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.

 

[CB Root]

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

I had a ticket from Sheffield Meadowhall to London Finchley Road and there was no mention of luggage restrictions when I booked.

Wonder what would have happened if I'd just rolled up with a suitcase ?

 

[185102]

It may have just been announced as hang liggage as no one had said there with luggage when loading so prevents hunt the suitcase when half the coach want to alight.

 

[JJM22]

I had a ticket from Sheffield Meadowhall to London Finchley Road and there was no mention of luggage restrictions when I booked.

Wonder what would have happened if I'd just rolled up with a suitcase ?

As a driver myself, if you had a suitcase and a ticket for Finchley Road, your case would be loaded in stop order and I would simply unload it for you at your stop.

To me, it sounds like that driver was trying to avoid passengers with luggage for Victoria getting off early as it happens frequently.

 

[F Great Eastern]

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.

Mostly complaints when your coach does not turn up or is late!

 

[Titfield]

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 am convinced that this is the beginning of the end. Once FlixBus really flexes its muscles it will be over bar the shouting.
I take no pleasure in this but the writing has been on the wall since the control passed to Spain.

 

[gray1404]

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.

Do we know how long the call centre will be remaining in Birmingham for before it is outsourced?

 

[iamraymond]

I am convinced that this is the beginning of the end. Once FlixBus really flexes its muscles it will be over bar the shouting.
I take no pleasure in this but the writing has been on the wall since the control passed to Spain.

It's a smart business decision. If they don't need it, why carry the costs?

 

[Titfield]

It's a smart business decision. If they don't need it, why carry the costs?

Agreed as more and more customers of whatever business use the website or a chat function or a forum then fewer expensive customer service people are needed. There comes a point though when cutting costs become more and more difficult and businesses have to turn to increasing the gross revenue. My fear is that nexp are in the process of cutting off their own legs and the business will no longer generate enough revenue to survive.

 

[Andyh82]

Agreed as more and more customers of whatever business use the website or a chat function or a forum then fewer expensive customer service people are needed. There comes a point though when cutting costs become more and more difficult and businesses have to turn to increasing the gross revenue. My fear is that nexp are in the process of cutting off their own legs and the business will no longer generate enough revenue to survive.

I’m guessing Flixbus don’t have a call centre or indeed barely any directly employed staff at all?

 

[nick291]

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

Didn't Walters Coaches in Oxfordshire take a couple?

 

[BULLSAREMAGIC]

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.

Very sad to hear of this but not surprised. Over the years Ive found them very helpful as a passenger and as a driver was able to refer passengers to resolve their problems.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I’m guessing Flixbus don’t have a call centre or indeed barely any directly employed staff at all?

This is the issue NatEx are dealing with. Flix are rock bottom price and rock bottom service, and the group's profitability is helped by the operators taking partial revenue risk too. In an industry where price is basically the only thing that matters (if you can afford to pay more you go by train) it's an unbeatable model. And like Uber all the tourists already know it and probably already have the app etc (assuming it has one).

Trying to compete with it is like trying to compete with Ryanair directly, which almost nobody ever does. easyJet have certainly avoided going fully head to head for a very long time as they know they will lose.

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Very sad to hear of this but not surprised. Over the years Ive found them very helpful as a passenger and as a driver was able to refer passengers to resolve their problems.

The problem is that people in the coach market aren't willing or able to pay extra, by and large, for the improved service. If they were they'd be going by train.

The only market for coach in a country with a highly developed rail network is the rock bottom budget one. GBR might yet mess that up with their pricing model and create such a market, but by and large off peak walk up fares are low enough (and stuff like WMT's Crewe service provides a lower tier) that rail fares are too close to NatEx's fares for the more premium market to choose coach.