National Express coach sales driven up by rail strike-hit travellers

National Express has seen its coach sales bolstered as commuters sought alternative travel amidst a long series of train strikes.

The international bus, coach and rail operator said scheduled coach revenues surged by 87% in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same period in 2022.

The increase was partly driven by a recovery from Covid, which shut down parts of the network amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

But it has also benefited from national rail strikes which disrupted rail services for over nine months, as tens of thousands of members of unions walked out, leaving commuters to find other means of travel.

However, the company faced its own troubles with bus drivers striking for six days during the quarter.

Around 3,200 members of Unite employed by National Express in the West Midlands walked out last month, in a dispute over pay.

But the strikes ended toward the end of March after bus drivers accepted an improved pay offer, including a one-year 16.2% pay increase.

National Express said its bus revenues were affected by the walkouts and the pay settlement, which was higher than it expected, but insisted it was working toward “mitigating the impact” of the cost increases on the business.

It is also looking to make £25 million in annualised cost savings, by improving productivity and reducing costs.

But the savings programme will not affect front-line workers, National Express insisted.

The firm saw its total revenues jump by a quarter to £774 million in the first three months of the year.

Its subsidiary bus and coach company Alsa saw sales surge by a third, with long haul coach tickets selling well and strong demand for journeys in Morocco, particularly in the cities Rabat and Casablanca.

Group chief executive Ignacio Garat said: “I am pleased to report another quarter of progress at National Express with group revenues in line with expectations, albeit affected by the bus driver strike in the UK, and recognising that the most significant trading periods for our US School Bus and UK and Spanish coach operations still lie ahead.

“Given ongoing industry and economic uncertainties, we have launched a wide-ranging productivity improvement and cost-reduction programme that will start to deliver benefits in the second half of this year.

“That initiative will also help to ensure we deploy the right resource most efficiently across the business and capitalise on the significant opportunities for growth that we face.”

Meanwhile, National Express also revealed on Wednesday it was launching 15 new routes across the UK this spring and adding 130 new vehicles to its fleet.

Service delivery director for the UK arm, Ed Rickard, said it was “encouraging” to see customers switching from other modes of transport to its coaches.