UK Bus Offers an Economical Alternative to Train

As Britain's Rail Service Declines, Millions Use National Express

Apr 14, 2009 Jay Berman

Privatization has splintered England's once-vast rail network. A nationwide bus firm -- they're known as coaches in the UK -- is picking up the pieces.

Harry Potter and his wizard friends may find it convenient to take the Hogwarts Express from London’s Kings Cross Station to their magical campus, but rail passengers who lack such powers have had to endure a sharp decline in the reliability and efficiency of British train service in the past 17 years.

Then- Prime Minister John Major initiated a plan in 1992 that took rail operation away from the government and turned it into a system of privately run regional firms. He created a network that has experienced a drastic drop in passenger comfort and escalating prices.

Renting a car is an alternative, but gasoline is about four times as expensive in the UK as in the United States, and many North Americans are uncomfortable with driving on the left side of the highway with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.

Many have discovered an alternative that, while it may lack the romantic aura of the English train -- hey, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson took the 0810 to Brighton, right? -- is nearly always less than half the cost, more reliable in terms of on-time departure and arrival, and occasionally nearly as fast.

To those who live west of the Atlantic, that alternative is just a bus, often as not likely to be filled with people down on their luck. To the British, it’s called a coach, and there is no stigma associated with traveling on it. In England, the buses are the red vehicles that serve London. Coaches connect the cities.

National Express is the largest intercity coach company in England, with more than 1,000 destinations. It has thousands more in Ireland and the European continent. In 2007, it carried 17 million passengers. Within the UK, the company’s network extends from Inverness, in northern Scotland, through Glasgow and Edinburgh. It crosses into England, serving cities as large as Manchester and Liverpool and as small as Wigdon, Wilton and Windermere.

Most London departures originate at the Victoria Coach Station, at 164 Buckingham Palace Road less than a 10-minute walk from the famed Victoria rail station.

Coaches Offer Washrooms, Air Conditioning

Other pluses: There is no smoking aboard any National Express coach, and there are washrooms, air conditioning, reclining seats and overhead storage bins. Some even have wireless Internet service.

An even greater advantage: If a train is headed from Birmingham to London and a freight train is stopped in front of it (as in the U.S., freight operations have priority), passengers can expect to hear a “we apologize for the inconvenience” notice from the public address system every few minutes.

But on a coach driving down the M40, which connects those cities, the driver can call police or the National Express traffic center (centre to them), get an up-to-the-moment update on traffic conditions, and get off the motorway, if necessary, to bypass the problem. That can’t be done on rails.

Most long-distance trains have food service, and the coaches don’t. But the coaches stop for food breaks every few hours at convenience stores at rest stops on the motorway. Look out for the prices in those stores, by the way.

Food Can Be Pricey at Motorway Convenience Stores

A ham-and-cheese sandwich will cost about $7, and coffee is as much as $4. Many passengers bring their own food and drink.

Speaking of prices, it is the cost of the trains vs. the coaches that provides the sharpest contrast. Some examples:

Virgin Trains, part of Richard Branson’s holdings, serve the London to Edinburgh route five times per day, on average. It takes about six hours from city to city, and the average round-trip price is $246 (it can go up to $397). National Express has about a dozen buses connecting the two cities, depending upon the day, and the average advance round-trip fare is $48. One passenger on a Virgin train in the Lake District said last summer of the service, “He (Branson) talks about his airline, but not his trains.”

Another popular route is London to Liverpool. The standard open fare on the train is $348. The National Express fare, with tickets purchased in advance, can be as low as $38. The train (there is nearly hourly service between the cities) takes just over two hours, and the coach from five and one-half to six hours. There are about 15 coaches per day.

The Web site for all train questions is nationalrail.co.uk, and the National Express site is Nationalexpress.com. Tickets on both companies can be purchased on line from North America.

From the U.S. and Canada, the telephone numbers are 011 4420 7278 5240 for National Rail and 011 4487 0580 8080 for National Express.

The copyright of the article UK Bus Offers an Economical Alternative to Train in U.K./Ireland Travel is owned by Jay Berman. Permission to republish UK Bus Offers an Economical Alternative to Train in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Buses, not coaches, serve London's Oxford Street.