National Express Coaches
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| Parent | National Express Group |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1972 |
| Headquarters | Birmingham |
| Service area | England, Scotland & Wales |
| Service type | Intercity coach services |
| Hubs |
Birmingham London Manchester Glasgow Gatwick Airport Heathrow Airport Southampton Leeds Sheffield |
| Chief executive | Tom Stables |
| Website | www |
National Express is an intercity coach operator providing services throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It is a subsidiary of the National Express Group. Most services are subcontracted to local coach companies. The company's head office is in offices above the Birmingham Coach Station.
Pursuant to the Transport Act 1968, the National Bus Company was formed as a holding company for the many state-owned local bus companies. Many of these bus companies also operated coach services and these 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 de-regulated under the Transport Act 1980 and buses by 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 Wallace Arnold, and the express services in Scotland and to London from Stagecoach with 29 coaches. 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 .
For most of its existence, National Express 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 introduced Megabus, a no-frills service 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.
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