National Express is to add about 100 more departures to its services on 5, 6 and 8 April to cater for increased volume as a result of a strike by train drivers.
The scheduled coach services operator expects to carry 13% more passengers as the Aslef union action hits rail services across the country.
The additional 5,000 seats will bring the overall National Express capacity to more than 320,000 on those days as the Easter school holiday period brings increased demand.
The strikes will affect services on Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway, SWR Island Line, TransPennine Trains and CrossCountry.
Catherine Woolfe, Customer and Marketing Director for National Express UK and Ireland, says: “People deserve affordable, reliable and sustainable public transport and yet again they are seeing disruption on the railways.
“Our forward bookings show that demand for coach travel is up over 13% this weekend, with savvy customers turning to National Express for reliable, great value travel and a guaranteed seat.
“We’ve added extra capacity on our busiest routes to meet demand, however tickets are selling fast. Our network will be busier than usual, so we strongly encourage customers to book their tickets in advance to get the best deals and let us do the driving so that they can enjoy a relaxing, comfortable journey to their destinations.”
