National Express Coaches Tickets, Information, Timetable and Destinations

There are various methods to book the National Express Tickets. Traditionally you can get the tickets over the ticket counter at the coach stations. It can also be bought from the various third-party agents at various coach stations all across the UK. The National Express booking can also be done by telephonic services, through the online booking services visiting their website, booking through an e-voucher and also thought the National Express mobile application. The National Express bus tickets are normally sold at the “Standard Fares” or the “Advanced Fares” depending on the type of booking. An online ticketing service also provides an added advantage of booking the tickets as “Open Return” beside one way and return journey options. In open return tickets, passengers have to select only their outward journey dates and select open return option. Once the passenger decides the return dates they can easily redeem the open return ticket by going to the national express website.

When traveling within the UK, for an open return ticket, the return journey should be booked within 3 months of the outward journey date. In case of traveling in Europe, for an open return ticket, the return journey should be booked within six months of the outward journey date. Open Return tickets are valid for travelling on any day of the year. The fares are as low a £5(plus £1 booking fee) during promotions. The fares tend to be more expensive when traveling at peak times and favorite destinations. Hence it is advised to book the tickets well in advance, at least three days in advance, to more likely avail the cheapest fare on that route. It also offers 25% discount for NUS on its coaches.

• Peak Fare: Often referred to as the purchase of the same-day ticket, mainly at the highest price.
• Off-Peak Fare: Often referred to as the advance tickets purchase, mainly at discounted rates and other promo offers.
• Child Fare: For children aged between 3 years to 15 years, the fare is half the price of a standard adult fare. Children aged 2 years or below travel for free.
• Fun Fare: Mainly booked online for any fun trips.

• Young Person Coachcard: for people between the age of 16 and 26, this card saves 1/3rd of standard fare and 10% off travel to events.
• Family 1plus1 Coachcard: for the family traveling with one kid. For just £8 per year, a child can travel free when accompanied by one full fare-paying adult.
• Family 2plus2 Coachcard: for the family traveling with two kids. For just £16 yearly, both kids can travel free when accompanied by two full fare-paying adults.
• Senior Coachcard: for senior-aged 60 or above. They can save 1/3rd of the standard fares to various UK destinations.
• Disable Coachcard: for the disabled passengers. Similar to senior Coachcard it saves 1/3rd of the standard fares to various UK destinations.

• Personal accident up to £20,000
• Personal possessions of £750
• Personal liability of £1 million

National Express provides airport services, which run throughout the day and night, with a frequency of one service every 15 minutes. It connects major cities and towns in the UK with the major airports and frequently used by travelers. The modern luxurious coaches provide generous space for big luggage, power socket and Wi-Fi connections for travelers. It also provides flexibility on travel if the flights are delayed. Passengers are allowed to take 20 kg suitcases and one item of hand luggage per person, although it is advisable to check with the flight services with the baggage allowance.

The airport transfer to London airport starts as cheap as £5 one-way if booked in advance, and if traveling in a group, travelers can avail of any attractive discounts offer. It saves a lot of time for travelers and also the parking expenses for many frequent flyers. The service provides drop at the airport door hence the travelers don’t have to walk much with their luggage and other items.

National Express and its franchises used to operate double-deck coaches until January 2007, after which it was withdrawn due to a major accident. Now it uses Caetano Levante as their primary coaches and main vehicle of choice. Other vehicles, which are used on the network, are:

• Plaxton Elite
• Plaxton Panther
• Van Hool
• Irizar
• Caetano Enigma
• Accessible Coaches

All services of National Express use vehicles with a wheelchair lift. They also have the NX Magic Floor Lift, which mainly locks the wheelchair in place. All these vehicles have wide entrance and a completely flat floor, so as to reduce any mobility problem. Newer vehicles also have recliner leather seats, plug points, air conditioning, and large toilets. They also have Wi-Fi connections, for a comfortable experience while traveling. All coaches are fitted with secure seat belts as standard. Most of the coaches also provide children booster seating option.

The majority of the coach services are contracted with the local coach companies on a long-term agreement, known as the Partner operator. According to the contact, terms, and conditions, the partner operators have to use the coaches with National Express livery. National Express operates some of the services directly instead of franchising them to the local operator, mainly the services between Gatwick, Luton, and Heathrow airport and Victoria coach station, London Liverpool Street and Woking.

• Ambassador Travel, Great Yarmouth
• Bennetts Coaches, Gloucester
• Bruce’s Coaches, Salsburgh
• Go South Coast, Poole
• Johnson Bros Tour, Worksop
• Skills Coaches, Nottingham
• Stagecoach South East, Dover
• Travel de Courcey, Coventry
• Wilts & Dorset, Salisbury
• Yellow Buses, Bournemouth

Disable passengers are allowed to carry their wheelchair and their scooters as long as they can be stored in the luggage hold. The manual wheelchair of less than 20kg weight can also be allowed and stored in the luggage hold. A full guide of the list of luggage allowance is available on their website. Extra luggage can also be taken with extra payment, details of which are provided on the website.

Using the mobile application and also through the website of nationalexpress.com travelers can track their coaches on a real-time basis. Travelers have the provision of searching by stop name and routes, or by departure and arrival locations or by their ticket details. It provides added security and flexibility to the passengers and gives them a real-time update of the coaches.

Checking the time of arrival and departure can be easily done through their website. To make things easier and user-friendly passengers, the website has an option of National Express Timetable finder where the traveler can also browse, download and print the timetables of the coaches, which is highly convenient. If unfortunately, the route is not listed in the timetable finder then the traveler can go to the homepage and key in the destinations and check the timetable for the selected routes.

National Express offers and promotions are available through the website. If travelers want to take advantage of the promotions and the special offers they can book their tickets through the Journey Planner on their homepage. There will be an option for special offers on the next stage before finalizing the tickets and buying them. Promotional codes are normally asked during the booking process and the discounts are added accordingly. Passengers have the option of choosing from the various promotional offers online from the website.