National Express Booking System

extendedpaul · 4 Dec 2017

I usually travel on Megabus but thought I'd try National Express as their fares are slightly cheaper for the four single journeys I need to make in February. On Megabus I can easily book as many single journeys as I wish in one transaction (and pay only one 50p booking fee) but after booking one journey on National Express I can't find a "book another journey" facility, only a return on the same route which isn't what I need. Am i missing something ?

Four £1 booking fees on four single journeys almost wipes out the saving over Megabus.

RailUK Forums

Temple Meads · 4 Dec 2017

No, you're not missing anything, one single or one return is all you will get in a single booking on the NX site.

radamfi · 4 Dec 2017

Bizarrely, tickets bought from a National Express ticket office don't incur a booking fee. So, when convenient, I have bought tickets there. Of course, there is no choice but to pay the £1 booking fee for fares only available online.

extendedpaul · 4 Dec 2017

Thanks, Perhaps that's why my almost-full Megabus to Cardiff was overtaken by an almost-empty National Express coach on the M4 last week. Both had departed from London Victoria for Cardiff at the same time.

You'd think that National Express would want to encourage repeat business by allowing multiple journeys to be booked in one transaction; apparently maximising booking fees is more important.

Bungle965 · 4 Dec 2017

radamfi said:
Bizarrely, tickets bought from a National Express ticket office don't incur a booking fee. So, when convenient, I have bought tickets there. Of course, there is no choice but to pay the £1 booking fee for fares only available online.

They have started charging at the ticket offices now, I was going to book using the ticket office the other day but I seem to remember it is quite a hefty booking fee, something like £3.
San

Typhoon · 4 Dec 2017

bungle965 said:
They have started charging at the ticket offices now, I was going to book using the ticket office the other day but I seem to remember it is quite a hefty booking fee, something like £3.
San

I think it depends where you book. The nearest agency to me charged even more than that! The next nearest charged nothing at all every time I have booked there.

Bungle965 · 5 Dec 2017

Typhoon said:
I think it depends where you book. The nearest agency to me charged even more than that! The next nearest charged nothing at all every time I have booked there.

Yes as I understand it they (3rd party retailers) have always tended to add on a charge for booking through them. However this was at Manchester Coach Station at the NX ticket office.
Sam

Typhoon · 5 Dec 2017

bungle965 said:
Yes as I understand it they (3rd party retailers) have always tended to add on a charge for booking through them. However this was at Manchester Coach Station at the NX ticket office.
Sam

I suppose they are just following the lead of the (economy) airlines. Charge for whatever you can. Also the 'turn up and go' passengers are sitting targets - they are committed to travel. If you are booking in advance at a ticket office, you are just a victim of their money making exercise. Tough if you do not have internet access.

Judging by the junk e-mail I get from NX, they can't be doing too well. As they have cut the number of daily journeys from my town from 3 to 1, they don't seem to have realised that most of the previous customers no longer find the service to be of any use.

TheGrandWazoo · 5 Dec 2017

Typhoon said:
I suppose they are just following the lead of the (economy) airlines. Charge for whatever you can. Also the 'turn up and go' passengers are sitting targets - they are committed to travel. If you are booking in advance at a ticket office, you are just a victim of their money making exercise. Tough if you do not have internet access.

Judging by the junk e-mail I get from NX, they can't be doing too well. As they have cut the number of daily journeys from my town from 3 to 1, they don't seem to have realised that most of the previous customers no longer find the service to be of any use.

Quite! It is the standard way of shaping demand via pricing in various ways.

Booking online has much lower overheads so they can essentially discount the fare. Similarly, you purchase in advance - they have your money in advance and so reduces their working capital and so they can discount fares. This, by default, means that you are penalising people who turn up and travel and, as you rightly say, they are committed to travel anyway.

First are doing this in trying to get people to sign up to mTickets. In Bristol (and I'm sure elsewhere), fares have gone up for those buying on the bus but not if you buy an mTicket. For First, there are lower overheads in terms of speed of boarding, handling of cash etc so by inducing people to switch from cash fares, they get a benefit. Of course, the fact that there's a fare increase is "grist to the mill" for the local rag who can then have a clickbait story with the usual keyboard warrior types in the comments section advocating renationalisation and a return to 1975 as life was so much better then. Of course, this ironically ignores the parallel that the online story is free but you do have to pay to buy a physical newspaper.

Your junk email is perhaps not a reflection on NX's desperation but more a case of you signing up and being caught up in a targeted algorithm!

Typhoon · 5 Dec 2017

TheGrandWazoo said:
Quite! It is the standard way of shaping demand via pricing in various ways.

Booking online has much lower overheads so they can essentially discount the fare. Similarly, you purchase in advance - they have your money in advance and so reduces their working capital and so they can discount fares. This, by default, means that you are penalising people who turn up and travel and, as you rightly say, they are committed to travel anyway.

First are doing this in trying to get people to sign up to mTickets. In Bristol (and I'm sure elsewhere), fares have gone up for those buying on the bus but not if you buy an mTicket. For First, there are lower overheads in terms of speed of boarding, handling of cash etc so by inducing people to switch from cash fares, they get a benefit. Of course, the fact that there's a fare increase is "grist to the mill" for the local rag who can then have a clickbait story with the usual keyboard warrior types in the comments section advocating renationalisation and a return to 1975 as life was so much better then. Of course, this ironically ignores the parallel that the online story is free but you do have to pay to buy a physical newspaper.

Your junk email is perhaps not a reflection on NX's desperation but more a case of you signing up and being caught up in a targeted algorithm!

In reality NX are merely catching up with what the airline and train companies (and, to some extent, Megabus) have been doing for years - trying to get passengers to plan in advance and travel when they want you to travel. Your reward for doing so is cheaper fares. This will, probably inevitably, end up fewer staff involved and shorter queues. I suspect the only reason the train companies don't charge a booking fee is because they wouldn't be allowed to (politicians would regard that as a step too far)! Companies like The Trainline do, of course. I could never understand why I was charged for booking on-line but not when I rolled up to my local transport enquiry office.

Ref to last point - it used to be e-mailed once every two or three weeks, it is now two or three times a week. (And, I suspect, I failed to opt out rather than opting in which is my fault for failing to go through the Ts & Cs with a fine tooth comb.)

Minor qualification to the penultimate paragraph - I travel by public transport so get my paper paper for free!

WelshBluebird · 5 Dec 2017

It is quite funny comparing megabus and NX. At least in my experience, between Cardiff and London megabus is always busier, but between Bath and London, NX is always busier! To be fair megabus I think have a clear advantage on fares from Cardiff while from Bath it is a bit less clear a difference.

TheGrandWazoo said:
First are doing this in trying to get people to sign up to mTickets. In Bristol (and I'm sure elsewhere), fares have gone up for those buying on the bus but not if you buy an mTicket. For First, there are lower overheads in terms of speed of boarding, handling of cash etc so by inducing people to switch from cash fares, they get a benefit. Of course, the fact that there's a fare increase is "grist to the mill" for the local rag who can then have a clickbait story with the usual keyboard warrior types in the comments section advocating renationalisation and a return to 1975 as life was so much better then. Of course, this ironically ignores the parallel that the online story is free but you do have to pay to buy a physical newspaper.

Of course, that would all be accurate and fine, but you are ignoring the fact that you still cannot buy individual singles as an mTicket. So if you just want a single, there has absolutely been a fare increase because you either pay the higher fare or you have to buy a group of mTickets that you may well not want. The cynic in me thinks this is more to get more money either way - either from the higher cash fare, or from people buying blocks of tickets, rather than just to speed up boarding.

plannerman · 5 Dec 2017

NX infuriate me - I would be quite happy to have a day out on the coach but I can't find a route map anywhere! There doesn't seem to be any way of searching where coaches go to from a particular point, you have to enter a destination as well which isn't great when you're open to travelling anywhere

Welshman · 6 Dec 2017

plannerman said:
NX infuriate me - I would be quite happy to have a day out on the coach but I can't find a route map anywhere! There doesn't seem to be any way of searching where coaches go to from a particular point, you have to enter a destination as well which isn't great when you're open to travelling anywhere

If you know the route number, you can use the tracking facility on their website to see all the calling-points of a particular service.
That's how I inadvertently found their time-honoured daily service from Bangor along the North Wales Coast now goes to Peterborough & Great Yarmouth rather than London! (Service 375).

317 forever · 9 Dec 2017

radamfi said:
Bizarrely, tickets bought from a National Express ticket office don't incur a booking fee. So, when convenient, I have bought tickets there. Of course, there is no choice but to pay the £1 booking fee for fares only available online.

I also noticed this, so when booking a flexible fare where no funfare was available I booked at a National Express coach station a few days before travel.

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

plannerman said:
NX infuriate me - I would be quite happy to have a day out on the coach but I can't find a route map anywhere! There doesn't seem to be any way of searching where coaches go to from a particular point, you have to enter a destination as well which isn't great when you're open to travelling anywhere

I worked for NX, It was always maintained that a route map would be too complicated to make sense. I don't know how true that is now but that was the answer back in 2006/2007.

Bletchleyite · 10 Dec 2017

I've seen that quoted, but I don't see why they couldn't do a diagrammatic "frequent services" type map.

radamfi · 10 Dec 2017

There used to be a National Express timetable book. That used to contain a map in the early 90s.

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

Neil, I quite agree but as far as I remember it was never mentioned.

Rob H

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

radamfi said:
There used to be a National Express timetable book. That used to contain a map in the early 90s.

I seem to remember that being mentioned. I certainly don't recall using it but I think there were copies still around though.

quarella · 10 Dec 2017

pitdiver said:
I seem to remember that being mentioned. I certainly don't recall using it but I think there were copies still around though.

I bought a National Express route map in about 1992 from Swansea bus station. I think I still have it in the loft somewhere.

route101 · 10 Dec 2017

Yeah , maybe a list of services on their website with a map when you click on each service , would be interesting to see .

Typhoon · 10 Dec 2017

pitdiver said:
I seem to remember that being mentioned. I certainly don't recall using it but I think there were copies still around though.

I can recall there being a copy in a library that I used to refer to - possibly the Central Library in Birmingham. The library, like the timetable book, is now a thing of the past. What was interesting was the odd 'once a day' type routes connecting places in not very obvious corners of the country.

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

Typhoon said:
I can recall there being a copy in a library that I used to refer to - possibly the Central Library in Birmingham. The library, like the timetable book, is now a thing of the past. What was interesting was the odd 'once a day' type routes connecting places in not very obvious corners of the country.

Not only not very obvious places but odd routes. EG 339, Westward Ho! To Grimsby. Or the 350, Liverpool to Clacton.

Adlington · 10 Dec 2017

Typhoon said:
I can recall there being a copy in a library that I used to refer to

I recall a copy at a travel agent's at the Manchester University campus, heavily used by students, so the copy didn't look particularly fresh

Typhoon · 10 Dec 2017

pitdiver said:
Not only not very obvious places but odd routes. EG 339, Westward Ho! To Grimsby. Or the 350, Liverpool to Clacton.

Thank you for reminding me of some of the routes. I may be wrong but I think that the 339 went through Birmingham; I don't suppose many people actually travelled from end-to-end but they were useful for travelling across country (if you could spare a day to do so).

Bletchleyite · 10 Dec 2017

I bet some of those more obscure routes might be more popular if people knew they existed! Nat Ex seems to promote "going by coach" quite heavily but assumes people just do journeys they would otherwise do by another mode (i.e their primary modus operandi is to poach passengers from car, air and rail, primarily by being cheaper, and to take people on big city to big city journeys that are quite well known). They don't seem to promote journeys that you might otherwise not consider, which could grow the market further.

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

I was the manager at Milton Keynes Coachway, the 339 was very useful as it picked up passengers at Leicester for destination to Grimsby. However I don't recall any passenger going to Grimsby but certainly places like Louth and Lincoln.
Apparently the other route I mentioned 350 was there for visitors to Butlins in Clacton before it closed down.
I think the 545 was introduced for the same reason Butlins Pwhelli ( it is now Haven Holidays Hafan y More).

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

Bletchleyite said:
I bet some of those more obscure routes might be more popular if people knew they existed! Nat Ex seems to promote "going by coach" quite heavily but assumes people just do journeys they would otherwise do by another mode (i.e their primary modus operandi is to poach passengers from car, air and rail, primarily by being cheaper, and to take people on big city to big city journeys that are quite well known). They don't seem to promote journeys that you might otherwise not consider, which could grow the market further.

Neil, what makes me laugh is how NX promote their services in relation there being no service on the railways on certain days etc. What they don't mention is if things go wrong on the Motorways eg M1 ( as you probably are aware of) you can be stuck say between jcts 15-14 for at least a couple of hours. With no way out.

radamfi · 10 Dec 2017

Typhoon said:
Thank you for reminding me of some of the routes. I may be wrong but I think that the 339 went through Birmingham; I don't suppose many people actually travelled from end-to-end but they were useful for travelling across country (if you could spare a day to do so).

I haven't checked, but I presume many of these once a day services connect at a major coach stations like Birmingham or Bristol with other once a day services, meaning that a large proportion of the country could potentially be reached in a day using connections. Obviously if they pass through such locations, connections can also be made with more regular services such as to London or airports.

pitdiver · 10 Dec 2017

radamfi said:
I haven't checked, but I presume many of these once a day services connect at a major coach stations like Birmingham or Bristol with other once a day services, meaning that a large proportion of the country could potentially be reached in a day using connections. Obviously if they pass through such locations, connections can also be made with more regular services such as to London or airports.

They certainly can Birmingham is a good example of a coach interchange. Milton Keynes when I worked there was considered to be the second busiest coach interchange in the country. Remembering that noservices were scheduled to terminate there.
In the past Cheltenham was always considered to be a Very important coach interchange.

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