National Express Coaches Discussion

[Teflon988]

National Express set to boost south coast connections - routeone

National Express is to introduce a new route between Portsmouth and Gatwick and increase daily connections to other south coast destinations.

www.route-one.net

 

[cambsy]

Wilko82, that made me laugh the PCV driver not knowing the speed limit of coaches. I had a few years back a Parks Driver, on the 404, near Bristol Airport overtaking a car doing 30mph in a 50mph zone on double white lines, at about 2am in the morning, as was running very late and was stressed by delays. I know all this as was sitting up front and awake. Parks drivers seem a mixed bunch with some lackadaisical about time keeping and don’t push on at all, even having a smoking break when late, which annoying, to some who get on with it and try keep time.

I find coaches on motorways generally dont speed by more than couple mile an hour except when letting run downhill a bit sometimes, but on A roads etc sometimes they speed a bit, unlike back along time ago when speeds of 80mph plus were quite frequent on motorways, and they definitely pushed on especially if late. I had a M reg Vanhool, with no restrictor, leave Golders Green on time and arrive Leeds 45 mins early, i nodded off with coach doing 80mph and woke up sometime later near Leeds, the drivers said they been doing 85 mph up the M1, was front of coach again.

 

[granitebuses]

Wilko82, that made me laugh the PCV driver not knowing the speed limit of coaches. I had a few years back a Parks Driver, on the 404, near Bristol Airport overtaking a car doing 30mph in a 50mph zone on double white lines, at about 2am in the morning, as was running very late and was stressed by delays. I know all this as was sitting up front and awake. Parks drivers seem a mixed bunch with some lackadaisical about time keeping and don’t push on at all, even having a smoking break when late, which annoying, to some who get on with it and try keep time.

I find coaches on motorways generally dont speed by more than couple mile an hour except when letting run downhill a bit sometimes, but on A roads etc sometimes they speed a bit, unlike back along time ago when speeds of 80mph plus were quite frequent on motorways, and they definitely pushed on especially if late. I had a M reg Vanhool, with no restrictor, leave Golders Green on time and arrive Leeds 45 mins early, i nodded off with coach doing 80mph and woke up sometime later near Leeds, the drivers said they been doing 85 mph up the M1, was front of coach again.

That’s Parks for you lol

 

[frodshamfella]

Looked at getting National Express recently from Manchester to Oxford and return, thinking it could be much cheaper versus Cross Country - which around £80 with split tickets - and to avoid the overcrowded trains. But NX was quoting £75 return, with a change in Milton Keynes (taking much longer than the train, of course). To be fair, this is for a summer peak weekend journey, but still I was expecting NX to be significantly cheaper. Coach prices seem to have gone up a lot in recent years. There used to be at least two Manchester to Oxford services a day, from memory, plus at least one Megabus. Flixbus doesn’t seem to have a direct route. No wonder Cross Country are heaving!

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

 

[henryb]

If that is true then that is more proof that Park's have NX wrapped around their finger and that Park's get treated 'differently' to everyone else. As mentioned previously Trathens were always falling foul of speed and tacho infringements and Park's were and still are no different. For example, the driver involved in the 2007 Heathrow crash had numerous previous speeding offences and had been found to have tampered and adjusted the speed limiter, but Park's continued to employ him. I am led to believe that the reason he wasn't sacked was because this was (and possibly still is) a regular occurrence and a blind eye was turned. It shows how little their driving standards are when one of (their now ex) drivers put on social media complaining about how he ws caught speeding and he didn't know what the speed limit of coaches were.

Parks can’t fire anyone as they are mildly short of drivers as they pay a lower wage than other local operators (mainly GSW and Stagecoach - who also do the falcon)

 

[Wilko82]

Parks can’t fire anyone as they are mildly short of drivers as they pay a lower wage than other local operators (mainly GSW and Stagecoach - who also do the falcon)

Exactly, and that is the crux of it all as they have to pay a low rate to make the economics of their NX diagrams work. There is simply no other operator in the region who will be willing to pick up the work for as cheap as what Park's do it for.

 

[Sealink]

Funny little anomaly on service 035 (London - Weymouth) which I see quite regularly.

Booking several weeks in advance:
WEYMOUTH - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0900 Arr 1320 Fare: £8.50
DORCHESTER - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0920 Arr 1320 Fare: £13.10

Booking for tomorrow:
WEYMOUTH - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0900 Arr 1320 Fare: £12.10
DORCHESTER - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0920 Arr 1320 Fare: £17.20

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jul 2025 ==

National Express set to boost south coast connections - routeone

National Express is to introduce a new route between Portsmouth and Gatwick and increase daily connections to other south coast destinations.

www.route-one.net

I see that they have shelved services from Swanage, Corfe Castle and Wareham.
Basingstoke has been added to the single daily Weymouth - Victoria service - I read that as the service not doing great so adding stops to increase business. It's already down from 2 a day.

 

[MotCO]

Funny little anomaly on service 035 (London - Weymouth) which I see quite regularly.

Booking several weeks in advance:
WEYMOUTH - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0900 Arr 1320 Fare: £8.50
DORCHESTER - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0920 Arr 1320 Fare: £13.10

Booking for tomorrow:
WEYMOUTH - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0900 Arr 1320 Fare: £12.10
DORCHESTER - LONDON VICTORIA Dep 0920 Arr 1320 Fare: £17.20

I assume that these are the same coaches, and that Weymouth is further from London than Dorchester. Are you allowed to board or alight short?

 

[Deerfold]

I assume that these are the same coaches, and that Weymouth is further from London than Dorchester. Are you allowed to board or alight short?

You'd struggle to board short. You'd probably be ok to alight short if you didn't have luggage.

 

[davehsug]

You'd struggle to board short. You'd probably be ok to alight short if you didn't have luggage.

There is a regular local service from Dorchester to Weymouth every 15 minutes during the day, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Eyersey468]

I assume that these are the same coaches, and that Weymouth is further from London than Dorchester. Are you allowed to board or alight short?

The problem with boarding at a later stop is certain services are oversold and if you don't show at the stop you are meant to there may not be a seat for you

 

[Wilko82]

There is a regular local service from Dorchester to Weymouth every 15 minutes during the day, so it shouldn't be a problem.

The number 10 between the two towns is a regular service and of course costs the £3 fare cap. In the examples given above to be at Weymouth for the 0900 departure you would realistically have to leave Dorchester Brewery Square (the nearest stop to the Dorchester NX stop at 0807. I would question, is it really worth leaving Dorchester over an hour earlier just to save £2?

 

[Smethwickian]

The problem with boarding at a later stop is certain services are oversold and if you don't show at the stop you are meant to there may not be a seat for you

Also if a service is delayed it can be authorised by controllers to divert and skip stops where there are no pre-booked passengers due to board or alight.

 

[route101]

I noticed you can have tickets posted to you. What form do these take now? Is it a boarding pass card ticket or a A4 print out?

 

[Eyersey468]

Also if a service is delayed it can be authorised by controllers to divert and skip stops where there are no pre-booked passengers due to board or alight.

Thats true, there's been times I've had to ring NCC to have stops authorised to be missed

 

[nick291]

I noticed you can have tickets posted to you. What form do these take now? Is it a boarding pass card ticket or a A4 print out?

Been a thing since I've started regularly travelling on NX 8 years ago, it's a folded bit of A4 paper to fit in the envelope.

 

[route101]

Been a thing since I've started regularly travelling on NX 8 years ago, it's a folded bit of A4 paper to fit in the envelope.

I see, I did see Boarding passes not long ago, where are people obtaining these?

 

[Smethwickian]

I see, I did see Boarding passes not long ago, where are people obtaining these?

Not sure what you mean by 'boarding pass' but I do know that some international airlines offer domestic legs within the UK which are by NX coach. Usually booked by the agency Access Rail, the passenger doesn't receive a separate NX ticket (even though one is booked) but they have an airline ticket that shows, for example, Birmingham to Manchester Airport (by NX) then Manchester Airport to Doha Or Wherever (by Qatar Airways or such like).

 

[Teflon988]

I see, I did see Boarding passes not long ago, where are people obtaining these?

These tickets are called ATB2 (sometimes called Smart Tickets) and are computer generated tickets which are issued by NX owned sales outlets and a few selected other agents.

This certainly speeded up the process, rather than having to write out the ticket.


So any NX owned site should be able to issue these.

 

[extendedpaul]

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.

 

[Martin1988]

I remember they used to have a 'Boarding Pass' system at Cardiff Bus Station where you had to check in for your coach at the ticket office and were given a boarding pass. Admittedly a few times I used the 509 for local trips between Cardiff and Newport (simply because I was a fan of the Jonckheere Mistral coaches that Veolia operated at the time) and the NX staff in the ticket office found it really amusing. Was never sure as to why there was a boarding pass system in place at Cardiff though.

Seem to recall that by 2015 they'd abandoned it however. I remember buying a ticket from the machine for a local trip between Cardiff and Newport (after using the X30 the other way) and only paying a couple of pounds for it too.

 

[dmncf]

I remember they used to have a 'Boarding Pass' system at Cardiff Bus Station where you had to check in for your coach at the ticket office and were given a boarding pass. Admittedly a few times I used the 509 for local trips between Cardiff and Newport (simply because I was a fan of the Jonckheere Mistral coaches that Veolia operated at the time) and the NX staff in the ticket office found it really amusing. Was never sure as to why there was a boarding pass system in place at Cardiff though.

Seem to recall that by 2015 they'd abandoned it however. I remember buying a ticket from the machine for a local trip between Cardiff and Newport (after using the X30 the other way) and only paying a couple of pounds for it too.

I travelled by National Express from Cardiff in summer 2004 and they had the 'boarding pass' system then. It was strange that the staff thought it necessary to add this extra layer of complication and work for themselves, which as far as I know wasn't needed at any other National Express location. Perhaps when that bus station was redeveloped, they got new jobs at Blackpool North railway station!

 

[Simon75]

Are all services now double manned, or still just a few ?
Also ( i know it sounds like a daft question) but to both drivers get paid regardless of who's driving, or is it just driving time?

 

[PG]

I travelled by National Express from Cardiff in summer 2004 and they had the 'boarding pass' system then. It was strange that the staff thought it necessary to add this extra layer of complication and work for themselves, which as far as I know wasn't needed at any other National Express location. Perhaps when that bus station was redeveloped, they got new jobs at Blackpool North railway station!

Perhaps someone from the airport, which is actually at Rhoose, got a job at the bus station!

 

[Mikw]

Are all services now double manned, or still just a few ?
Also ( i know it sounds like a daft question) but to both drivers get paid regardless of who's driving, or is it just driving time?

I'm a regular user and have never had a double manned service. just the one driver on every service i've ever been on

 

[route101]

Some of the services between Scotland and England are double manned. I recall the 591 was.

I think the overnights might be single manned now with at least 1 service station break, sometimes 2.

 

[Eyersey468]

Are all services now double manned, or still just a few ?
Also ( i know it sounds like a daft question) but to both drivers get paid regardless of who's driving, or is it just driving time?

Double manning happens on the long distance routes that are there and back in a day. Both drivers get paid regardless of who is driving

 

[gingerheid]

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

It's not a network any more. Long gone are the days when you could type in any two towns of a half decent size and it would find at least an approximately half sensible way of getting between them (and if it was a not via London type route, often one with a lot of merits compared to the train).

 

[frodshamfella]

It's not a network any more. Long gone are the days when you could type in any two towns of a half decent size and it would find at least an approximately half sensible way of getting between them (and if it was a not via London type route, often one with a lot of merits compared to the train).

I used to be a travel agent in the 80s and 90s . My first job, we were an agent that issued alot of NX tickets. I remember there timetable, you could get pretty much everywhere.

 

[Titfield]

I used to be a travel agent in the 80s and 90s . My first job, we were an agent that issued alot of NX tickets. I remember there timetable, you could get pretty much everywhere.

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.