(11 Jan 2018, 2:05 pm)mb134 wrote With the continued growth of Megabus, how much has National Express got left in its tank?

I've had to travel a few long distance journeys recently, and as the train was ridiculously expensive, I looked at coaches. Every journey I looked at, Megabus was cheaper and quicker than National 'Express' (Indeed, my Megabus into Edinburgh the other week overtook the National Express coach on the A1).

Further to that, in my opinion Megabus Astromegas and Elite interdecks give off a far more premium impression than the National Express standard Levante.

I meant to reply to this at the time, but something must have happened.

Is it fair to compare Megabus with the likes of easyjet/Ryanair and National Express to BA?

I think they are very similar in that the established old guard have maybe become a little complacent and the new pretenders have created a cheaper product, which has caught right up in terms of popularity.

I think the issue for NX is now about how they fix this perception and also maybe how to steal a march on their rivals.
Do they up the ante, creating a far better product (whilst ensuring cost doesn't put off passengers), or do they do a BA and try to compete, by taking away the frills that originally separated them and thus becoming very similar to Megabus?

I think NX have slowly reduced their 'offer'. Thinking back, they had the hostess, served food etc (for a sky high fee!).

From an enthusiasts perspective it might be hard to differentiate, but I wonder if the Stagecoach/Megabus brand is more familiar than NX is.
Prior to de-reg, I would argue that NX was a far more familiar brand than the likes of the 'Clipper' or other competing services, if only because of the fact National operated in more or less every town, city and county across the country.
However, to counteract that, some locals may have preferred the Clipper because of its owners.