Many of these companies also operated coach services, which were brought together for marketing purposes under the National brand, developed by NBC chair Frederick Wood and design consultant Norman Wilson.

[13] However, in 2003, Stagecoach introduced Megabus, a no-frills service whose £1 fares sparked a price war with National Express in autumn 2004.

A national network links more than 550 routes, including many of the UK mainland's cities, with 11,000 cross-country journeys every week as of 2022[update].

[19] As a result of the discovery of a new, more transmissible variant and the implementation of tighter restrictions prohibiting travel in many areas of the country, services were significantly reduced by the end of December 2020.

National Express and its franchisees operate a limited number of coach types, primarily standardising on the Caetano Levante body on Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo chassis.

The Levante was designed between 2003 and 2005 by Portuguese coachbuilder Salvador Caetano and National Express exclusively for use on the network, equipped with a wheelchair lift at the front entrance door,[26] and could be built on either two or three axles depending on chassis configuration.

The first six entered service with National Express mainly for use between London Victoria and Luton Airport in October 2016,[33] with the additional four later purchased by Edwards Coaches during 2018.

[34] National Express had previously standardised on the double-deck variant of the MCW Metroliner for 'Rapide' coach services in 1980s, however by January 2007, the double-decker coach fleet had been reduced to 12 Neoplan Skyliners, all of which were later withdrawn from National Express service following a speeding driver overturning a Skyliner on an M25 motorway sliproad, causing the deaths of three passengers.

The service was 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 at the driver's dashboard.

[36] The service was phased out in the summer of 2006, due to a lack of interest in purchasing headphones, available at vending machines in the major stations and also via on-board vendors before a journey.