing for the routes but who does? Megabus dont either.

 

[JonathanH]

I reckon it will go via the M3 and A33 to Reading.

Yes, my contention is that using roads which are twisty and have roundabouts are not as conducive to sleeping as steady progress on a motorway.

Nine roundabouts between Junction 6 of the M3 and the start of the A3290 via Reading Station Northern approach.

 

[markymark2000]

I am sure Megabus used to serve Weymouth from London.

I am sure when Yellows did it, they served Weymouth but then when Airsym took over, Weymouth got pulled to keep PVR lower for them.