National Express Coaches Discussion

[SeanM1997]

With Chester and Nantwich removed and Crewe cut years ago, will National Express serve anywhere in Cheshire?

 

[markymark2000]

With Chester and Nantwich removed and Crewe cut years ago, will National Express serve anywhere in Cheshire?

Yes. They will still serve Cheshire Oaks once per week. 01:45 on a Saturday morning towards Leeds and 22:25 on a Saturday evening the bus arrives from Leeds. It's designed to link up to the NatEx/Bus Eireann Eurolines to provide links from Dublin to the North West via the connection at Cheshire Oaks.

Not sure why but the NatEx/Bus Eireann Eurolines route doesn't convey domestic passengers in England else that'd be a nice link to London (Is it Cabotage rules or something which prevents it? As my understanding is that the bus isn't often fully loaded so selling domestic seats would help to make more money?)

 

[F Great Eastern]

I’m surprised Airport Bus Express are still in operation. What work do they complete now, apart from two buses on the 717 service? I assumed they had closed down when Flibco took over the London to Stansted coach service.

I’m also surprised they’ve put logos on that Mercedes Tourismo. With the exception of the Temsa vehicles on services to Yorkshire, National Express are normally very strict in regards to vehicle specification for their routes. BV74 MZL was one of those former vehicles that Airport Bus used on the A21 and has a bare minimum spec. The seats have no extra padding or leather on them whatsoever, neither are tables provided.

National Express standards are not what they were since the Spanish management took more of an interest. Just read the last few pages.

 

[nick291]

I’m also surprised they’ve put logos on that Mercedes Tourismo. With the exception of the Temsa vehicles on services to Yorkshire, National Express are normally very strict in regards to vehicle specification for their routes. BV74 MZL was one of those former vehicles that Airport Bus used on the A21 and has a bare minimum spec. The seats have no extra padding or leather on them whatsoever, neither are tables provided.

They haven't been all that strict for a while now, otherwise vehicles like the Temsa MD12 kicking about in NX livery wouldn't be allowed.

 

[route101]

With Chester and Nantwich removed and Crewe cut years ago, will National Express serve anywhere in Cheshire?

I used the 551 from Liverpool on Friday and it was nearly full at Nantwich. A few people got on at Birkenhead and Nantwich but a decent load got on at Chester. There seemed to be a dupe that started from Chester and we caught up with it at Hanley Bus Station. At Hanley they were figuring out which coach was direct to London.

Strange Nantwich is served but not Crewe or the 551 misses Crewe currently.

 

[Simon75]

I used the 551 from Liverpool on Friday and it was nearly full at Nantwich. A few people got on at Birkenhead and Nantwich but a decent load got on at Chester. There seemed to be a dupe that started from Chester and we caught up with it at Hanley Bus Station. At Hanley they were figuring out which coach was direct to London.

Strange Nantwich is served but not Crewe or the 551 misses Crewe currently.

I guess its to save time as you can get from Nantwich on the the A500 direct to Hanley

 

[CB Root]

Irritating that they've cut the 06:15 560 from Sheffield City Centre to London Golders Green. Pond St interchange is a 7-min walk from my other half's and I still have a work client in Edgware so all the pieces fell into place. I could leave hers at 6am and stroll into the client's offices at 10:30 having already put in a couple of hours on my tablet. Then down to Kings Cross for the backhaul to Donnie. I will need to work out a short-term fix but I can see full retirement beckoning...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Apr 2026 ==

Quick shout out to NX online chat.

Got in touch re the cancellation of 06:15 560 ex-Sheffield (post above) as 2 of my journeys were affected.

Asked for a refund for the first one and a rebook to a week later for the second - both sorted immediately and refund made to my card within minutes.

Overall excellent experience

 

[route101]

Was looking at coming back from London this weekend. London to Glasgow at £70 odds. I thought it might be due to the London Marathon but thats the following weekend. I wonder if the pricing has changed to be more like Flixbus and go sky high.

 

[nick291]

Was looking at coming back from London this weekend. London to Glasgow at £70 odds. I thought it might be due to the London Marathon but thats the following weekend. I wonder if the pricing has changed to be more like Flixbus and go sky high.

Could probably go down to Gatwick on one of NatEx's services and fly cheaper than that!

 

[Wembleybound]

Im travelling from sunderland to London Friday overnight could anyone tell me how busy it would be and what the chances of getting two seats to myself?

 

[route101]

Could probably go down to Gatwick on one of NatEx's services and fly cheaper than that!

The anglo scots services do command higher prices, especially the night services. With Megabus off the scene, there is less capacity.

Flights this weekend back up to Scotland are quite expensive. Perhaps end of Easter Holidays.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Apr 2026 ==

Im travelling from sunderland to London Friday overnight could anyone tell me how busy it would be and what the chances of getting two seats to myself?

Friday is usually a busy night. Is the service starting from Sunderland?

 

[Wembleybound]

The anglo scots services do command higher prices, especially the night services. With Megabus off the scene, there is less capacity.

Flights this weekend back up to Scotland are quite expensive. Perhaps end of Easter Holidays.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Apr 2026 ==


Friday is usually a busy night. Is the service starting from Sunderland?

Yeah

Would you recommend booking the front seat behind the driver? Is there more leg room?

 

[Eyersey468]

Yeah

Would you recommend booking the front seat behind the driver? Is there more leg room?

The front seat behind the driver is one of the worst for leg room to be honest, if you want good leg room reserve seat 2A

 

[Wembleybound]

The front seat behind the driver is one of the worst for leg room to be honest, if you want good leg room reserve seat 2A

Unfortunately its already took ive reserved 4d is that the same amount of legroom as everywhere else? Or is there a chance of getting 2 to myself?

 

[MCR247]

Personally on coaches I tend to go towards the back because I find once the coach starts to reach the point where there’s no more empty two seaters, people tend to just sit next to someone near the front, even when sometimes there are empty two seaters in the last couple of rows that they simply haven’t noticed or haven’t been able to see.

Of course, this doesn’t mean no one will ever sit next to you in the journey as if it gets full then it gets full, but personally I’d rather have someone sit next to me only from the last stop rather than all the way.

If you don’t mind proximity to the toilet, I’d suggest the back seats themselves as the middle seat is usually one of the last ones to be taken

 

[route101]

Personally on coaches I tend to go towards the back because I find once the coach starts to reach the point where there’s no more empty two seaters, people tend to just sit next to someone near the front, even when sometimes there are empty two seaters in the last couple of rows that they simply haven’t noticed or haven’t been able to see.

Of course, this doesn’t mean no one will ever sit next to you in the journey as if it gets full then it gets full, but personally I’d rather have someone sit next to me only from the last stop rather than all the way.

If you don’t mind proximity to the toilet, I’d suggest the back seats themselves as the middle seat is usually one of the last ones to be taken

I often sit two thirds of the way to the back and often people will walk to the back turn and plonk themselves two thirds of the way down. Its on overnight services that having no one next to you is the biggest difference.

 

[MCR247]

I often sit two thirds of the way to the back and often people will walk to the back turn and plonk themselves two thirds of the way down. Its on overnight services that having no one next to you is the biggest difference.

Yes indeed, that is the trade off. In my limited experience more people seem to avoid the risk of having to do the ‘backtrack’ out of fear that the people boarding behind them will have taken the seats they walked past to get to the back initially.
I’ve never done a proper long distance overnight service, so perhaps on these people are more willing to take the risk of having to backtrack because the benefit of finding two seats to yourself is ‘greater.’

Has anyone done a dissertation on the psychology of where passengers sit on coaches?

 

[Eyersey468]

Unfortunately its already took ive reserved 4d is that the same amount of legroom as everywhere else? Or is there a chance of getting 2 to myself?

Yes 4D has the same amount of legroom as most of the other seats. It depends how full the coach is whether you will get it to yourself or not

 

[Ellis101]

I often see a lot of coaches passing by while I’m in the City Centre for college. The NX Coaches to/from Liverpool ONE are usually quite busy and I’ve noticed they’re full or nearly full. However, I’ve recently also noticed that many of the national express coaches are much quieter than usual. Is there a reason for this?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I often see a lot of coaches passing by while I’m in the City Centre for college. The NX Coaches to/from Liverpool ONE are usually quite busy and I’ve noticed they’re full or nearly full. However, I’ve recently also noticed that many of the national express coaches are much quieter than usual. Is there a reason for this?

Competition from Flix? School holidays?

 

[Ellis101]

Competition from Flix? School holidays?

Possibly could just be both but I'm shocked in the difference compared to what I'm used to seeing when they go past over the past 18 months.

 

[route101]

I often see a lot of coaches passing by while I’m in the City Centre for college. The NX Coaches to/from Liverpool ONE are usually quite busy and I’ve noticed they’re full or nearly full. However, I’ve recently also noticed that many of the national express coaches are much quieter than usual. Is there a reason for this?

Route to London goes via Manchester or some via Birmingham now perhaps.

 

[Djgr]

Route to London goes via Manchester or some via Birmingham now perhaps.

If all Liverpool to London coaches go via Manchester then NX have given up on the market.

 

[Staffordian]

There seems to be something a bit odd about the new timetable for NX 131 introduced on Monday. There are now two journeys from Birmingham to Hull at 1430 and 1730, but only the 1145 from Hull to Birmingham, which works back to Hull as the 1730. (Precise timings vary by day of the week). However, looking at the live times on bustimes.org, the 1430 is always shown as only operating as far as Leeds, with no tracking shown over the Leeds – Hull section. Does anyone know why this is ? There is no problem in booking tickets from Leeds to Hull on this journey, so it certainly ought to be running as advertised.

 

[tram21]

There seems to be something a bit odd about the new timetable for NX 131 introduced on Monday. There are now two journeys from Birmingham to Hull at 1430 and 1730, but only the 1145 from Hull to Birmingham, which works back to Hull as the 1730. (Precise timings vary by day of the week). However, looking at the live times on bustimes.org, the 1430 is always shown as only operating as far as Leeds, with no tracking shown over the Leeds – Hull section. Does anyone know why this is ? There is no problem in booking tickets from Leeds to Hull on this journey, so it certainly ought to be running as advertised.

Maybe no-one has booked it from Leeds to Hull- is it non stop between the cities?
Or maybe the tracking is just a bit dodgy!

 

[Staffordian]

Maybe no-one has booked it from Leeds to Hull- is it non stop between the cities?
Or maybe the tracking is just a bit dodgy!

It is non-stop between the cities, and as it is at a new time its quite possible no-one has booked it. However, as at 1715 today, the live times show the 1430 with destination Leeds, but when you click on the details it shows timings through to Hull and I am able to book tickets for it on the NX website. The other journeys on 131 are tracking correctly, although for some reason they do not carry local passengers between Leeds and Hull.

 

[Smethwickian]

If all Liverpool to London coaches go via Manchester then NX have given up on the market.

Exactly. With most NX journeys from Liverpool to London taking over 7 hours now, and Flixbus offering several daily journeys in 6 hours, it will hardly be surprising if NX passenger numbers fall and further service reductions leave Liverpool with even fewer choices.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Exactly. With most NX journeys from Liverpool to London taking over 7 hours now, and Flixbus offering several daily journeys in 6 hours, it will hardly be surprising if NX passenger numbers fall and further service reductions leave Liverpool with even fewer choices.

Is it not potentially the case that rail has this one largely sewn up, with the West Midlands Trains service with a change at Crewe not having an excessively long journey time and having fares that are well into coach territory?

Wouldn't surprise me if Flix were carrying fairly large numbers of tourists from various parts of Europe who default to Flix because they know it, with others using rail?

 

[Staffordian]

Exactly. With most NX journeys from Liverpool to London taking over 7 hours now, and Flixbus offering several daily journeys in 6 hours, it will hardly be surprising if NX passenger numbers fall and further service reductions leave Liverpool with even fewer choices.

Looking at options from Liverpool to London today, there are 4 FlixBus journeys taking between 5h50m and 6h20m. NX has 3 journeys on 540, between 6h20m and 6h25m and 4 on 541 (also via Birmingham) either 7h10m or 7h15m. Until last weekend there were 5 journeys on 550 generally between 6h10m and 6h25m but with the 1915 from Liverpool taking only 5h50m. The alternative 551 via Chester and Stoke took 7h45m. So even going via Manchester, the faster NX journeys take much the same time to London as before (because they don't serve Birmingham), and NX still has the edge on frequency if you don’t mind how long it takes !

 

[gray1404]

I agree NX have basically given up on Liverpool for a journey to/from London now.

Journeys from Liverpool to Birmingham are longer as they are going via Manchester.

For travel between Liverpool and London even though it's going via Manchester, the journey time can still be similar if it is one of the coaches that avoids Birmingham.

I would be interested to hear how busy the coaches on the Liverpool to Manchester/Leeds route are though?