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57-520: National Express , also abbreviated NX , is an intercity and inter-regional coach operator providing services throughout Great Britain . It is a subsidiary of the British multinational public transport company Mobico Group . Most services are subcontracted to local coach companies. The company's head office is in offices above Birmingham Coach Station . Pursuant to the Transport Act 1968 ,

114-765: A Yutong TCe12 on airport service A9 during 2020, National Express is to introduce a Yutong GTe14 tri-axle battery electric coach on a four-week trial operating Stansted Airport services from March 2024. The company also purchased 25 Van Hool Altano TDX21 coaches for services 040 between London and Bristol, and the 540 between London and Manchester via Milton Keynes . These are due to enter service in 2024. National Express also runs ten Caetano Boa Vista bodied Scania K410 double decker coaches on its network, all of which are operated by Edwards Coaches . The first six entered service with National Express mainly for use between London Victoria and Luton Airport in October 2016, with

171-497: A bus station with facilities for travellers or from a simple roadside bus stop . A coachway interchange is a term (in the United Kingdom ) for a stopping place on the edge of a town, with connecting local transport. Park and ride facilities allow passengers to begin or complete their journeys by automobile . Intercity bus routes may follow a direct highway or freeway/motorway for shortest journey times, or travel via

228-515: A scenic route for the enjoyment of passengers. Intercity buses may run less frequently and with fewer stops than a transit bus service. One common arrangement is to have several stops at the beginning of the trip, and several near the end, with the majority of the trip non-stop on a highway . Some stops may have service restrictions, such as "boarding only" (also called "pickup only") and "discharge only" (also called "set-down only"). Routes aimed at commuters may have most or all scheduled trips in

285-546: A Skyliner on an M25 motorway sliproad, causing the deaths of three passengers. 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

342-411: A few miles per hour. Shakespeare 's first plays were staged at coaching inns such as The George Inn, Southwark . The speed of travel remained constant until the mid-18th century. Reforms of the turnpike trusts , new methods of road building and the improved construction of coaches all led to a sustained rise in the comfort and speed of the average journey—from an average journey length of 2 days for

399-610: A freight ship collided with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge , resulting in several vehicles, including a Greyhound bus, falling into the Tampa Bay . All 26 people on the bus perished, along with nine others. This is the largest loss of life on a single Greyhound coach to date. On March 5, 2010, a bus operated by Tierra Santa Inc. crashed on Interstate 10 in Arizona , killing six and injuring sixteen passengers. The bus

456-492: A half after leaving Manchester." A similar service was begun from Liverpool three years later, using coaches with steel spring suspension. This coach took an unprecedented three days to reach London with an average speed of eight miles per hour (13 km/h). Even more dramatic improvements to coach speed were made by John Palmer at the British Post Office , who commissioned a fleet of mail coaches to deliver

513-452: 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

570-539: A month later, on October 3, 2001, Damir Igric , a passenger on a Greyhound bus, slit the throat of the driver (who later survived his injuries and was hospitalized) and tried to take control of the bus, resulting in a crash that killed 7 passengers, including Igric, and injuring six other passengers. It was determined there was no connection between the September 11 attacks and this incident. Nevertheless, this raised concern. On September 30, 2002, another Greyhound driver

627-404: A novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion. Obadiah Elliott registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle. Each wheel had two durable steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs attached to the axles . Steady improvements in road construction were also made at this time, most importantly

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684-573: A rail strike to run a coach service from Bournemouth to London. The service was so successful that it expanded rapidly. In 1920 the Minister of Transport Eric Campbell Geddes was quoted in Punch magazine as saying "I think it would be a calamity if we did anything to prevent the economic use of charabancs " and expressed concern at the problems caused to small charabanc and omnibus operators in parliament. In America, Carl Eric Wickman began providing

741-748: A result of expanding road and air travel, and urban decay that caused many neighborhoods with bus depots to become more dangerous. In 1960, American intercity buses carried 140 million riders; the rate decreased to 40 million by 1990, and continued to decrease until 2006. By 1997, intercity bus transportation accounted for only 3.6% of travel in the United States. In the late 1990s, however, Chinatown bus lines that connected New York with Boston and Philadelphia 's Chinatowns began operating. They became popular with non-Chinese college students and others who wanted inexpensive transportation, and between 1997 and 2007 Greyhound lost 60% of its market share in

798-401: A result of the restrictions, all services were suspended from 6 April 2020. Services restarted nearly three months later on 1 July, on about a quarter of route mileage and with reduced frequencies. As a result of the discovery of a new, more transmissible variant and the implementation of tighter restrictions prohibiting travel in many areas of the country, services were significantly reduced by

855-424: A speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) for coaches whilst removing any speed limit for private cars. The 1930s to the 1950s saw the development of bus stations for intercity transport. Many expanded from simple stops into major architecturally designed terminals that included shopping and other businesses. Intercity bus transport increased in speed, efficiency and popularity until the 1950s and 1960s, when as

912-567: Is a bus company that serves the International route such as from Pontianak , Indonesia to Kuching , Malaysia and Bandar Seri Begawan , Brunei Darussalam in Borneo operated by state-owned bus company, DAMRI and some private operators. Another international bus service in Timor connects Kupang , Indonesia and Dili , Timor Leste . Because of the weak-developed rail network and

969-665: Is a route operated by Antar Lintas Sumatera (ALS) connecting Medan in North Sumatra and Jember in East Java . It is a week long bus travel covering a distance of 2,920 kilometers. The surge in intercity bus travel in Indonesia took place after the completion of Trans-Java highway section connecting Jakarta and Surabaya in 2018. During this time, some intercity bus services began operating fleet of double decker busses . Besides regular domestic public transport, there

1026-445: Is extensive, intercity coach is a common mean of transport between cities. In some cities, for example Shenzhen , nearly every town / district has a coach station. Coach services can be further categorised into high speed (via motorway, Chinese: 高速客运) and low speed (via national highways, Chinese: 低速客运) services, with the latter stopping along the route to carry rural passengers. The number of people opting for long-distance bus travel

1083-565: Is not available or underdeveloped in other parts of the country. Thus the intercity bus service has become the major provider of land transportation service connecting Indonesian cities, either within an island or inter-island connected through ferry crossings . The intercity bus operator companies in Indonesian with several major companies operating mainly in Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. The longest intercity bus service in Indonesia

1140-421: Is on the decline since 2014. Partly this is due to the development of high-speed rail , with train tickets having a similar price to bus tickets, and train services often being much faster, buses are not competitive anymore. Other reasons are the increase in private car ownership and the popularity of ride-hailing . Long distance buses remain popular on routes where train tickets are quickly sold out and where

1197-659: Is the only public transit to reach many urban centres in Canada, and Via Rail services are very sporadic outside the Québec City–Windsor Corridor . Coach service is mostly privately owned and operated, and tends to be regionally focused. Greyhound Canada , once Canada's biggest intercity carrier, ceased operations in 2021. Major operators are listed below. In the mid-1950s more than 2,000 buses operated by Greyhound Lines , Trailways , and other companies connected 15,000 cities and towns. Passenger volume decreased as

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1254-480: 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

1311-639: The Cambridge -London route in 1750 to a length of under 7 hours in 1820. Robert Hooke helped in the construction of some of the first spring-suspended coaches in the 1660s and spoked wheels with iron rim brakes were introduced, improving the characteristics of the coach. In 1754, a Manchester -based company began a new service called the "Flying Coach". It was advertised with the following announcement: "However incredible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring incidents) arrive in London in four days and

1368-487: The National Bus Company was formed as a holding company for the many state-owned local bus companies. Many of these companies also operated coach services, which 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. Coach services were deregulated under the Transport Act 1980 , and buses by

1425-600: The National Safety Council . Crashes involving intercity buses can be disastrous in their magnitude because of the large number of passengers they are capable of carrying. For example, the Kempsey bus crash in Australia on 22 December 1989 involved two full tourist coaches, each traveling at 100 km/h (62 mph), colliding head-on: 35 people died and 41 were injured. Intercity coach service

1482-590: The Transport Act 1985 . In March 1988 National Express was privatised in a management buyout . In July 1989, the company bought ATL Holdings (with operations in Sheffield ) and a 50% share in Yelloway Trathen, which was renamed Trathens Travel Services . In August 1989, the Eurolines services from London to Alicante , Barcelona and Paris were purchased from the tour operator Wallace Arnold , and

1539-555: The 1830s spelt the end for the stagecoaches across Europe and America, with only a few companies surviving to provide services for short journeys and excursions until the early years of the 20th century. The first motor coaches were acquired by operators of those horse-drawn vehicles. W. C. Standerwick of Blackpool , England acquired its first motor charabanc in 1911, and Royal Blue from Bournemouth acquired its first motor charabanc in 1913. Motor coaches were initially used only for excursions. In 1919, Royal Blue took advantage of

1596-951: The Northeast Corridor, compared to 1.7 billion passenger miles for Amtrak trains. Traditional depot-based bus lines also grew, benefiting from what the American Bus Association called "the Megabus effect", akin to the Southwest Effect , and both Greyhound and its subsidiary Yo! Bus , which competed directly with the Chinatown buses, benefited after the federal government shut several Chinatown lines down in June 2012. Between 2006 and 2014, American intercity buses focused on medium-haul trips between 200 and 300 miles (320 and 480 km); airplanes performed

1653-471: The additional four later purchased by Edwards Coaches during 2018. National Express had previously standardised on the double-deck variant of the MCW Metroliner for 'Rapide' coach services in 1980s, however by January 2007, the double-decker coach fleet had been reduced to 12 Neoplan Skyliners , all of which were later withdrawn from National Express service following a speeding driver overturning

1710-519: The bulk of longer trips and automobiles shorter ones. For most medium-haul trips curbside bus fares were less than the cost of automobile gasoline, and one tenth that of Amtrak. Buses are also four times more fuel-efficient than automobiles. Their Wi-Fi service is also popular; one study estimated that 92% of Megabus and BoltBus passengers planned to use an electronic device. New lower fares introduced by Greyhound on traditional medium-distance routes and rising gasoline prices have increased ridership across

1767-733: The city of Hong Kong and the border crossing at Shenzhen , without entering the city centre in Shenzhen or further. These services are termed 'short-haul cross-boundary coach service' by the Transport Department which nearly the whole journey is within the limits of Hong Kong, as opposed to 'long-haul cross-boundary coach service' which runs between cities. As an archipelagic nation, travel between Indonesian cities are done mostly through air and sea travel. Intercity railways are available primarily in Java and Sumatra , while it

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1824-559: 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. However, in 2003, Stagecoach introduced Megabus , a no-frills service whose £1 fares sparked a price war with National Express in autumn 2004. Competition intensified in 2007 when Megabus transferred its London terminus from the Green Line Coach Station into

1881-446: The decline of Pakistan Railways and the unaffordable prices of airplanes for the average Pakistani. Numerous companies have started operating within the country such as Daewoo Express and Niazi Express, Manthar Bus Service and have gained considerable popularity due to their reliability, security and good service. Smaller vans are used for transportation in the mountainous north where narrow and dangerous roads make it impossible for

1938-413: The driver are generally off limits. The growing popularity in the United States of new bus lines such as Megabus and BoltBus that pick up and drop off passengers on the street instead of bus depots has led to a rise in the perceived security of intercity buses. Megabus states that a quarter of its passengers are unaccompanied women. In relatively developed regions of China where the motorway network

1995-490: The end of December 2020. On the implementation of a third national lockdown in January 2021, services were again suspended from 11 January. Eleven weeks later, limited services again resumed on 29 March. 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

2052-699: The express services (with 29 coaches) in Scotland and to London from Stagecoach . These were operated under the Caledonian Express brand. In June 1991, National Express was sold to the Drawlane Group. In December 1992, National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange . In its early years, National Express had little competition in the long-distance coach market. A number of operators attempted to compete with

2109-439: The first service in 1913. Frustrated about being unable to sell a seven-passenger automobile on the showroom floor of the dealership where he worked, he purchased the vehicle himself and started using it to transport miners between Hibbing and Alice , Minnesota . He began providing this service regularly in what would start a new company and industry. The company would one day be known as Greyhound . In 1914, Pennsylvania

2166-549: The main Victoria Coach Station . A national network links more than 550 routes, including many of the UK mainland's cities, with 11,000 cross-country journeys every week as of 2022. 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

2223-551: The morning heading to an urban central business district , with trips in the evening mainly heading toward suburbs . Intercity coaches may also be used to supplement or replace another transport service, for example when a train or airline route is not in service. Statistically, intercity bus service is considered to be a very safe mode of transportation. For example, in the United States there are about 0.5 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles traveled according to

2280-646: The network and made bus travel cheaper than all alternatives. Effective June 25, 2014, Greyhound reintroduced many much longer bus routes, including New York – Los Angeles , Los Angeles – Vancouver , and others, while increasing frequencies on existing long-distance and ultra-long-distance buses routes. This turned back the tide of shortening bus routes and puts Greyhound back in the position of competing with long-distance road trips, airlines, and trains. Long-distance buses were to have Wi-Fi , power outlets , and extra legroom, sometimes extra recline, and were to be cleaned, refueled, and driver-changed at major stations along

2337-571: The northeast United States to the Chinatown buses. During the following decade, new bus lines such as Megabus and BoltBus emulated the Chinatown buses' practices of low prices and curbside stops on a much larger scale, both in the original Northeast Corridor and elsewhere, while introducing yield management techniques to the industry. By 2010 curbside buses' annual passenger volume had risen by 33% and they accounted for more than 20% of all bus trips. One analyst estimated that curbside buses that year carried at least 2.4 billion passenger miles in

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2394-422: The passenger compartment. In contrast to transit buses, motor coaches typically feature forward-facing seating, with no provision for standing. Other accommodations may include onboard restrooms, televisions, and overhead luggage space. A sleeper bus is an example of a vehicle with optimum amenity for the longest travel times, specially adapted for passengers to sleep in. An intercity coach service may depart from

2451-611: The popularity of the private automobile has increased, the use of intercity bus service has declined. For example, in Canada in the 1950s, 120 million passengers boarded intercity bus service each year; in the 1960s, this number declined to 50 million. During the 1990s, it was down to 10 million. Intercity buses, as they hold passengers for significant periods of time on long journeys, are designed for comfort. Intercity buses, also known as coaches or motor coaches are almost always high-floor buses, with separate luggage hold mounted below

2508-458: The post across the country. His experimental coach left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later. The golden age of the stagecoach was during the Regency period , from 1800 to 1830. The era saw great improvements in the design of the coaches, notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system , and

2565-602: The service was about to be ceased. The advertising slogan was "Television shows as you board the coach". [REDACTED] Media related to National Express Coaches at Wikimedia Commons Intercity bus service Intercity bus services are of prime importance in lightly populated rural areas that often have little or no public transportation . Intercity bus services are one of four common transport methods between cities, not all of which are available in all places. The others are by airliner , train , and private automobile . The first intercity scheduled transport service

2622-606: The small size of the country and the resulting low domestic air traffic, the long-distance bus cooperative Egged is the main public transport service in the country. Because of the widespread network, Egged is considered one of the largest bus companies in the world, in part because of the long-distance bus lines. However, in recent years Israel railways has expanded and upgraded its route network and other companies have taken over routes previously served by Egged. Intercity bus transportation has risen dramatically in Pakistan due to

2679-600: 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 . National Express offers several discounts to customers. National Express and its franchisees operate a limited number of coach types, primarily standardising on the Caetano Levante body on Mercedes-Benz , Scania and Volvo chassis. The Levante

2736-525: The train station is located far from passenger destinations. Since 2019, new bus routes longer than 800 km (500 miles) are restricted by law. There are numerous inter-city coach services between Hong Kong and various cities of Guangdong Province , e.g. Shenzhen , Guangzhou , Zhongshan and Zhuhai . These kinds of coaches are legally classified as a kind of non-franchised public bus, as "International Passenger Service". In addition, there are some coach services which just carry passengers between

2793-486: The way, coinciding with Greyhound's eradication of overbooking . It also represented Greyhound's traditional bus expansion over the expansion of curbside bus lines. On August 4, 1952, Greyhound Lines had its deadliest crash when two Greyhound buses collided head-on along then- U.S. Route 81 near Waco, Texas . The fuel tanks of both buses then ruptured, bursting into flames. Of the 56 persons aboard both coaches, 28 were killed, including both drivers. On May 9, 1980,

2850-433: The widespread implementation of Macadam roads up and down the country. Coaches in this period travelled at around twelve miles per hour (19 km/h) and greatly increased the level of mobility in the country, both for people and for mail . Each route had an average of four coaches operating on it at one time – two for both directions and a further two spares in case of a breakdown en route. The development of railways in

2907-410: Was assaulted near Fresno, California , resulting in two passenger deaths after the bus then rolled off an embankment and crashed. Following this attack, driver shields were installed on most Greyhound buses that now prevent passengers from directly having contact with the driver while the bus is in motion, even if the shield is forced open. On buses which do not have the shield, the seats directly behind

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2964-463: Was called the stagecoach and originated in the 17th century. Crude coaches were being built from the 16th century in England, but without suspension, these coaches achieved very low speeds on the poor quality rutted roads of the time. By the mid 17th century, a basic stagecoach infrastructure was being put in place. The first stagecoach route started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith . This

3021-537: Was created in 2003 when the National Express image brand was updated, merging the former Airlink, Flightlink, Jetlink and Speedlink brands. Following the introduction of guidance from the UK Government on avoiding non-essential travel, services were replaced from 24 March 2020 with a limited network of services for passengers with essential travel needs. However, due to declining passenger numbers as

3078-589: Was designed between 2003 and 2005 by Portuguese coachbuilder Salvador Caetano and National Express exclusively for use on the network, equipped with a wheelchair lift at the front entrance door, and could be built on either two or three axles depending on chassis configuration. The most recent tri-axle Levante III was introduced onto the network in July 2018, with an updated version named the Levante IIIA introduced from late 2022. After having initially trialled

3135-446: Was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the country. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between London and Liverpool by the mid 17th century. The coach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. They also became widely adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century and generally travelled at

3192-474: Was not carrying insurance, and had also been operating illegally because the company had applied for authority to operate an interstate bus service, but had failed to respond to requests for additional information. Though generally rare, various incidents have occurred over time involving both drivers and passengers on intercity buses. Security became a concern following the September 11 attacks . Less than

3249-442: Was the first state to pass regulations for bus service in order to prevent monopolies of the industry from forming. All remaining U.S. states would soon follow. The coach industry expanded rapidly in the 1920s, a period of intense competition. The Road Traffic Act 1930 in the UK introduced a national system of regulation of passenger road transport and authorised local authorities to operate transport services. It also imposed

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