National Express Bus

[travellingnana]

Considering the National Express bus for our transfer to Southampton. Do they ever go on strike?  Don’t want to be stuck without a ride!

[John Bull]

I've never known them to go on strike - 'though that's not to say it's never happened.

You're pretty safe.

 

It's a shame I can't say the same about the railways tho' at least unions (in all industries) have to ballot members before calling a strike and have to give 14 days notice of any strike (that notice appears prominently on rail operators' websites). And rail workers are represented by several unions, some strikes have little or no effect on passengers.

 

JB 🙂

[travelbuds]

On 1/9/2024 at 7:58 AM, John Bull said:

I've never known them to go on strike - 'though that's not to say it's never happened.

You're pretty safe.

 

It's a shame I can't say the same about the railways tho'

 

 

JB 🙂

Is the National Express a better option than the train? Looks like the coach station is walkable and closer to the Holiday Inn than the train station. Thank you.

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, travelbuds said:

Is the National Express a better option than the train? Looks like the coach station is walkable and closer to the Holiday Inn than the train station. Thank you.

 

Depends where from.

Certainly from Heathrow airport.

Perhaps central London or Portsmouth or Winchester, depending on the address of your lodging.

And perhaps London Gatwick airport, depending which day-of-the-week

But from other parts of the country, by train is usually more direct, more frequent, quicker & cheaper.

 

So we need to know where you'll be travelling from.

And whether you have difficulty hauling your cases - Nat Express drivers load & unload, there's no paid help at train stations altho carriage doors aren't much higher than platforms.

 

Southampton coach station is only marginally closer to H.I. than Southampton Central station (10 min walk instead of 15 mins), all on sidewalks and on level ground. So that really isn't a factor.

 

JB 🙂

 

[Senga]

We are in our 70's, used National Express last May and highly recommend it.  We stayed at Holiday Inn Herbert Walker Avenue and it was a nice walk from the bus station to the hotel.  That being said, it was a gorgeous day.  If the weather had been inclement, there were no taxis at the bus depot.

[travelbuds]

13 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Depends where from.

Certainly from Heathrow airport.......

 

 

 

Thank you for your comments. We'll be going from LHR terminal 3 to Southampton Holiday Inn.

How far in advance would you suggest to make coach reservations? Wouldn't want airline schedule to change after coach reservations were made.

[travelbuds]

5 hours ago, Senga said:

We are in our 70's, used National Express last May and highly recommend it.  We stayed at Holiday Inn Herbert Walker Avenue and it was a nice walk from the bus station to the hotel.  That being said, it was a gorgeous day.  If the weather had been inclement, there were no taxis at the bus depot.

Thank you. I wonder if no taxis at the Southampton coach station is the norm. We'll have our poncho readily available just in case.

[Senga]

@travelbudsWe bought our National Express tickets as soon as the reservations window opened (3 months prior I THINK).  You can pay a bit extra to allow flexibility.  Not sure when you’re going but check with Holiday Inn to see if they have renovations ongoing.  

[John Bull]

52 minutes ago, travelbuds said:

Thank you for your comments. We'll be going from LHR terminal 3 to Southampton Holiday Inn.

How far in advance would you suggest to make coach reservations? Wouldn't want airline schedule to change after coach reservations were made.

 

 

I guess at least a month .

 

JB 🙂

[travelbuds]

22 minutes ago, Senga said:

@travelbudsWe bought our National Express tickets as soon as the reservations window opened (3 months prior I THINK).  You can pay a bit extra to allow flexibility.  Not sure when you’re going but check with Holiday Inn to see if they have renovations ongoing.  

Thanks for the tip. Did it look like renovations were needed?

[Senga]

21 minutes ago, travelbuds said:

Thanks for the tip. Did it look like renovations were needed?

I wouldn’t take the chance and there is significant savings booking in advance.

Edited February 29 by Senga

[John Bull]

9 hours ago, travelbuds said:

Thank you. I wonder if no taxis at the Southampton coach station is the norm. We'll have our poncho readily available just in case.

 

There's a taxi rank at the coach station but yes, it's frequently empty.

And of course taxis are in higher demand in inclement weather.

But it's in the city centre and taxis do tend to swing by there

 

JB 🙂

[travelbuds]

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

There's a taxi rank at the coach station but yes, it's frequently empty.

And of course taxis are in higher demand in inclement weather.

But it's in the city centre and taxis do tend to swing by there

 

JB 🙂

Thank you.

[Sudoku]

Also, when you prereserve your seats, you get to choose a seat assignment.

[nho9504]

On 2/29/2024 at 5:54 PM, Sudoku said:

Also, when you prereserve your seats, you get to choose a seat assignment.

 

When I bought the tickets from Southampton coach to LHR T5 the website did not offer me any seat selection option.  Where did you find the seat selection function?

 

Edit -

I see it now after I logged in my account - Seat Reservation is one of the extra service at 2 GBP each person.

All 5 front rows are available.  I guess there is no need to pay the extra given the tickets are bought and 5 rows seats not reserved, yet...  We dont really care about sitting together either.

 

On top of that I bought the 2 out of the last 3 seats available for sale on the time schedule we wanted. 

 

Should have bought it much earlier, i.e. 2 to 3 months out when it was 17.80 GBP (on all schedules that day) but when I remembered this thing, it was 1 month 3 weeks out from departure time, only 3 seats were still available!  I promptly bought our 2 seats.  Else it would be the next bus that leaves at 11am...

Edited March 2 by nho9504

[PhillyTravelBug]

Maybe I missed it… is there only one stop in Southampton for National Express, or does it have several stops. Will be using them from LHR and looking at booking a hotel within walking distance of the bus stop.

Edited March 5 by PhillyTravelBug

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Maybe I missed it… is there only one stop in Southampton for National Express, or does it have several stops. Will be using them from LHR and looking at booking a hotel within walking distance of the bus stop.

 

 

You can see Nat Express stops by clicking the blue "i" against each coach on the day's schedule, and in the resultant pop-up click on "show calling points".

The only stop in Southampton after the coach station is the bus interchange at the university main campus in Highfield, a residential area about 4 miles from the city centre / cruise terminals and no hotels in the area. 

Next stop is Winchester park & ride (outside the city of Winchester), then non-stop to Heathrow

 

BTW a lot of conveniently-timed Nat Express coaches throughout the summer are already sold-out. 😮

[sddsddean]

If you go into Google Maps or Google Earth and search for "Southampton Coach station" it will show you exactly where it is on Harbour Parade. Zoom out a bit and you will see loads of hotels in the area.

 

Simon