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Home > Travel > Holiday Essentials > Bus Companies > National express

User Reviews

for National express

Rating Summary based on 99 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		17
  • 4 Stars
    		31
  • 3 Stars
    		20
  • 2 Stars
    		16
  • 1 Star
    		15

Detailed rating

  • Customer service
  • Frequency of bus / buses
  • Quality of Rooms
  • Reliability
  • Speed
  		• 3.3
  		• 3.5
  		• 2.7
  		• 3.5
  		• 2.8
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 10 | 1 to 10 out of 99 Review(s)
  • 46 of 46 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of hiker

    Level 7 hiker

    Member since 28/03/2003

    Reviews written: 519

    4 Stars Airport Express 07/03/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages The service

    Disadvantages Disadvantages The timetable (at times)

    People who drive automatically assume that travelling by public transport is HORRID. It takes longer, it's probably more expensive, you have to sit with (get spoken at by) people you don't know and, very quickly, don't like, it's inconvenient…it has, in short, nothing to recommend it. Those of us who don't drive are intrinsically more tolerant of all of the above. We have to be. That doesn’t mean that we aren't fair-minded and capable of writing a critical review when we get rubbish service. In this instance it is fair-mindedness that inspires me to write a review about un-rubbish service ... more
  • 15 of 15 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of leofluffy69

    leofluffy69

    4 Stars Express Travel 12/08/2007
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages punctual, cheap and sometimes entertaining

    Disadvantages Disadvantages can get a little cramped when full

    As a national representative of a charity I knew I would have to travel a lot so needed to find the most cost efficient way of doing so. I had received an NZ2 card when I opened my student account with Barclays but never thought of using it. I popped into my local office and decided to find out more about the benefits of this small card. At that particular time National Express had an offer on their journeys and suggested that I take them up on the offer. I knew that a party was approaching near Heathrow so went ahead and booked. Unfortunately they failed to explain that the ‘ANY DESTINATION ... more
  • 39 of 39 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of PrincessDi

    PrincessDi

    2 Stars A big let down for a trusted company Review with images 09/11/2006
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Cheaper rates at the most expensive time of year

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Poor customer service

    The website says they are: "Britain's only scheduled coach network which reaches around 1000 destinations in England, Scotland and Wales, carries more than 16 million passengers each year and provides express 'Shuttle' services between major centres of population in Britain. " To book online you can use their planner to look for the best journey and prices for your needs. There are four main option tabs : Uk, Airports, Europe and Ireland. Then you put in your 'from', 'to', 'departure date' and 'return date' options. You wil then generate at least one option (hopefully), which you can accept or ... more
  • 46 of 46 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Sweary

    Level 5 Sweary

    Member since 10/06/2003

    Reviews written: 34

    4 Stars When your life's in a Mess..... 25/11/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Cheap and can be more reliable than the train (honest)

    Disadvantages Disadvantages It's coach travel, so it's no frills, cheap and cheerful (usually)

    I swore I wouldn't do this but I find I have to..... Browsing everyone's opinions of National Express I get the impression you either love 'em or hate 'em. Fair enough but I also notice some of the questions you put are things I can explain... so, as an ex employee who therefore knows how desparately anxious they are to please, I hope this will shed a bit of light on some of the odd decisions they make and why. They're not always sensible but there are a lot of instances where their decision making reflects the constraints within which they have to work. QUALITY Potentially there could be ... more
  • 77 of 77 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of emmorticia

    emmorticia

    4 Stars National, yes. Express, no. 06/05/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages wide range of destinations; cheaper than train

    Disadvantages Disadvantages journey times sometimes excessively long

    When you need to get home from university for a weekend and can't get a lift from your parents, or if you're visiting someone on the other side of the country in the holidays, you need a method of transport that's cheap and reliable. After hours of looking through train times and realising that even the shortest journey would cut quite heavily into my student loan, I decided to give National Express a go, hearing that their fares were relatively cheap, and that they travelled to a wide range of destinations. BOOKING: Booking your coach tickets is easy. If you have Internet access, and are ... more
  • 37 of 37 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of HappyBunny

    HappyBunny

    3 Stars Travelling With All Forms of Human Life 08/05/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Convenience; Picks-up from many destinations without train stations

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Close proximity to other passengers; Delays caused by accidents, especially on motorways

    “Take the National Express when your life’s in a mess It’ll make you smile. All human life is here From the feeble old dear to the screaming child.” ‘National Express’ by The Divine Comedy Who would have thought that someone would accurately capture the whole coach travelling experience in a song? Not I! But how true the above lyrics are. Coach travel, and in particular, National Express (NE) has long been thought of as the preferred method of travel for students travelling home laden down with dirty washing; little old ladies visiting their grown-up ... more
  • 28 of 28 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Emma1973

    Level 6 Emma1973

    Member since 16/09/2001

    Reviews written: 244

    4 Stars All Aboard The Riot City Express! 26/09/2011
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Comfortable buses, frequency of buses

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Bad website, lack of information.

    In my continued quest for cheaper travel between Manchester and Bristol I came to my last option, National Express. Why not my first option? Well, its always been the train firstly, mainly for snob value I guess. Then it was a toss up between Megabus and National Express. I've always always this notion of National Express being cramped dirty coaches with rank toilets. A few weeks ago I took the Megabus, it was an excellent price of £8 but comfort was not on their priority list. The prices to take my son back to Bristol was also getting expensive at £34.00 for myself. So I looked at National ... more
  • 31 of 31 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Squidget

    Squidget

    5 Stars Final Destination... but only just 06/09/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Cheaper prices

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Longer Journey times

    Yesterday had to be the most hectic day of my life! Well in fact it started on Sunday night! I was travelling back from my week break in London and managed to miss my flight home, which happened to be the last flight of the day. Dashed to get a train, however there were none! Coach? Yes National Express saved the day. National Express run coaches on most routes throughout the UK and has been the leader for years. So here is a little tale of my journey from London to Edinburgh. As I said earlier it was hectic, these are the reasons why. I had a long awaited appointment with the hospital that I ... more
  • 29 of 29 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of belaqua

    belaqua

    5 Stars Go By Coach 10/06/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Punctual and very cheap indeed!

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Slower than trains (usually!), less comfortable

    I think I'm pretty well qualified to review this company. I have a lot of great friends who live in North Yorkshire and I live in London. That's a £60+ train ride away, you know! And the blasted things don't even run properly half the time. So, after realising that the rail network in Britain is just a series of ridiculous prices and interesting guesses when it comes to timetables, or at least has been for the past year or two, we were pretty elated at finding out about the national coach network. My usual journey's a five-hour-long one and a return ticket costs me just £12.50 - fantastic ... more
  • 23 of 23 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of anon0789

    anon0789

    4 Stars Up to date review by an employee 29/12/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages cheap, easy interchange in London

    Disadvantages Disadvantages slow, reserved seating, cramped when full

    I’m currently a driver working for National Express and have been doing so for the last year. Recently National Express is starting to make lots of efforts to improve the quality of its services. I want to talk about why you should use National Express and what your travel experience will be like – at least aboard my coach. Who uses National Express? From observation people who use this service are unlikely to have access to a car. Students, people on low incomes, asylum seekers and a great deal of more mature adults who may have a car but who don’t like driving long distances. Why use ... more
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