National Express Coaches Discussion

[Bletchleyite]

Slightly off-tangent question:

I was on the 561 approaching Finchley Road today and the driver announced the stop then added "which is for passengers with hand luggage only". On pulling up he repeated it again.

Never heard this before - can anyone shed light ?

Some stops are hand luggage only where opening the lockers wouldn't be practical.

 

[Eyersey468]

Some stops are hand luggage only where opening the lockers wouldn't be practical.

Finchley Road isn't actually a hand luggage only stop but is limited waiting, as is Marble Arch. We can't therefore be sat there for ages sorting luggage out and there's also the risk of luggage being stolen

 

[AlterEgo]

Are National Express running any double deckers? If so, which routes are they on?

 

[JonathanH]

Are National Express running any double deckers? If so, which routes are they on?

No. The Boa Vistas on the London to Bristol route finished a while back.

They don't seem to be shifting quickly in the coach sale market - https://www.ukcoachsales.co.uk/16-scania-k410-caetano-boa-vista-73-seats-psvar-302.html

Currently priced at £70,000.

Choice Of 3 Identical Spec Vehicles

• 73 Full Leather Reclining Seats with Arm Rests & Foot Rests (71 with 1 wheelchair)
• Scania K410UB6 Chassis & Euro 6 DC13 Engine
• Scania Push Button Opticruise Transmission

 

[AlterEgo]

No. The Boa Vistas on the London to Bristol route finished a while back.

They don't seem to be shifting quickly in the coach sale market - https://www.ukcoachsales.co.uk/16-scania-k410-caetano-boa-vista-73-seats-psvar-302.html

Currently priced at £70,000.

That's a shame. I liked them. It was finding them gone from the Bristol route which prompted the question!

 

[CB Root]

Finchley Road isn't actually a hand luggage only stop but is limited waiting, as is Marble Arch. We can't therefore be sat there for ages sorting luggage out and there's also the risk of luggage being stolen

Makes sense, thanks !

 

[WelshBluebird]

I wonder if they have perhaps been the subject of a cyber attack, perhaps? "Website maintenance" doesn't take 48 hours.

Was thinking the same, its been on too long to just be regular maintenance. Doesn't have to have been an attack though, could just have easily been an oopsie with a database or cloud infrastructure or whatever.

 

[JJM22]

Makes sense, thanks !

As far as I can see on the NX website, there are only two stops that are hand luggage only:
- Leicester Braunstone
- Plymouth Marsh Mills

From personal experience on the 440, with the Leicester Braunstone stop, the locker doors extend past the curb near parked cars so isn’t suitable.

Also, if a stop is hand luggage only, it’ll say it in brackets next to the stop name on the website and ticket itself.

 

[JD2168]

No. The Boa Vistas on the London to Bristol route finished a while back.

They don't seem to be shifting quickly in the coach sale market - https://www.ukcoachsales.co.uk/16-scania-k410-caetano-boa-vista-73-seats-psvar-302.html

Currently priced at £70,000.

One of them is with Cawthornes Travel of Rotherham - BU18 OTB

 

[citybus2500]

Was thinking the same, its been on too long to just be regular maintenance. Doesn't have to have been an attack though, could just have easily been an oopsie with a database or cloud infrastructure or whatever.

There was an advertised overnight unavailability of the nxbus website this week.

Could well be a hiccup with the separation of the nxbus and nxcoach architecture?

 

[centraltrains]

Could well be a hiccup with the separation of the nxbus and nxcoach architecture?

They're on AWS as publicly mentioned in a case study video, as to speculation land, not sure what the workload of splitting accounts would be if required, someone else might know

There was always so much going on there's so much it could be!
I think there was a two day outage a few years ago which didn't get a mention on here iirc so probs don't need to worry!

 

[Deerfold]

As far as I can see on the NX website, there are only two stops that are hand luggage only:
- Leicester Braunstone
- Plymouth Marsh Mills

From personal experience on the 440, with the Leicester Braunstone stop, the locker doors extend past the curb near parked cars so isn’t suitable.

Also, if a stop is hand luggage only, it’ll say it in brackets next to the stop name on the website and ticket itself.

Marble Arch used to be, but the notification of that seems to have disappeared.

 

[Eyersey468]

Marble Arch used to be, but the notification of that seems to have disappeared.

Yes it stopped being so after the network restarted after Covid, I'm unsure why

 

[Smethwickian]

Consultation process announced this afternoon for NX coach customer service staff in Birmingham. Call centre being outsourced to South Africa, complaints and lost property to First Source, whoever they are, somewhere in UK.

 

[MotCO]

Consultation process announced this afternoon for NX coach customer service staff in Birmingham. Call centre being outsourced to South Africa, complaints and lost property to First Source, whoever they are, somewhere in UK.

I assume the staff in the call centre in South Africa will have detailed knowledge of British geography and routes operated by NX, so when someone asks the best way of going from, say, Sidcup to Oakhampton, they can give you a prompt answer

 

[BuhSnarf]

I assume the staff in the call centre in South Africa will have detailed knowledge of British geography and routes operated by NX, so when someone asks the best way of going from, say, Sidcup to Oakhampton, they can give you a prompt answer

I would assume that the volume of queries via phone is now so low that they are willing to take the hit on potential complaints from disgruntled customers using the call centre that the saving on outsourcing provides.

Very sad for the colleagues affected, mind.

 

[Scotrail88]

I would assume that the volume of queries via phone is now so low that they are willing to take the hit on potential complaints from disgruntled customers using the call centre that the saving on outsourcing provides.

Very sad for the colleagues affected, mind.

How many are actually involved in the customer services team in Birmingham?

 

[BuhSnarf]

How many are actually involved in the customer services team in Birmingham?

I'm not entirely sure, but I would assume the customer services team probably deals mainly in complaint / general queries rather than booking coach services now a days as most will just use the website.