National Express Coaches

National Express Coaches, more commonly known as National Express, is a brand and company, owned by the National Express Group, under which the majority of long distance bus and coach services in Great Britain are operated,

Most services are subcontracted to local bus and coach companies throughout England, Scotland and Wales, as specified below. The company's head office is based in Birmingham, in offices above the new Birmingham Coach Station.

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. Phil White, their then MD had stated he felt they made the company look old...
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