TRIVIA: Places that National Express coaches no longer serve

[danielcanning]

The routes in Sussex and surrounding counties have been massively reduced in the past five or ten years.

All of the National Express services to these places have been withdrawn in the past five or ten years:

• Arundel
• Battle
• Bexhill
• Biddenden
• Bognor Regis
• Chichester
• Cranbrook
• Crowborough
• Eastbourne
• East Grinstead
• Falmer
• Forest Row
• Hailsham
• Hastings
• Hawkhurst
• Heathfield
• Hickstead
• Hindhead
• Liphook
• Liss
• Littlehampton
• Newhaven
• Nutley
• Peacehaven
• Petersfield
• Pevensey
• Polegate
• Rottingdean
• Saltdean
• Seaford
• St Leonards
• Tenterden
• Tonbridge
• Tunbridge Wells
• Uckfield
• Woking

Hickstead is probably the biggest reduction. All of the other places on my list only had a few services a day. Hickstead however had two coaches an hour in each direction all day long until the corona virus started. Now they have nothing. What is even more ridiculous is that the coaches still pass Hickstead but just no longer stop there. I suppose it is a tiny rural hamlet in the middle of nowhere but it was a useful place to use as a park and ride for residents of nearby Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath and the other Mid Sussex towns.

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of other places. National Express used to have a huge coach network. But especially in the last twenty years it has been gradually reduced more and more every year. I guess most people in the UK use the train so coaches just do not name enough money.

Who honestly though would use National Express to travel from Kent or Sussex when the train can be just as cheap as the coach(or even cheaper if you have a railcard)?

 

[cambsy]

Cullompton has lost its service to London fairly recently; a destination that seems to come and go from time to time. The service it used to appear on hasn’t had its journey time reduced due to losing Cullompton, so it could be re inserted pretty easily if National Express decided to.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

My home town of Daventry used to served back in the 1990's by a direct London Service (I once used it when I won a Ticket to the Ideal Homes Exhibition at Olympia!)
After this went we had a Southend to Liverpool Service 1 each way, in fact the timetable had the 2 buses on this route (305?) Passing each other in Daventry and I once witnessed the drivers changing over, not in the Bus station as you might expect, but out on the A45 heading out of town. They literally just pulled up swapped over exchanged paperwork and carried on...

 

[jamesontheroad]

Norfolk has almost nothing left apart from lines to Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

I know for certain that Swaffham, Norfolk (pop. ∽ 7,000) has lost service in the last decade. IIRC, there was a daily service from Sheringham to London, via Holt and Fakenham, and then the Norwich - Peterborough - Leicester - Birmingham route as well.

 

[SEGalaxy375]

Who honestly though would use National Express to travel from Kent or Sussex when the train can be just as cheap as the coach(or even cheaper if you have a railcard)?

Not if you're travelling during the peak...

 

[danielcanning]

Not if your travelling during the peak...

By the time the first coach from the south coast reaches Victoria the first off-peak trains from Brighton will have arrived in London...

 

[Deerfold]

By the time the first coach from the south coast reaches Victoria the first off-peak trains from Brighton will have reached London...

The first coach from Worthing is at 0215, Brighton at 0245, arriving Victoria 0550. There's another 2 hours later at each point.

Whilst off-peak fares from these locations are valid before 0430 there's no trains before this time at Worthing, though there is the 0412 from Brighton.

 

[ian1944]

Dalkeith
Jedburgh
Newcastle Airport




I used that service in 2012. I believe it was the 534 from Glasgow to Hull. It was changed to run via the A1 the next time I used it.

I think that originally the 534 ran Glasgow Edinburgh Berwick Newcastle Middlesbrough York Hull, while the 383 did Edinburgh Gala Jedburgh Newcastle Darlington Leeds Bradford Manchester Warrington Chester Wrexham. When the latter was scrubbed, the 534 transferred to the A68 route and also added Leeds between York and Hull.

 

[Silver Cobra]

While it may not have been a major destination or interchange, Bedford used to be served by three National Express routes: the 305 Liverpool to Clacton-on-Sea, the 314 Cambridge to Southport and the 326 Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Cambridge. I believe all three of these services either withdrew their stops at Bedford or were withdrawn entirely in themselves sometime between 2016 and 2019.

It also seems that the stops at Hitchin and Stevenage on the 777 Stansted Airport to Birmingham were withdrawn during the pandemic, so these towns are also no longer served.

Norfolk has almost nothing left apart from lines to Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Lowestoft is no longer served by National Express. I remember that route 491, the Great Yarmouth to London via Norwich and Thetford, used to have one or two services per day start from Lowestoft but this seems to no longer be the case. There was also a route from Great Yarmouth to London via Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket, but this seems to have been withdrawn entirely.

 

[route101]

I think that originally the 534 ran Glasgow Edinburgh Berwick Newcastle Middlesbrough York Hull, while the 383 did Edinburgh Gala Jedburgh Newcastle Darlington Leeds Bradford Manchester Warrington Chester Wrexham. When the latter was scrubbed, the 534 transferred to the A68 route and also added Leeds between York and Hull.

I don't recall the 383 service to Wrexham from Edinburgh but do recall a Wrexham service from Glasgow. There was also a Glasgow to Cardiff service. Don't think York is served from Scotland anymore.

 

[BanburyBlue]

I must admit I didn’t realise so many National Express services had been cut. Was this all down to covid? And is this temporary, or have they gone for good?

 

[route101]

I must admit I didn’t realise so many National Express services had been cut. Was this all down to covid? And is this temporary, or have they gone for good?

Remains to be seen, slowly but surely bits to the network are coming back . Its more like a hub from Birmingham now.

 

[Typhoon]

Who honestly though would use National Express to travel from Kent or Sussex when the train can be just as cheap as the coach(or even cheaper if you have a railcard)?

it is not just that, I have an appointment on Friday. Coach saves me £1.80 (although, in my case, it is swallowed up by bus fare to get to the coach stop, rail station, I can walk to - but put that aside) but it is the frequency. 4 hour gap between services (used to be 2 hourly), I will be home on the train before the coach turns up. There is still the leisure and student market that is catered for, but for anyone whose journey is time sensitive.

 

[Eyersey468]

I must admit I didn’t realise so many National Express services had been cut. Was this all down to covid? And is this temporary, or have they gone for good?

A lot of it is down to the shutdown although the network was reducing before that.

 

[BanburyBlue]

Remains to be seen, slowly but surely bits to the network are coming back . Its more like a hub from Birmingham now.

Interesting, lots of comments on here that for the railway, leisure travel has returned to pre-COVID levels. I would have thought National Express would have had a higher percentage of leisure trave, so surprised more hasn’t come bac.

 

[Eyersey468]

Interesting, lots of comments on here that for the railway, leisure travel has returned to pre-COVID levels. I would have thought National Express would have had a higher percentage of leisure trave, so surprised more hasn’t come bac.

One of the main problems has been getting the drivers, there's a lot of routes that both NX and the operators want to bring back but they can't without them

 

[BanburyBlue]

One of the main problems has been getting the drivers, there's a lot of routes that both NX and the operators want to bring back but they can't without them

Ah, never thought of that.

 

[Eyersey468]

Ah, never thought of that.

The entire bus industry has suffered with driver shortages, but I'm going off topic now, sorry mods

 

[mikeg]

Thirsk used to have two services a day. Then was dropped to one about 2016ish. Then didn't have a service 'because covid', which has never returned

 

[telstarbox]

The routes in Sussex and surrounding counties have been massively reduced in the past five or ten years.

All of the National Express services to these places have been withdrawn in the past five or ten years:

• Arundel
• Battle
• Bexhill
• Biddenden
• Bognor Regis
• Chichester
• Cranbrook
• Crowborough
• Eastbourne
• East Grinstead
• Falmer
• Forest Row
• Hailsham
• Hastings
• Hawkhurst
• Heathfield
• Hickstead
• Hindhead
• Liphook
• Liss
• Littlehampton
• Newhaven
• Nutley
• Peacehaven
• Petersfield
• Pevensey
• Polegate
• Rottingdean
• Saltdean
• Seaford
• St Leonards
• Tenterden
• Tonbridge
• Tunbridge Wells
• Uckfield
• Woking

Hickstead is probably the biggest reduction. All of the other places on my list only had a few services a day. Hickstead however had two coaches an hour in each direction all day long until the corona virus started. Now they have nothing. What is even more ridiculous is that the coaches still pass Hickstead but just no longer stop there. I suppose it is a tiny rural hamlet in the middle of nowhere but it was a useful place to use as a park and ride for residents of nearby Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath and the other Mid Sussex towns.

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of other places. National Express used to have a huge coach network. But especially in the last twenty years it has been gradually reduced more and more every year. I guess most people in the UK use the train so coaches just do not name enough money.

Which routes served the Kent / Sussex border are apart from the London to Hastings one?

 

[Simon75]

My home town of Daventry used to served back in the 1990's by a direct London Service (I once used it when I won a Ticket to the Ideal Homes Exhibition at Olympia!)
After this went we had a Southend to Liverpool Service 1 each way, in fact the timetable had the 2 buses on this route (305?) Passing each other in Daventry and I once witnessed the drivers changing over, not in the Bus station as you might expect, but out on the A45 heading out of town. They literally just pulled up swapped over exchanged paperwork and carried on...

Yes I remember that (only travelled Stoke-on-Trent to Chelmsford), but I remember driver rests at Birmingham. There were no other driver rests/change overs, but that was in the 00's.

 

[Deerfold]

Remains to be seen, slowly but surely bits to the network are coming back . Its more like a hub from Birmingham now.

There's a handful of other decent services, there's 12-15 service a day Leeds - London, some from further away.

 

[omnicity4659]

Ashington, Blyth, Whitley Bay, North Shields and South Shields. Also believe Morpeth is no longer served and it stops on the outskirts of Alnwick instead of the bus station.

 

[RM-Taylor]

Grimsby lost its NatEx services a couple years back. From memory they had the 448 to Westward Ho and also the direct service to London which originated in Hull I believe

 

[Eyersey468]

Grimsby lost its NatEx services a couple years back. From memory they had the 448 to Westward Ho and also the direct service to London which originated in Hull I believe

That was down to the Covid lockdowns, it is intended that Grimsby will return to the network this year

 

[185]

The National Express service from Edinburgh to Newcastle and beyond via Galashiels, Jedburgh, the A68 and Otterburn no longer runs.

Very pretty route that, Selwyns had it for many years as 383 Wrexham - Newcastle - Edinburgh.

At least the best bit of it kinda still runs... Boss Hogg still has his one a day bus, the 131 running Jedburgh to Newcastle & back via Carter Bar. Unfortunately, he was using a squat little Optare Solo on it, although I believe he's just bought a decent, much bigger single decker for it.

 

[alansheppard77]

Apologies if there's already a thread on this, or if it has already been covered in the National Express Coaches discussion, but how many places can you think of that National Express coaches used to serve but no longer do?

Offhand the only example I can think of is Alfreton, Derbyshire, which as I recall used to be served by one coach per day to and from London. I think it was withdrawn in about the late 1990s or early 2000s, and I believe that the London-bound coach latterly left Alfreton quite early in the morning (maybe around 07.00ish) so probably wasn't very convenient for a lot of existing or potential new users.

At least NatEx coaches do still serve a number of other places fairly close by, such as Chesterfield, Derby, Mansfield and Nottingham, though.

Scarborough and Bridlington no longer served

 

[philthetube]

Lowestoft is no longer served by National Express. I remember that route 491, the Great Yarmouth to London via Norwich and Thetford, used to have one or two services per day start from Lowestoft but this seems to no longer be the case. There was also a route from Great Yarmouth to London via Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket, but this seems to have been withdrawn entirely.

Used to have a Birmingham service as well, via Cambridge

 

[Deerfold]

Scarborough and Bridlington no longer served

Though National Express are quite happy to sell you a ticket that you can use on the 843 from Leeds/York to Scarborough.

 

[Eyersey468]

Scarborough and Bridlington no longer served

Although they disappeared from the network with the shutdown, there was rumours of the 567 just running to Hull as hardly anyone used it between Scarborough and Hull