Media Centre

National Express expands Leeds to London coach service

11 Mar 2008

National Express, the UK’s leading coach company, has this week started to operate additional coach services from Leeds to London and Heathrow airport to meet rising customer demand.

The 561 service from Leeds to London Victoria now has an additional five services in each direction. increasing the number of weekly services from Leeds to London Golders Green, Marble Arch and Victoria Coach Station available on National Express to 188 in both directions. The new services to London which will primarily support the busy weekend period are as follows:

• 10.50 service departing Bradford, via Leeds to London (Friday and Sunday)
• 12:50 service departing Bradford, via Leeds to London (Sunday only)
• 17:30 service departing Leeds to London (Sunday only)
• 19:20 service departing Leeds to London (Friday and Sunday)

Furthermore, an improved service is also being offered to Heathrow airport on the 240 service with seven additional services in each direction being added to the existing timetable, taking to total number of services to Heathrow to 14 in each direction. The news comes as National Express announced a 2% rise in coach passenger numbers at their preliminary results on 28 February.

Commenting on the increase in services Neil Barker, Bus & Coach Director at National Express UK said, "National Express prides itself in responding to customer demand and the ever–changing travel needs of our customers. Leeds to London Victoria and Heathrow airport are key services for us and we are delighted we are able to offer this improved timetable to meet growing requirements. National Express is able to connect the two cities in a little over four hours, providing customers who range from shoppers, business users and tourists with an excellent service. With a guaranteed seat National Express provides a safe, reliable and efficient option when travelling between London and Leeds."

Travelling to London by National Express provides excellent value for money and helps cut carbon emissions. Using the measure of carbon emissions on a per passenger kilometer basis (kgCO2/pass.km), with data that have been calculated independently by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, each person travelling by coach instead of the car from Leeds to London, would save 71.9g of CO2, which is the equivalent of boiling 991 kettles!

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Additional services from Bradford / Leeds once again are as follows:

Bradford > Leeds > London Victoria:

• 10:50 (Friday and Sunday – starting at Bradford)
• 12:50 (Sunday only – starting at Bradford)
• 17:30 (Sunday only – starting at Leeds Coach Station)
• 19:20 (Friday and Sunday – starting at Leeds)

Additional return journeys from London Victoria to Bradford / Leeds are detailed below:

London Victoria > Leeds > Bradford:

• 12:00 (Sunday only – to Leeds)
• 13:30 (Friday and Sunday – to Leeds)
• 17:30 (Friday and Sunday – to Bradford)
• 19:30 (Sunday only – to Bradford)

Tickets are on sale now, to book please contact National Express at www.nationalexpress.com/coach or call 08705 80 80 80 or visit a National Express outlet.

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For more information, please contact:

Nicola Walker, Beth Zaltzman or Sara Jenkins, Smarts, Tel 0121 456 3199
nicola.walker@smarts.co.uk

Notes to editors:

As Britain’s No 1 coach operator, National Express also operates a high frequency service to all major UK cities, towns and airports. With a record number of passengers choosing to travel with National.

Express, the company continues to invest in high specification vehicles and state-of-art customer facilities. The division employs over 1,500 people.

Travelling by coach is the most environmentally friendly form of public transport. When you travel by National Express instead of by car, you are reducing your carbon emissions.