National Express Coaches

Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Tiger in Liverpool in 1982 in the original livery

Pursuant to the Transport Act 1968, the National Bus Company was formed as a holding company for the many state-owned local bus companies. Many of these bus companies also operated coach services and these were initially branded as National. The National Express brand was first used in 1974 although the coach services continued to be operated by the individual companies.[3][4]

Coach services were deregulated under the Transport Act 1980, and buses by the Transport Act 1985. In March 1988 National Express was privatised in a management buyout.[5] In July 1989 the company bought ATL Holdings[6] (with operations in Sheffield) and a 50% share in Yelloway Trathen, which was renamed Trathens Travel Services.[7][8]

In August 1989 the Eurolines services from London to Alicante, Barcelona and Paris were purchased from the tour operator Wallace Arnold, and the express services (with 29 coaches) in Scotland and to London from Stagecoach. These were operated under the Caledonian Express brand.[9]

In June 1991 National Express was sold to the Drawlane Group.[10][11] In December 1992 National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange.[3]

In its early years National Express had little competition in the long-distance coach market. A number of operators attempted to compete with the company after deregulation in 1980, the largest being the British Coachways consortium, but most had ceased to compete by the end of the decade.[12] However, in 2003, Stagecoach introduced Megabus, a no-frills service whose £1 fares sparked a price war with National Express in autumn 2004. The competition intensified in 2007 when Megabus transferred its London terminus from the Green Line Coach Station into the main Victoria Coach Station.

In November 2007 National Express announced plans to re-brand all its operations under a new unified National Express identity.[13] As part of this the coach operation received a slightly different livery, retaining the red, white and blue theme, but with a new lower-case logo. Coaches started appearing in the new livery from December 2007.

A national network links more than 540 locations, including 59 of the UK mainland's 76 cities, with 1,800 plus services operating every day, increasing to over 1,900 on Fridays. Over 1,000 airport services a day run direct to the terminal for all major English airports. It does not serve any airport in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Plaxton Premiere bodied Volvo B10M at Manchester Airport in April 2003

Stagecoach Yorkshire Plaxton Panther bodied Volvo B12B in the 2003 livery at Southampton in 2008

Selwyns Travel's Plaxton Elite bodied Volvo B9R in Liverpool

National Express offers many routes to destinations across the country. In addition, shuttle and airport services are also operated, although there is no obvious difference to the passenger between a standard, shuttle or airport service with regard to branding.

Many National Express coach routes pass through several town centres, which increases journey times for longer journeys considerably. A smaller number of shuttle services operate at least once an hour over faster direct routes.

National Express operates coach services direct to the terminal for all major UK airports, 24 hours a day, with 1,100 airport services every day, including East Midlands, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted. The Airport brand was created in 2003 when the National Express image brand was updated, merging the former Airlink, Flightlink, Jetlink and Speedlink brands. In the 2007 re-brand, the Airport branding was dropped, although the 'Airport' coding is still used on tickets.

National Express tickets are available through a variety of sources. Most tickets are booked on-line through both the company's own website and many third party sites. Telephone bookings are also available as are tickets through the traditional channels tickets of National Express ticket offices at coach stations, third-party agents at bus stations and travel agents. Since 2013, tickets have also been available for purchase from the Post Office.[18]

All fares are revenue managed with a range of prices, meaning that cheaper fares are generally available for those booking well in advance of travel.

With the introduction of competition from Megabus, founded in 2003, more competitive internet-only Funfares were introduced on some routes. These were phased out with the introduction of a full range of revenue managed fares from 2017.

There are several ticket types available, ranging from the cheapest restricted products, to a fully flexible product.

Edwards Coaches Caetano Boa Vista at Bristol bus station

National Express and its franchisees operate a limited number of vehicle types with bodies made by the Portuguese holding Salvador Caetano to the company's specification.

The primary coach type on the network is the Caetano Levante, which may have two or three axles. This has been the main vehicle of choice since 2006. The most recent Levante III was introduced onto the network in July 2018 and an updated version Levante IIIa from 2023. There is no two-axle version of the Levante III.

The only other branded vehicles used on the network are 10 Caetano Boa Vista double deckers.

Having withdrawn all its double deck coaches after an accident in January 2007, in October 2016 National Express placed six Caetano bodied Scania K410s into service.[19] followed by a further 4 in 2018

National Express Rapide coach

In the mid-1980s during the Rapide era, an on-board tea service and on-board televisions were in operation. These were given extensive advertising campaigns as shown on the BBC Three documentary History of the Coach.

In April 2001 National Express phased out its on-board catering service, having already phased out its on-board television service in the 1990s. However, in late 2004 National Express launched NXTV or National Xpress Television. Rather than showing a whole film as on an aircraft, NXTV would instead show various episodes of British television series such as A Touch of Frost, My Family and Top Gear, all of which were commissioned by ITV and the BBC. The service was displayed on small monitors situated above the overhead luggage compartments, powered by a motor to move downwards and upwards while the programming would be played from a DVD drive at the driver's dashboard.

The service was phased out in the summer of 2006, due to a lack of interest in purchasing headphones, available at vending machines in the major stations and also via on-board vendors before a journey. The headphone jack was compatible with any headphone, removing any reason to buy those offered. Also, by the time NXTV was launched, the Apple iPod was already at its height of popularity, diverting interest away from it. Programming was also very limited, with many of the episodes being frequent repeats from terrestrial television. The headphones were later given away for free when the service was about to be ceased. The advertising slogan was "Television shows as you board the coach".

National Express Coaches now offers free WiFi on most coaches.

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom
• Coach transport in the United Kingdom
• ALSA, another bus & coach subsidiary of National Express
• Royal Blue Coach Services, coach company from West country
• Southdown Motor Services; coach company from Hampshire

Media related to National Express Coaches at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website