National Express Coaches Discussion

[Benjwri]

Just catching up on some of the last few pages, as someone who does Bristol to London a fair bit on National Express, it would be bad for the market if they were to reduce their footprint. We've already lost Megabus recently, and at least in my experience, despite initially putting prices up after that, its now NatEx who occupy the lower end price wise. At least every time I look Flixbus seem to be much more expensive. Maybe that is a reflection on the competition Flixbus are giving them though!

I find Bristol to be an odd one, far cheaper than the majority of routes. Cardiff is similar if I remember correctly. Almost every other route I find Flix to be much cheaper

 

[route101]

Flixbus prices on the long routes can be very expensive short notice, nearly £100 at times. National Express usually sell out before they get very expensive.

 

[WelshBluebird]

As a solid example, me and my other half are going to be doing Bristol to london and back next Friday by coach for a gig. Need to book it tomorrow really but quickly looking now NatEx are £23.60 in total and Flix are £28.

National Express usually sell out before they get very expensive.

Surely their model is to ramp up prices as they get close to selling out? Or has thst changed?

 

[Jim James]

Mobico shares slump to record low as profits come under pressure​

Mobico is also undertaking a review of its non-core operations, with the group 'exploring options to monetise the assets' of its UK bus business ahead of incoming changes to franchising rules.

 

[MotCO]

Mobico shares slump to record low as profits come under pressure​

Mobico is also undertaking a review of its non-core operations, with the group 'exploring options to monetise the assets' of its UK bus business ahead of incoming changes to franchising rules.

Could we see Nat Ex selling out to Flixbus? Or don't Flixbus buy companies?

 

[joieman]

Could we see Nat Ex selling out to Flixbus? Or don't Flixbus buy companies?

Would that even be permissible? That would likely leave Flixbus as a virtual monopoly, and I could see the Government object to this on these grounds.

 

[RT4038]

Could we see Nat Ex selling out to Flixbus? Or don't Flixbus buy companies?

Perhaps its reference to 'UK bus business' is referring to the West Midlands bus operations, which are about to be franchised...?

 

[Sealink]

A few things from 8th December:

Service 032: Southampton - Winchester - Heathrow Airport - London
Revised daily schedule, with Salisbury & West Wellow removed from the network.
Service 206: Bournemouth - Southampton - Portsmouth - Gatwick Airport Service withdrawn, with Chichester removed from the network.

Service A9: Whitechapel - Liverpool Street Station - Bethnal Green - Mile End - Bow - Stratford - Stansted Airport and Canary Wharf - Stratford - Stansted Airport
Revised daily schedule, with London (Aldgate) removed from the network and London (Bethnal Green) reintroduced to the network.

 

[Class73Electro]

A few things from 8th December:

Service 032: Southampton - Winchester - Heathrow Airport - London
Revised daily schedule, with Salisbury & West Wellow removed from the network.
Service 206: Bournemouth - Southampton - Portsmouth - Gatwick Airport Service withdrawn, with Chichester removed from the network.

Service A9: Whitechapel - Liverpool Street Station - Bethnal Green - Mile End - Bow - Stratford - Stansted Airport and Canary Wharf - Stratford - Stansted Airport
Revised daily schedule, with London (Aldgate) removed from the network and London (Bethnal Green) reintroduced to the network.

Some pretty major areas being removed form the network!

 

[coach fan]

As I’ve said earlier. It’s done. It’s just a matter of when. Not if. Rumours are swirling around that the coach travel group headed by former Nat ex boss Tom stables could make a bid. Or part bid later next year. Just rumours atm. But somehow can see something like that happening.

 

[Sealink]

Maybe Ember will buy them

 

[markymark2000]

Salisbury & West Wellow removed from the network.

Really not surprised that Salisbury hasn't cut it anymore. Who on earth wants to go on a 4 hour coach plodding south to Southampton before heading north up to London? By comparison, the train takes 90 minutes or you could go up to Amesbury and get the Berrys Superfast and be in Hammersmith in less than 2 hours.

As I’ve said earlier. It’s done. It’s just a matter of when. Not if. Rumours are swirling around that the coach travel group headed by former Nat ex boss Tom stables could make a bid. Or part bid later next year. Just rumours atm. But somehow can see something like that happening.

I'm wondering where Coach Travel Group is getting all of this money from to buy up so many operators (including the 4 operators they have just bought from NX). Either they are racking up a lot of debt or Tom Stables has extremely deep pockets.

 

[Titfield]

Check your journey search results by clicking on the 'i' where it says '1 change' and you will see the options are all by changing at Heathrow. Direct service 206 is quite definitely being withdrawn.

Thanks

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Nov 2025 ==

When will National Express learn that services which do not take the direct route (they can still stop en route) just don’t have enough appeal to enough customers. The trade off of cheaper fares versus longer journey times is sensitive as it is without making it even worse.

As regards Bournemouth - Gatwick there just isn’t enough traffic on this route to make it pay. They are better off connecting at lhr but making the fares attractive.

 

[Benjwri]

When will National Express learn that services which do not take the direct route (they can still stop en route) just don’t have enough appeal to enough customers. The trade off of cheaper fares versus longer journey times is sensitive as it is without making it even worse.

That's all well and good if you only care about London custom, but there is also a balancing act to be had. If you don't stop anywhere near somewhere, people just obviously aren't going to take the coach. It's the cost of getting to the coach stop, and from them it to my destination that almost always makes it uneconomical.

 

[Class73Electro]

That's all well and good if you only care about London custom, but there is also a balancing act to be had. If you don't stop anywhere near somewhere, people just obviously aren't going to take the coach. It's the cost of getting to the coach stop, and from them it to my destination that almost always makes it uneconomical.

I wonder how much Winchester has been hit - the Coach stop used to be right in the centre of town. Now it moved to some carpark in what seems to be the middle of some woods.

 

[mikeg]

That's all well and good if you only care about London custom, but there is also a balancing act to be had. If you don't stop anywhere near somewhere, people just obviously aren't going to take the coach. It's the cost of getting to the coach stop, and from them it to my destination that almost always makes it uneconomical.

To be honest, it depends where that 'near somewhere' is. Meadowhall is reasonable for Sheffield with good onward connections - probably actually faster than running the coach in in the case of the train. Also not only to Sheffield but to other places nearby, in parrticular Doncaster. The only time the coach should venture into central Sheffield in my opinion is at night, when coaches call at both Meadowhall and central Sheffield it adds a lot onto the journey for little benefit to anyone.

I am however rather sad at just how much National Express is declining. It's often the best way to get to Birmingham, sometimes being competitive on time with CrossCountry Trains and almost always on price, it's just a shame there's fewer destinaitons at all. What's needed is some strategic thinking: Does this destination have easy onward connections and where does it serve? IF not, we should stop at X too. But that sounds too much like an integrated transport plan. I miss also the integration with continental coach operators, this means I'm using the coach a lot less than I used to because it used to be the best way to get to the 'near abroad' (France, Belgium, Netherlands).

I reserve particular ire for Flix, by running services but then cancelling them (never had a NatEx service cancelled, seems commonplace with Flix) and not providing appropriate support or willingness to take ownership of issues. At least NatEx is a good honest coach operator, even if they always have subbed out, they know their business. Flix wants to be the Uber of coach travel, with all the negatives too. The word 'En****tificaiton' springs to mind: First offer a decent service, then screw over your business customers (contracting coach services in this case) and then screw over your customers too once you've obtained a near-monopoly. Phase 3 isn't far away, NatEx and Megabus are both struggling with Flix's lowballing approach. Flix's prices are already much more expensive than what they were, and their service much inferiror. If our competition laws were sane they'd recognise this and also at least allow Megabus and NatEx to merge to provide a decent national champion to take on Flix (the result would be more competition, not less and a better service too).

Now all I can do is miss the days at Uni when I could book a £15 return add on to connect with the Eurolines/NX service to Rotterdam (or anywhere else in Europe - once went to Prague this way) from Hanley Duck bus station (though I believe it was a national add on) - but usually Rotterdam because of a girl... I digress.

I'm sure if they could sort out even continental connections combined with a London service, if they relaunched something like what I mentioned above even at £25 they'd have a killer product, taking budget conscious passengers away not only from Flix but also Eurostar and the airlines, and not just from the London area. It's called investment. Sadly having seen Mobico's eyewatering debt ratios i doubt this will be forthcoming.

 

[route101]

Thanks

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Nov 2025 ==

When will National Express learn that services which do not take the direct route (they can still stop en route) just don’t have enough appeal to enough customers. The trade off of cheaper fares versus longer journey times is sensitive as it is without making it even worse.

As regards Bournemouth - Gatwick there just isn’t enough traffic on this route to make it pay. They are better off connecting at lhr but making the fares attractive.

I used the 206 and it was near enough full but traffic going into and out of Portsmouth delayed the service towards Gatwick.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Nov 2025 ==

Would a Bournemouth - Salisbury - Andover - London service work better?

Really not surprised that Salisbury hasn't cut it anymore. Who on earth wants to go on a 4 hour coach plodding south to Southampton before heading north up to London? By comparison, the train takes 90 minutes or you could go up to Amesbury and get the Berrys Superfast and be in Hammersmith in less than 2 hours.


I'm wondering where Coach Travel Group is getting all of this money from to buy up so many operators (including the 4 operators they have just bought from NX). Either they are racking up a lot of debt or Tom Stables has extremely deep pockets.

 

[Jim James]

National Express Q3 2025 sees mixed performance​

National Express Group (NEX) presented its Q3 2025 earnings report, revealing a complex picture of growth and challenges. The company reported a year-to-date revenue increase of over 5%, yet faced declines in certain segments, such as a 7% drop in U.K. Coach revenue. The stock price showed a slight dip of 0.18% to 21.7, reflecting a cautious market reaction to the mixed results and future guidance.

Key Takeaways​

• Group revenue increased by over 5% year-to-date.
• U.K. Coach revenue declined by over 7%.
• Cost reduction efforts are expected to save "tens of millions."
• The ALSA division reported a 4% growth.
• National Express is undergoing strategic exits from loss-making businesses.

 

[markymark2000]

I wonder how much Winchester has been hit - the Coach stop used to be right in the centre of town. Now it moved to some carpark in what seems to be the middle of some woods.

'Some car park in what seems to be the middle of the woods' is actually the cities Park and Ride site. Which it moved to because of difficulties in turning the coaches in the city thanks to the councils silly 'car is king' policies.

Where National Express fails massively in cases such as this (so Reading is another example), is the lack of partnerships to get free or discounted upgrades for onward travel into the town/city centres.

It's the cost of getting to the coach stop

I've long thought that NatEx could really do with joining Plusbus to offer local bus tickets for onwards connections from stops. Most peoples coach journeys don't end at the coach stop, and so this would be a great way to improve the offering.

Would a Bournemouth - Salisbury - Andover - London service work better?

Almost certainly in my opinion. Though you may need another stop or two to make it viable.

• Cost reduction efforts are expected to save "tens of millions."

I'd love to see them sell up Leeds Coach Station to West Yorkshire Metro and then the site can be used by all coach operators, and stop this nonsense of an underutilised coach station. Southampton could really go as a coach station, or be sold to the council or something to make a multi operator station.

 

[WibbleWobble]

Would a Bournemouth - Salisbury - Andover - London service work better?

Salisbury did previously have it's own service, running via Andover and Heathrow, with some journeys extending to Yeovil.

 

[Sealink]

National Express Q3 2025 sees mixed performance​

National Express Group (NEX) presented its Q3 2025 earnings report, revealing a complex picture of growth and challenges. The company reported a year-to-date revenue increase of over 5%, yet faced declines in certain segments, such as a 7% drop in U.K. Coach revenue. The stock price showed a slight dip of 0.18% to 21.7, reflecting a cautious market reaction to the mixed results and future guidance.

Key Takeaways​

• Group revenue increased by over 5% year-to-date.
• U.K. Coach revenue declined by over 7%.
• Cost reduction efforts are expected to save "tens of millions."
• The ALSA division reported a 4% growth.
• National Express is undergoing strategic exits from loss-making businesses.

Currently, up to three children travel free with one adult, this offer has been extended repeatedly, which to me means they are trying to fill buses.

 

[Woolos 22]

I don't know if this question has been ask before what is the longest delay you have had while travelling on nat express sevices

 

[Statto]

I don't know if this question has been ask before what is the longest delay you have had while travelling on nat express sevices

Around 60 minutes on the old 421 London - Blackpool (i was going London - Liverpool), overnight service, the northbound service i was on got delayed because the M6 was shut for overnight works at Stafford, & traffic was nose to tail going through Stafford (including the City Centre) & this was around 4am too.

 

[coach fan]

'Some car park in what seems to be the middle of the woods' is actually the cities Park and Ride site. Which it moved to because of difficulties in turning the coaches in the city thanks to the councils silly 'car is king' policies.

Where National Express fails massively in cases such as this (so Reading is another example), is the lack of partnerships to get free or discounted upgrades for onward travel into the town/city centres.


I've long thought that NatEx could really do with joining Plusbus to offer local bus tickets for onwards connections from stops. Most peoples coach journeys don't end at the coach stop, and so this would be a great way to improve the offering.


Almost certainly in my opinion. Though you may need another stop or two to make it viable.


I'd love to see them sell up Leeds Coach Station to West Yorkshire Metro and then the site can be used by all coach operators, and stop this nonsense of an underutilised coach station. Southampton could really go as a coach station, or be sold to the council or something to make a multi operator station.

Hummm I don’t think they actually own Southampton coach station. Last time I checked it was rented from the council. Could’ve changed I guess. But the last time I was down at Southampton which was during the height of Covid, it was most certainly rented from the council.

National express is NOT an asset rich company. Heck even owned ops don’t own the coaches. They are leased. Same with depots etc.

 

[markymark2000]

Hummm I don’t think they actually own Southampton coach station. Last time I checked it was rented from the council. Could’ve changed I guess. But the last time I was down at Southampton which was during the height of Covid, it was most certainly rented from the council.

Easy cost reduction measure in that case then if they can not pay the rent to the council as they don't need the whole building for what will be, 20 departures per day (as of when the 206 gets cut)

 

[Dwarfer1979]

I'm wondering where Coach Travel Group is getting all of this money from to buy up so many operators (including the 4 operators they have just bought from NX). Either they are racking up a lot of debt or Tom Stables has extremely deep pockets.

Most of the original members of the Coach Travel Group weren't bought, it was effectively a merger of about half a dozen operators some of whose owners remained active in their businesses and some of whom are merely shareholders in the combined group. It is only really the later additions that were purchases and in a way we would not be particularly surprised if each of those original operators had bought one of the additions as individual companies (like Skills taking on Redwing), add in some outside investor money and that some of these purchases were probably fire sales (i.e cheaper than they appear) and they probably aren't as stretched as it first appears (though if they keep going at this rate they may hit that at some point).

 

[BG2024]

I don't know if this question has been ask before what is the longest delay you have had while travelling on nat express sevices

Middlesbrough to Liverpool with a change at Leeds. First leg was heavily delayed so we missed the connection. All other services were fully booked (I think the trains were on strike) so we had to hang around until they could get a local coach firm to take us. Think it was around 3 hours late in total.

 

[Mikw]

I find Bristol to be an odd one, far cheaper than the majority of routes. Cardiff is similar if I remember correctly. Almost every other route I find Flix to be much cheaper

Leicester to London is often only £10 return on National Express. Flix often quite a bit more especially with the booking fee and seat reservation

 

[Eyersey468]

I don't know if this question has been ask before what is the longest delay you have had while travelling on nat express sevices

My longest delay I think was 3 hours late back to Hull due to problems on the M1, though this is as a driver and I suspect isn't what you are looking for

 

[EYFanatic]

I don't know if this question has been ask before what is the longest delay you have had while travelling on nat express sevices

I had a four and a half hour delay after the windscreen came off a Victoria-Hull service