Edwards coaches run double deckers to cover some of it's National Express contracts, Bristol to London being their usual usage before March. They have been in use over the last couple of weeks however, I suspect, they'll be mothballed again next month.
Funny I posted this was happening at 1600 today yet was rejected by the mods...but yes. Services suspended until at least March. Services were due to suspended earlier. The government grant kept services running a little longer than originally planned.
Now on the business section of the BBC News website. No announcement on the National Express website itself until you try and book a journey and it tells you services are suspended until at least 1 March.
Word from our office is that’s is more likely to be an Easter return. Already confirmed internally some routes will never return. Bad times.Now on the business section of the BBC News website. No announcement on the National Express website itself until you try and book a journey and it tells you services are suspended until at least 1 March.
National Express to suspend all services
The firm says tighter Covid restrictions and falling passenger numbers have prompted the decision.www.bbc.co.uk
Our dear leader makes it up as he goes along, Natex have to give some sort of commitment to the contractors. Coaches are not seen as an essential service when it comes to business continuity grants.
I haven't seen any reference to 'a phased lifting of lockdown from February half term'. I've heard and seen reference to a *desire* for a phased lifting from that time, or as soon as possible, but it's way too soon to assume what might, or might not, be possible in 1-2 months time.
But NatEx do seem to be shutting the door on any earlier resumption of services in the, admittedly unlikely, event of things starting to get back to normal from February.
At best schools will go back. Theres little chance of anything else substancial and, in a good year, Feburary isnt going to be a profitiable time of year for coach travel anyway. Aiming for 1st March (and that's still optimistic) gives a clear message that assets can be stood down for February which is a decision that would have to be taken within the next couple of weeks anyway.
Unfortunately it isn’t just about passengers making err essential journeys. Our staff sickness level has gone through the roof. Some drivers have been getting close to the legal driving limit per week, something which was pretty much unheard of on nat ex. And when profits have already collapsed the last thing you wanna be doing is blowing more money on excessive staff sickness, paying incentives for drivers to do overtime to take 4 passengers to some little village via Heathrow and Gatwick. The logistics don’t add up.
The problem is that you can easily over-promise when reality is beyond the company's control.
Sounds like a good candidate for some government support. If the government can pay the railways millions to cart fresh air about, surely they can find a small amount to keep a skeleton coach service running?
So what about other coach services? National Express is a PLC and it would be so wrong if they did after what they did with the East coast with the Railways. It's national infrastructure unlike National Express who are free just like Megabus / Flixbus to walk away from a route does not mean when things return others don't just jump on that route. If they wanted to help they would have to offer the routes to all and Will be part nationalisation again of coaches.
For London, wouldn't Clarkes or Kings Ferry be adequate?
Visiting sick family members, funerals? Job interviews? Students going to or from college?
All very small volumes at present. Certainly not enough for a commercial operation.
They have bases close to London, the issue with long distance coaches is that London isnt a good place for a base both because of employment/land costs and because the traffic flow is heavily in the wrong direction. I would have thought the current situation would have meant they're very happy that most stuff is contracted and cutting it can be somebody else's problem.
Using the same theory the government should have dropped all long distance train services.
Those not provided by franchises, such as Hull Trains and Grand Central have been dropped. They're more comparable with National Express.
I'd say it depends. The King Ferry yard in Gillingham is small and pretty full under normal circumstances, and in "normal times", they tended to cover NatEx work as an extension of the now much reduced commuter services. Their "NatEx" at Dover is, as far as I recall, rented space, and even further still for London work. The Hounslow base for Airport work is also on that license, but I don't know how large it is and what they could fit.
Nowhere near close enough to VCS. Besides although owned by Nat ex and running nat services it’s still a different operation compared to owned ops ie stansted Luton ex Gatwick ex Sipson road.
