National Express Coaches - On-board Services

On-board Services

In the mid-1980s during the Rapide era, an on-board tea serving service and on-board televisions were in operation. These were given extensive advertising campaigns as profiled on the BBC Three documentary History of the Coach, profiling various uses the public make from such public transport systems.

In April 2001, National Express phased out their on-board catering service, while having already long phased out their on-board television service in the 1990s. However in late 2004, National Express launched NXTV or National Xpress Television. As opposed to showing a whole film like on an aircraft, NXTV would instead show various episodes of British television series such as A Touch of Frost, My Family and Top Gear all of which were commissioned by ITV and the BBC. The service would be displayed on small monitors situated above the overhead luggage compartments, powered by a motor to move downwards and upwards while the programming would be played from a DVD drive situated at the drivers dashboard.

The service was quickly phased out in the summer of 2006, due to a lack of interest in purchasing headphones, which were available at vending machines in the major stations and also via on-board vendors before a journey. The reasons for the service's failure was due to the headphone jack being compatible with any headphone, therefore removing the reason to purchase those offered. Also, by the time NXTV was launched, the Apple iPod was already at its height of popularity, diverting interest away from it. Programming was also very limited, with many of the episodes being frequent repeats from terrestrial television. The headphones were later given away for free when the service was finally about to be ceased. The advertising slogan was "Television shows as you board the coach".

National Express Coaches now offers free WiFi on board selected coaches. This feature is most commonly found on board the newer Caetano Levante fleet.