NAT Group has grown its presence in the scheduled coaching market with the introduction of a five days per week service between South Wales and London. It is to be operated in partnership with Snap, which will handle bookings via its website.
The first trips depart on Friday 29 November. They will run from Pontypridd, calling at Cardiff and Newport. Journey time from the Welsh capital to London will be around three hours. Services will be free on the first two days of operation.
The decision to start the service at Pontypridd came after Snap asked people in South Wales to nominate a new service that NAT would operate. Thousands of people, voted, says Snap.
Adds NAT Group Managing Director Adam Keen: “Initially we will run the service up to three times per day. Based on Snap’s technology we can respond to demand by adding additional services if needed, utilising our modern fleet and large pool of drivers.
“Cardiff and Newport need higher-quality, cheaper travel. We are pleased to be providing the only direct connection between Pontypridd, Treforest and London.”
Continues Snap Chief Executive Thomas Ableman: “We use technology to ensure that services run at the times that people want.”
When checked on Monday 25 November, one of the free services to be operated on Saturday 30 November had five seats left to book.
NAT’s existing involvement with scheduled work includes operating duplicates for other network providers. It had previously worked for Snap on an ad-hoc basis.