National Express Coaches - History

History

Following the Transport Act 1968, the National Bus Company (NBC) was formed and many local bus companies were nationalised. Many of these bus companies also operated coach services and these were marketed as National Express from 1972 (the actual coach services continued to be operated by the individual companies).

Coach services were de-regulated under the Transport Act 1980 and buses by the Transport Act 1985. The National Bus Company was privatised and National Express Holdings Ltd was formed in 1998 following a management buy-out; National Express Group (NEG) was formed in 1991 prior to the company being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1992. It was given a remit to acquire new businesses in the passenger transport market, National Express was as a subsidiary company.

During 2001, National Express took the decision to end the historic on-board steward/ess service. The then-Managing Director, Phil White, stated he felt they made the company look old fashioned and passengers did not need them.

For most of its existence, the National Express Coach division had little, if any, competition in the long distance coach market. A number of operators had attempted to compete with the company after deregulation in 1980, the largest being the British Coachways consortium, but most had given up competition by the end of the decade. However, in 2003, Stagecoach Group introduced a "no-frills" service, Megabus, 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 2007–2008, as part of the group wide restructuring and re-branding, the group's rail operations were branded as 'National Express' and the coach fleet 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.