National Express route suggestions

[Martin1988]

I have a couple of suggestions for how to improve National Express routes on the South West-Bristol-Birmingham corridor and would be interested to hear what people on here think of them:

An additional journey on service 530 between Paignton and Newcastle which would replace the current 337 route between Paignton and Bristol and would then continue towards Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle departing Bristol around 1545-1600

This would have the following benefits:
Passengers traveling from areas South of Bristol would be able to travel direct to Birmingham without the need to change coaches

Additional capacity between Bristol and Birmingham would be created at this time of day, in addition to the current 330 which seems to very easily get sold out at busy periods.

It would also create additional capacity on the Birmingham-Leeds corridor and also a direct service between Birmingham and Leeds. Something which already exists earlier in the day. This would have the benefit of freeing up seats on the 320 service at busy periods.

An additional later service between Birmingham and Newcastle would be provided.

Have the current 337 route run between Bristol and Rugby only. Given the fact that the operator is based in Bristol and passengers often seem to be required to change coaches anyway

Alter the current Sunday only journeys on the 318(Bristol to Birmingham) and 322(Swansea to Birmingham) routes to return from Birmingham at 2130 and also extend the 318 to start/end at Bristol University(as per the 040 and new 301 routes)


Extending the 318 to Bristol University could make the service a more attractive option to students over Megabus and if both the 318 and 322 services returned from Birmingham later, there would be greater connectional opportunities available between services arriving into Birmingham from destinations such as Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester and Manchester. This could help improve the passenger numbers on these services.


What do people on here think of these suggestions?

 

[freetoview33]

Now

From Birmingham - Bristol

336: Arriving at 09:15
330: Arriving at 13:00
324: Arriving at 15:05
339: Arriving at 15:05
531: Arriving at 15:05
333: Arriving at 15:55
530: Arriving at 17:05
328: Arriving at 18:05
327: Arriving at 18:50
532: Arriving at 20:50
318: Arriving at 23:00


From Bristol - Paignton you have or will have

336: Leaving at 09:25
337: Leaving at 13:30
324: Leaving at 15:45
530: Leaving at 17:30

And to Plymouth

336: Leaving at 09:25
330: Leaving at 13:15
531: Leaving at 16:00
328: Leaving at 18:15
532: Leaving at 20:55

The key lies in the 336 which will serve Paignton Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays (but not Plymouth) and serve Plymouth the other days.

I would suggest a few things Firstly stop the 336 serving Paignton.
Introduce a new 335 (Manchester - Paignton leaving Manchester about 7am)

Retime the 531 to run an hour earlier.

A new 533 from Birmingham - Paignton (Maybe somewhere northern) leaving Birmingham at 8am

A new 334 Birmingham - Penzance (Not running in the Winter) leaving Birmingham at roughly 9am

Retime the 324, 328, 337 to run an hour later.

Reroute to 530 to Plymouth (Basically a 2 hour later version of the 531)

Extend the 318 back to Liverpool (So it runs Bristol Uni - Liverpool) and run 7 days a week.

So you would end up with the following

From Birmingham - Bristol

336: Arriving at 09:15
533: Arriving at 10:00
334: Arriving at 11:00
335: Arriving at 12:15
330: Arriving at 13:00
531: Arriving at 14:05
339: Arriving at 15:05
333: Arriving at 15:55
324: Arriving at 16:05
530: Arriving at 17:05
327: Arriving at 18:50
328: Arriving at 19:05
532: Arriving at 20:50
318: Arriving at 23:00


From Bristol - Paignton

533: Leaving at 10:15
335: Leaving at 12:25
337: Leaving at 14:30
324: Leaving at 16:45

And to Plymouth

336: Leaving at 09:25
334: Leaving at 11:15
330: Leaving at 13:15
531: Leaving at 15:00
530: Leaving at 17:30
328: Leaving at 19:15
532: Leaving at 20:55

This will improve capacity on the Birmingham - Bristol route with more than one coach arriving before 1pm!

Trips are a bit more spread out, which should ease overcrowding at should help Bristol Bus Stations 15:00 - 16:00 squeeze.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

But the eastside of the 337 is needed so why scrap it just because a change may be needed? Leicester is a very important destination, more so than Rugby in my opinion.

 

[TheWalrus]

I think a regular fast service between London and Plymouth calling only at Exeter and Heathrow is an idea. I also think they should serve Exmouth maybe by extending the Yeovil service?

Also does anyone know how they run journeys over 4 1/2 hours do they change drivers en route or have a second driver on the coach?

 

[quarella]

Also does anyone know how they run journeys over 4 1/2 hours do they change drivers en route or have a second driver on the coach?

Yes. Combination of both.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Yes. Combination of both.

Yep, my experience of NatEx is a bit in the past but they do a number of things. Two man crews are employed on some services. On many others, there are 45 min breaks built into the run, for example the 304 has a 45 min stop at Chieveley Services.

Back in the day when Western National were a major contractor, there were also split services so that a Penzance to London service would have a Cornish driver who would do the run to Plymouth and then hand onto a Plymouth driver to head to London.

There are also "jockey" drivers for services that were perhaps just over 4.5 hours one way, so a driver would run out from the depot to the start point an hour away, take on the passengers, then run south for about hour before another driver would do the majority of the run.

Lots of creativity in scheduling!!!

 

[radamfi]

The last time couple of times I used the 540 from Rochdale to London, they start with two drivers and the first driver gets off after only 25 minutes. He gets picked up by a car waiting on the A62 between Oldham and Manchester. Then the other driver drives the whole way to London.

 

[Deerfold]

The last time couple of times I used the 540 from Rochdale to London, they start with two drivers and the first driver gets off after only 25 minutes. He gets picked up by a car waiting on the A62 between Oldham and Manchester. Then the other driver drives the whole way to London.

Similar for trips on the 564 West/South Yorkshire to London. After it had traipsed around most of West Yorkshire and got on the M1, it came off near Barnsley and stops to change driver before rejoining the motorway. More rarely the coach actually went to the garage for the change. It's been a while since I caught this service so it may or may not still work like this - there may have been changes as I think the operator has changed.