Rail disruption through December contributed to the coach operator’s busiest ever festive period: 78,000 people travelled on its busiest day
National Express has reported its busiest ever festive period, with 27 December being its busiest single day in the company’s history.
More people than ever chose to travel by coach as passenger numbers for both Christmas Day and Boxing Day surpassed last year’s record figures.
On 27 December more than 78,000 passengers travelled on its coaches. The figures provided the firm with an interesting insight into how people spend their time in the 21st century, particularly over the festive period.
Chris Hardy, Managing Director for National Express Coach, says: “We’re moving towards a 24/7 society where there is an expectation for services to be available around the clock, regardless of the time of year.
“With families more spread out than ever before and an increasing number of people working over the festive period, demand for coach travel at this time keeps getting stronger.”
Passengers travelling on Christmas Day increased by 27%, and by 5% on Boxing Day compared to 2018.
Mr Hardy adds: “We’re well known for providing travel all year round and we’re conscious that this is especially important to our customers at Christmas, when there are very limited other options.
“But we’re also being chosen because we offer unrivalled connectivity across the UK.”
Over 30,500 seats were added to the coach network to cope with widespread rail disruption. This was as a result of trains not running on Christmas Day, limited services on Boxing Day, South Western Railways strikes ongoing for the whole of December and 386 rail engineering projects taking place over the festive period.
