Media Centre

Online train bookings top one million at National Express East Coast

24 Jun 2008

Ticket sales at train company National Express East Coast’s website have now exceeded one million, following the site’s launch in November last year.

Placing the one millionth booking at www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com was Philip Botterill, a 31-year-old IT consultant from Rothwell in Leeds. He regularly uses the site to book tickets for business trips between Wakefield Westgate station and London.

Mr Botterill said: “The site is very easy to use and makes journey planning a doddle. You can very quickly check the prices for a journey and find the cheapest tickets available for when you want to travel.”

Customers are not charged credit or debit card fees. Nor do they have to pay extra to have their tickets posted to them, unlike at some other travel websites. It is often cheaper for people to use www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com than other booking sites – even if they are not planning to travel on National Express East Coast services.

However, where they are travelling with National Express East Coast, they can benefit from the site’s exclusive 10% discount on advanced purchase fares.

The website has a wide range of features aimed at making things as simple as possible for customers - such being able to reserve preferred seating options, bicycle spaces and notification via e-mail when tickets for a particular date become available.

Emma Passey, e-commerce manager at National Express East Coast, said: “We brought specification and management of our online bookings system in-house so we could provide our customers with the website we felt they deserve – one that is both comprehensive and simple to use. A real one-stop shop for their travel needs.

“We’re obviously delighted to have reached the one million milestone in just a few months.”

National Express East Coast has developed a reputation as an innovator in combining the benefits of rail travel with the internet. It offers laptop users free Wi-Fi access on services between London and Scotland in both First and Standard class carriages.

More recently, it introduced free wireless internet access on the platforms of the railway station in its home city of York. It also offers free Wi-Fi in its First Class lounges at London King’s Cross, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh Waverley, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Darlington, Wakefield Westgate and Doncaster stations.

The website was developed in partnership with international IT services company, Atos Origin, and user-design specialist Flow Interactive.

  
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