National Express Coaches Discussion

[TravelDream]

I find the NX coach network now unusable . Trying to go to London from Cheshire, there appears to be nothing anymore.

The days of it being a national network are gone.

The prime focus now is on routes from regional large towns/ cities to London, airport routes along with a few regional routes which primarily run through Birmingham.

 

[route101]

ditto. The South Coast Express stopped at just about every town and village along the cost from Dover to Penzance. Very popular with those archetypal little old ladies visiting their friends. Many were very happy to sit on a coach no matter how long it took as longa s there were comfort breaks and they didnt have to change coaches.

I wonder how long a Dover to Penzance service would take!

The South Coast Express is back sort of with the 206 service running from Bournemouth to Gatwick. I took this service last month and we got caught in traffic in Portsmouth.

 

[antharro]

Doing some planning for family recently, I was surprised to see the 205 appears to have been discontinued in favour of adding additional stops on the 035. This surprises me as the 035 is rarely a quiet service, and the 205 has been pretty well occupied every time I've taken it. I'm not sure how combining the two is going to work out. Certainly I think I'll be taking the train to Woking or Reading then getting the RailAir instead.

 

[route101]

Doing some planning for family recently, I was surprised to see the 205 appears to have been discontinued in favour of adding additional stops on the 035. This surprises me as the 035 is rarely a quiet service, and the 205 has been pretty well occupied every time I've taken it. I'm not sure how combining the two is going to work out. Certainly I think I'll be taking the train to Woking or Reading then getting the RailAir instead.

They have done that on a few routes. Glasgow to London is now 1 service and they combined the stops. I could understand diverting the 035 overnight or during Covid. Sweating the assests.

 

[BVW]

Can anyone help me complete a memory ? In the mid 1970s, most likely 1975, I went on a day trip on a National Express coach one Saturday. It was the first time I'd travelled on National Express and the furthest I'd ventured on my own at the time.

The coach would have picked me up either at Gillingham or Chatham Bus Station and it travelled west or south west, not via London. My journey was probably around 3-4 hours and I had a couple of hours "somewhere" and then caught the same service back. I think the service started from either Ramsgate or Dover. I just can't remember the somewhere I travelled to, just that it wasn't a big city, rather a pleasant medium sized, probably inland, town.

As I approach 70 in a couple of months I'd like to go there again even if it's no longer served by National Express. Any ideas where I might have visited welcome as it might jog my memory.

Going off the Summer 1975 NX guide, possibly service 047 to Hastings/Eastbourne, 050 to Brighton/Bognor Regis, or 053 towards Bournemouth where you might have disembarked somewhere between Redhill and Portsmouth. Maybe Guildford or Petersfield? They'd all have commenced at Gillingham.

I can't find anything from Ramsgate or Dover that would have called through the Medway Towns going that way.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2025 ==

I wonder how long a Dover to Penzance service would take!

The South Coast Express is back sort of with the 206 service running from Bournemouth to Gatwick. I took this service last month and we got caught in traffic in Portsmouth.

I haven't time to go through the whole of my collection but the Summer 1992 guide shows the Penzance to Brighton 725 commencing 0720 eastbound arriving in Brighton at 2050, with the westbound times being 0820 depart and 2130 into Penzance. Breaks of various lengths occurred at Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Bridport and Plymouth. Jointly worked by Speedlink and Western National, no doubt with various driver changes and possible second manning at times en route.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Going off the Summer 1975 NX guide, possibly service 047 to Hastings/Eastbourne, 050 to Brighton/Bognor Regis, or 053 towards Bournemouth where you might have disembarked somewhere between Redhill and Portsmouth. Maybe Guildford or Petersfield? They'd all have commenced at Gillingham.

I can't find anything from Ramsgate or Dover that would have called through the Medway Towns going that way.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2025 ==


I haven't time to go through the whole of my collection but the Summer 1992 guide shows the Penzance to Brighton 725 commencing 0720 eastbound arriving in Brighton at 2050, with the westbound times being 0820 depart and 2130 into Penzance. Breaks of various lengths occurred at Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Bridport and Plymouth. Jointly worked by Speedlink and Western National, no doubt with various driver changes and possible second manning at times en route.

I guess this was before motorways? Seems a rather excessive length for South Coast to South West!

 

[BVW]

I guess this was before motorways? Seems a rather excessive length for South Coast to South West!

You won't find an awful lot of motorway along the south coast even now.

 

[frodshamfella]

ditto. The South Coast Express stopped at just about every town and village along the cost from Dover to Penzance. Very popular with those archetypal little old ladies visiting their friends. Many were very happy to sit on a coach no matter how long it took as longa s there were comfort breaks and they didnt have to change coaches.

My nan used to take a coach from London to Nelson Lancashire. She took me with her once when I was a kid, not that I remember much about it. This would have been the 70s.

 

[daodao]

My nan used to take a coach from London to Nelson Lancashire. She took me with her once when I was a kid, not that I remember much about it. This would have been the 70s.

National Express still provides a fairly extensive network of services from London to many towns in England that have long since lost through trains/carriages to the capital on the rail network. For example, route 540 from London to Manchester is extended twice daily via Bolton, Darwen, Blackburn and Accrington to Burnley (only a few miles from Nelson).

It is the cross-country routes, for example those that used to radiate from Cheltenham Spa, that have been pruned radically.

 

[extendedpaul]

Going off the Summer 1975 NX guide, possibly service 047 to Hastings/Eastbourne, 050 to Brighton/Bognor Regis, or 053 towards Bournemouth where you might have disembarked somewhere between Redhill and Portsmouth. Maybe Guildford or Petersfield? They'd all have commenced at Gillingham.

I can't find anything from Ramsgate or Dover that would have called through the Medway Towns going that way.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2025 ==


I haven't time to go through the whole of my collection but the Summer 1992 guide shows the Penzance to Brighton 725 commencing 0720 eastbound arriving in Brighton at 2050, with the westbound times being 0820 depart and 2130 into Penzance. Breaks of various lengths occurred at Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Bridport and Plymouth. Jointly worked by Speedlink and Western National, no doubt with various driver changes and possible second manning at times en route.

Thank you so much, I'm now 99% sure that Petersfield was the town I visited about 50 years ago and haven't been back since which I will now rectify. I guess that's why it went out of my mind as it's not an obvious destination for a day trip like Portsmouth or Guildford.

 

[BVW]

Thank you so much, I'm now 99% sure that Petersfield was the town I visited about 50 years ago and haven't been back since which I will now rectify. I guess that's why it went out of my mind as it's not an obvious destination for a day trip like Portsmouth or Guildford.

You're welcome, glad I could help. Timings were 0730 Gillingham, 0737 Chatham arriving Petersfield 1134. Return would have been at 1649 getting back into Medway just after 2045.

 

[extendedpaul]

You're welcome, glad I could help. Timings were 0730 Gillingham, 0737 Chatham arriving Petersfield 1134. Return would have been at 1649 getting back into Medway just after 2045.

Thanks again. I was trying to think how as a 19 year old on his own I filled 5 hours in Petersfield and another memory came back of a cafe with a pinball machine in the town centre which I played for ages.

 

[nick291]

On the 0630 040 from Bristol to London and it is being duplicated by Adventure Coachlines with Ex Edwards BV67 JYA. The very vehicle I had a dreadful megabus experience on around this time last year Does look nice in their maroon purple coach colours though!

 

[pitdiver]

Morning all, as an ex Nat Ex employee I still occasionally dip into this thread. Can anybody tell me if the Nat Ex ticket office at Milton Keynes Coach way is still open or is it ticket machines only? I have an interest in MK Coach way as I was the Customer Experience Manager there when it opened. I also held that position at the old delapidated coach way and also the temporary one that was an absolute joke.

 

[gray1404]

Does anyone know when it will be possible to book National Express services for April 2026 onwards? It is currently only possible to book until the penultimate week of March 2026.

Also, is the minimum connection time between National Express coaches at London Victoria 40 minutes?

I frequently travel Liverpool to Canterbury. They have reminded a number of the 550 services. There used to be a 1545 (ISH) service to London arriving around 2145 that would connect onto a 2230 007 service from London to Canterbury. However the 550 now leaves at 1550 and isn't scheduled into London until 2200.

It is of course still possible to make a 2230 connection but the booking system will not offer me a through ticket. Under the old timetable I never missed a connection. This is a great inconvenience as it means the last journey opportunity from Liverpool is at 1210.

(Note: this problem only applies Tuesday to Thursday. Friday to Monday the later departure is possible as the 007 doesn't depart until 2300 and the 550 is allocated less time to get to London at the weekend)

 

[Smethwickian]

Morning all, as an ex Nat Ex employee I still occasionally dip into this thread. Can anybody tell me if the Nat Ex ticket office at Milton Keynes Coach way is still open or is it ticket machines only? I have an interest in MK Coach way as I was the Customer Experience Manager there when it opened. I also held that position at the old delapidated coach way and also the temporary one that was an absolute joke.

Staffed ticket office, ticket machines and waiting facilities at MKC open daily 0815-1915. Details of all staffed station hours can be found at https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/coach-stations

 

[route101]

I noticed the last time I was at Southampton Coach station when a customer asked to buy a ticket at the manned desk, they were shown to the ticket vending machines and the ticket was bought on them with the staff member inputting the details.

 

[embers25]

I was issued a ticket by the desk in Bournemouth, despite there being machine. Just cost me 2 quid extra but they were able to book me on a coach that was late and so the system assumed it had gone.

 

[nick291]

I noticed the last time I was at Southampton Coach station when a customer asked to buy a ticket at the manned desk, they were shown to the ticket vending machines and the ticket was bought on them with the staff member inputting the details.

When I worked for NatEx in Bristol bus station back in 2019 this was common practice then

 

[Smethwickian]

I noticed the last time I was at Southampton Coach station when a customer asked to buy a ticket at the manned desk, they were shown to the ticket vending machines and the ticket was bought on them with the staff member inputting the details.

This is understandable if a passenger is travelling there-and-then. But if a passenger is booking in advance it is very annoying as it means no customer contact details are taken (mobile number or email) so that if there is a subsequent timetable change / stop move due to roadworks / cancellation or other issue, the passenger will not receive any comms sent by network control or the customer response team.

 

[Eyersey468]

This is understandable if a passenger is travelling there-and-then. But if a passenger is booking in advance it is very annoying as it means no customer contact details are taken (mobile number or email) so that if there is a subsequent timetable change / stop move due to roadworks / cancellation or other issue, the passenger will not receive any comms sent by network control or the customer response team.

I once had a lady in Nottingham unable to understand why her coach hadn't turned up, it transpired there had been a timetable change and as the ticket had been bought on the machine NX had been unable to contact her to let her know

 

[pitdiver]

Staffed ticket office, ticket machines and waiting facilities at MKC open daily 0815-1915. Details of all staffed station hours can be found at https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/coach-stations

Basing it on that information am I right in assuming that the building is locked up at 1915 hrs so passengers have to wait outside

 

[Smethwickian]

Basing it on that information am I right in assuming that the building is locked up at 1915 hrs so passengers have to wait outside

Correct. The waiting room and toilets are no longer open outside the times stated as NX no longer funds overnight security staff.

 

[pitdiver]

Correct. The waiting room and toilets are no longer open outside the times stated as NX no longer funds overnight security staff.

Things have certainly changed since I was there. Seems like NX have reverted back to the bad old days when there was no waiting room or toilet facilities as it was at the original coach way. That was an awful place to work or catch a coach from.

 

[gray1404]

Does Birmingham Coach Station close at any point overnight?

 

[Smethwickian]

Does Birmingham Coach Station close at any point overnight?

Birmingham is open and staffed 24-7 though there are no facilities overnight apart from seats, paid-for loos and various vending machines which may or may not be working.

 

[317 forever]

Birmingham is open and staffed 24-7 though there are no facilities overnight apart from seats, paid-for loos and various vending machines which may or may not be working.

Indeed, and if coaches pass Birmingham during the night they even instruct passengers to get off and reboard after a break, such as on Manchester - London coaches.

 

[Mwanesh]

Correct. The waiting room and toilets are no longer open outside the times stated as NX no longer funds overnight security staff.

Never check i just drive in out .You have reminded me .

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Basing it on that information am I right in assuming that the building is locked up at 1915 hrs so passengers have to wait outside

Not great considering what can happen at night time plus social media closes around 6pm! Not particularly safe if I'm honest.

 

[Eyersey468]

Not great considering what can happen at night time plus social media closes around 6pm! Not particularly safe if I'm honest.

I agree, it's down to cost cutting