National Express Coaches (National Express)

Member Name: hunnybabyuk

Product:	National Express
Date:	14/09/09 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great 24 hour operation on mostly new, comfortable coaches & fares from £1

Disadvantages: Fares on some routes for standard tickets are rediculous

National Express is the only national coach network (thats truly national) and is ran by the National Express Group, who operate buses, coaches & trains across the UK.

National Express was founded back in 1972 as National Express but was later rebranded National Express Group Plc in 1992. The brand was created back in 1972 by the National Bus Company to bring together all express bus & coach services in the UK.

National Express Coaches operates to over 1000 different places from far north Scotland to far south England and most places in between. So your never far from a National Express coach stop. Most routes operate under the standard National Express brand but they also have National Express Shuttle (which is usually frequent London services, at least every hour) and National Express Airport (created in 2003 with services from from Gatwick, Heathrow, East Midlands, Luton and Stansted airports). They provide a great comprehensive timetable with coaches operating all day, every day nearly with 24 hour operation you can always catch a National Express coach.

The coaches are mainly brand new as they have invested a lot of money into a brand new fleet of modern, stylish & comfortable coaches for the whole network but what some people don't realise is that the coaches are actually maintained by other local coach/bus operators infact National Express franchise out their routes to other operators but are all operated under the National Express identity and follow strict National Express guidelines. Coaches are comfortable, with reclining seats, most carry toilets on longer journeys and all coaches are air conditioned for a more comfortable journey, whilst seatbelts are fitted to all coaches for safety. The coaches are all easilly spotted with their distinctive livery, which is recently brand new. In a bid to rebrand and reinvent the company, National Express created a brand new livery, still with the theme of white coaches with a red & blue logo but the name is now all in lower case letters and has lines in grey with it too. It's rather eye catching but also a bit plain and boring, it got a lot of critics in a twist over it when it first launched back in December 2007.

National Express also operate another brand called Eurolines, they operate a timetable of services from the UK, across Europe to places like France & Ireland.

National Express coaches are not all suitable for disabled passengers but they are trying to add easy accessable coaches to most routes and 46 (at time of writing this) are now easy access coaches with dedicated wheelchair ramp & area onboard.

Fares on National Express Coaches can be very good, they sometimes beat train fares but obviously can take twice as long to get to where you want to be. Fares start from just £1 with 'FunFares' which were created when Megabus & easyBus came onto the scene offering lower fares. FunFares funfares are cheap single fares, purchased only on the internet as an 'e-ticket', similar to low-fare airlines, meaning reduced overheads for the company which they can pass savings onto passengers. The downfall is not being able to change them but if you can stick with what you book, it can work out a lot cheaper than buying other coach tickets or train tickets.

Also on offer are Multi-ride tickets for frequent travellers, packs of ten separate journeys can be bought for a saving of ten percent on regular fares but these are available only a few routes. The BritExplorer is a great ticket for people wanting to get out & about and explore what Britain has to offer and Coachcards are available too, the 16-25 Coachcard and Family Coachcard offering discounts & great savings off the normal fares, the Family Coachcard also allows FREE travel.

Overall National Express offer a great timetable, you can get practically anywhere from as little as £1 which includes all booking fees & luggage, the coaches are nice & comfortable and most staff tend to be friendly.

Summary: Great