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National Express Coaches Discussion
- Thread starter cnjb8
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That is my impression looking at the 035 service.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
Just saw a 717 near Copdock.
Destination display reads
717 Ispwich
Via Marks Tay, Colchester, and Chapel St Mary.
The display is formatted weird too as two lines of text rather than a route number larger and in corner. It's impressive to have so many spelling mistakes in something so basic.
Coupled with the reported basic spec vehicles it doesn't say many good things about Airport Bus Express and NX standards!!!!
Have to take them tomorrow!!!
Destination display reads
717 Ispwich
Via Marks Tay, Colchester, and Chapel St Mary.
The display is formatted weird too as two lines of text rather than a route number larger and in corner. It's impressive to have so many spelling mistakes in something so basic.
Coupled with the reported basic spec vehicles it doesn't say many good things about Airport Bus Express and NX standards!!!!
Have to take them tomorrow!!!
markymark2000
On Moderation
The photo that I have seen on Flickr of one of the Tourismos shows an awful destination blind which isn't even compliant with PSVAR regulations (Destinations shouldn't be in all capitals). And it looks like a stock Tourismo spec.
BV22WTW
From early April operation of the National Express service to Ipswich passed from long time operator Galloways to Airport Bus of Stansted. They are using a selection of of their Mercedes Tourismos with minimal Nat Ex branding as seen here at Ipswich terminus.
flic.kr
Just goes to show that how in a few short years a company's standards can decline just like that.The photo that I have seen on Flickr of one of the Tourismos shows an awful destination blind which isn't even compliant with PSVAR regulations (Destinations shouldn't be in all capitals). And it looks like a stock Tourismo spec.
BV22WTW
From early April operation of the National Express service to Ipswich passed from long time operator Galloways to Airport Bus of Stansted. They are using a selection of of their Mercedes Tourismos with minimal Nat Ex branding as seen here at Ipswich terminus.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
Since my last post I have been on BV22 WTW.
Spelling mistakes very much still on the front of the coach. Number still on the top line of text rather than in the usual number position. The back number LED display was a scrolling text of "717 to Ipswich - Calling at Marks Tey, Colchester and Capel St Mary" rather than the number, which makes me think they don't know how to set up a route number on the displays as they are just using lines of text everywhere instead of using the route number. Ironically the one place that the text shouldn't be (the scrolling on the back) was the one place that didn't have any spelling mistakes.
This was the longer Tourismo M/2 14m variant with 57 seats and a toilet so the legroom was not bad at all. However they lacked any kind of table on the seat backs and the seats themselves were just cloth/fabric with no arms between each seat and only had USB a ports, some of them below seats in front and some on ceiling. Honestly the coach wasn't bad, I thought it would be worse than it was, even if the spec is clearly a downgrade on the Levante, the DNA of the Tourismo being a better coach overall makes up for that to some degree.
The one thing I did notice though is that the coach had a safety poster/cards that were clearly for a Levante 3 and had a layout of a Levante 3 on them which didn't bear resemblance to the layout we were on.
Spelling mistakes very much still on the front of the coach. Number still on the top line of text rather than in the usual number position. The back number LED display was a scrolling text of "717 to Ipswich - Calling at Marks Tey, Colchester and Capel St Mary" rather than the number, which makes me think they don't know how to set up a route number on the displays as they are just using lines of text everywhere instead of using the route number. Ironically the one place that the text shouldn't be (the scrolling on the back) was the one place that didn't have any spelling mistakes.
This was the longer Tourismo M/2 14m variant with 57 seats and a toilet so the legroom was not bad at all. However they lacked any kind of table on the seat backs and the seats themselves were just cloth/fabric with no arms between each seat and only had USB a ports, some of them below seats in front and some on ceiling. Honestly the coach wasn't bad, I thought it would be worse than it was, even if the spec is clearly a downgrade on the Levante, the DNA of the Tourismo being a better coach overall makes up for that to some degree.
The one thing I did notice though is that the coach had a safety poster/cards that were clearly for a Levante 3 and had a layout of a Levante 3 on them which didn't bear resemblance to the layout we were on.
PG
Established Member
Seems like the displays aren't even linked properly then - if each one has had to be loaded up with the text manually?
Like you say it appears that this particular NX operator lacks some IT knowledge - hopefully its just the displays not other, more safety critical, bits of technology too!
F Great Eastern
Established Member
Well tonight it seems that BV74 MZL which was the other coach on the route earlier, hasn't tracked since 3.30pm and nothing has tracked in it's place so must be either a defective tracking unit on that bus or they've subbed it out for something that is not tracking for whatever reason.
darloscott
Member
They had ten of them when working on the Liverpool St route but unsure how many they kept.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
NatEx liveried BV74 MZL was subbed out yesterday afternoon having developed an issue before returning this afternoon. The same vehicle was also out of use Wednesday and Thursday. Pretty amazing they're using non liveried coaches on several days already. Really need to paint a third one.
The replacement vehicle was an all white BV72X?? reg Merc coach (didn't catch the reg when getting on/off) with no branding, without any tracking equipment onboard whatsoever, a defective side LED that was totally blank and the Free WiFi network is 'Airport Bus Express' which doesn't connect, I presume because they no longer pay for the service and nobody has changed it since they stopped operating their own routes.
Same issues with back and front LEDs as the other two vehicles, same spec as BV22 WTW
The replacement vehicle was an all white BV72X?? reg Merc coach (didn't catch the reg when getting on/off) with no branding, without any tracking equipment onboard whatsoever, a defective side LED that was totally blank and the Free WiFi network is 'Airport Bus Express' which doesn't connect, I presume because they no longer pay for the service and nobody has changed it since they stopped operating their own routes.
Same issues with back and front LEDs as the other two vehicles, same spec as BV22 WTW
On Friday 24/4/26 J&B liveried Scania Interlink JT70 JBT arrived at Meadowhall Interchange at around 6:45pm with ‘National Express’ on the blind. As far as I am aware J&B don’t do any National Express work from here, generally they just do FlixBus work - any ideas for what it was on?
Attachments
Smethwickian
Member
Driver of scheduled service 131 @ 1520 ex-Huddersfield to Birmingham (operated by Stotts) taken ill at Leeds. J&B hired to cover remainder and 2030 return from Birmingham.
Eyersey468
Established Member
- Joined
- 14 Sep 2018
- Messages
- 2,592
Is it a manned site? Drivers officially aren't meant to sell tickets at manned sites though some will depending on circumstances
Thanks for the explanation, hopefully the driver is ok
T5 isn’t staffed.
Smethwickian
Member
It's an airport company rule for which I've never seen any official explanation but have always assumed it is to reduce dwell times while loading. Especially at Central Bus Station, Heathrow only wants coaches stopping long enough to load and unload and then move off, parking elsewhere or going round the block if a bay is not available. And Heathrow staff do enforce the rules, reporting drivers to NX network control for failure to follow any instructions and reserving the right to ban drivers from Heathrow for repeat offences.
j_walker1804
Member
Prior to 2018/2019 it was a manned site by NX so no sales were permitted and then it was written into the contract when NX lost the tender to Transdev (at NX’s loss!)
Lost what tender?
j_walker1804
Member
The tender to operate the forecourt was lost to Transdev back then.
Part of the reason the Sipson Rd site was only leased to Transdev was in case they won it back in 2024 (they didn’t and it was sold to Transdev).
I have charged for excess baggage at Heathrow before, recently however, the ground staff heavily police it and will happily tell drivers off for doing so.
Causes a bit of an issue where I need to charge for it, but now have to tell the passenger they’ll have to pay at the next stop after leaving Heathrow. It’s all a bit silly to me.
(Separately - thank you to the others who have explained the potential reasons for the ticketing issue at Heathrow)
Statto
Established Member
Is that because Heathrow Coach station section is quite busy, Heathrow can have 10+ services calling within 10 minutes of each other (& often 10+ services within 30 minutes of each other), & they only have 10 stands in the coach section, so they don't want coaches at the stands for too long otherwise it's holding up the other coaches.
markymark2000
On Moderation
A number that seems to be ever growing thanks to Flixbus increasing services and NX putting a bit more focus on airport runs lately.
The Heathrow stand allocations really do seems like organised chaos. Park where you want and somehow the service then appears on the screens quickly with the stand allocation. Operationally god knows how it works but it seems to work (just a shame that it's not as nice for passengers)
Yes, stands are very tight too. T5 spans around five stands and you have to watch where your coach will pull in.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
The 717 is really not great since Airport Bus Express took over it.
Apart from the more basic vehicles and the amateur LED displays, they still only have two vehicles liveried up (two required for the timetable) and one or the other has been off service for a fair bit of the time they have been running the service. None of the spare vehicles ever track on the coach tracker and they all appear to be still configured for the now defunct Airport Bus Express Wifi Portal which seems to have been disconnected (probably because that service was cancelled ages ago).
Surely they could livery a third vehicle up and fit it with GPS and a WIfi network that works. I know vehicles are always going to have issues, but not to have a spare to the same configuration as the other two just screams of not wanting to commit a third coach to the service.
Apart from the more basic vehicles and the amateur LED displays, they still only have two vehicles liveried up (two required for the timetable) and one or the other has been off service for a fair bit of the time they have been running the service. None of the spare vehicles ever track on the coach tracker and they all appear to be still configured for the now defunct Airport Bus Express Wifi Portal which seems to have been disconnected (probably because that service was cancelled ages ago).
Surely they could livery a third vehicle up and fit it with GPS and a WIfi network that works. I know vehicles are always going to have issues, but not to have a spare to the same configuration as the other two just screams of not wanting to commit a third coach to the service.