National Express announces 15 new routes for coaches across UK airports and cities - full list here

National Express has announced fifteen new coach routes connecting cities and airports across the UK - and its got more plans to grow its network.

The coach operator says its new routes have an emphasis on fast, frequent services connecting cities, towns and airports. They take the network’s capacity up to 11,000 journeys across the country each week and complement significant investment which has also being made in 130 new vehicles which are being added to the fleet.

National Express says there has been a huge surge of customers in 2022, with over 16 million people travelling on its services – up 10 million from 2021. The Queen’s funeral, the return and growth of music festivals and events and the disruption caused by the rail strikes are all believed to be contributing factors in the uplift in passengers.

National Express added: “The rail strikes and soaring costs for motorists continue to have had a deepening impact on traveller behaviours, with 10 percent of rail users reported switching to coach travel for better value and reliability of service.”

Ed Rickard, Service Delivery Director for National Express UK, said: “More and more customers are turning to coach for great value, reliable and sustainable travel. It’s encouraging to see customers making the switch from other modes of transport and choosing our coaches. 

“With our record customer satisfaction scores, they clearly like what they’ve seen, which gives us confidence that the demand is there. We’re expecting 2023 to be even busier as we roll out our uplift in service provision, with forecasts predicting 21 million customers travelling by coach to get them where they need to be.”

National Express, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year, currently operates over 550 services across the country. The company reported a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 42 in March and rated Excellent (4.4) on Trustpilot. The coach operator added that punctuality and reliability are also the best they have ever been, with 90% of services on time.

Full list of new routes:

Launched on 20 March:

• Luton Airport - Golders Green - Finchley Road - Baker Street - Paddington - Marble Arch
• Stansted Airport - Golders Green - Finchley Road - Baker Street - Marble Arch - Paddington

Launched 31 March:

• Huddersfield - Bradford - Leeds - Meadowhall - Derby - Birmingham
• Grimsby - Cleethorpes - Louth - Lincoln - Newark-on-Trent - Leicester - Birmingham
• Edinburgh - Glasgow - Carlisle - Manchester - Liverpool
• Glasgow - Carlisle - Milton Keynes - London
• Edinburgh - Glasgow - Hamilton - Milton Keynes - Golders Green - London 

Launching 28 April:

• Leicester - Nottingham - Derby
• Hull - Scunthorpe - Nottingham - London
• Grimsby - Cleethorpes - Louth - Lincoln - Nottingham - London
• Rugby - Coventry - Warwick - Heathrow Airport - London
• Penzance - Camborne - Newquay - Launceston - Okehampton - Exeter - Heathrow Airport - London
• Nottingham - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport

Launching 26 May:

• Newcastle - Durham - Darlington - Leeds - London

Launching 14 July:

• Poole - Bournemouth - Southampton - Fareham - Portsmouth - Chichester - Gatwick Airport

Routes and services will be updated throughout the year. For more information, visit National Express