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National Express history
National Express company history timeline
Initially branded as National, the National Express brand was first used in 1974.
In this growing spirit of competition, National Express was allowed to be fully privatized by the Government in 1988.
In October 1991, it purchased Speedlink, an operator of coach services between Gatwick and Heathrow Airports.
In December 1992, National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange.
In 1993 Scottish Citylink, Eurolines and East Midlands Airport were acquired.
Bournemouth Airport was acquired in April 1995.
In April 1996 National Express commenced operating its first UK rail franchises, Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline.
In February 1997 Taybus Public Transport was acquired and rebranded Travel Dundee.
To comply with a Monopolies & Mergers Commission ruling on it winning the ScotRail franchise, National Express sold the Scottish Citylink operation to Metroline in August 1998.
In September 1998 Crabtree-Harmon, the seventh-largest student transportation bus company in the United States was acquired, with 82 school bus contracts mainly in Missouri, but also in other Midwest states including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Utah.
In May of 1999, it acquired bus operations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, and Perth when it took over National Bus Company Pty.
In August 1999 National Express won the M>Train, M>Tram and V/Line Passenger rail franchises in the Australian state of Victoria.
In January 2000, National Express expanded into the American market by acquiring ATC, a public transportation operator.
In July 2000 Prism Rail was purchased adding the c2c, Wales & Borders, Wessex Trains and West Anglia Great Northern franchises to National Express' portfolio.
In February 2004 the London bus operations of Connex were purchased and rebranded Travel London.
In September 2004 National Express sold its Melbourne bus operations to Ventura Bus Lines, and Brisbane and Perth bus operations to Connex.
In June 2005 the London bus arm of Tellings-Golden Miller was purchased and also rebranded Travel London.
In July 2005, National Express sold ATC to Connex.
In April 2007 National Express acquired Continental Auto, the second-largest bus and coach operator in Spain.
In November 2007 South East England coach operator The Kings Ferry was purchased and an airport to hotel shuttle service in London branded Dot2Dot was launched.
In November 2007 National Express announced plans to re-brand all of their operations under a new unified National Express identity.
In May 2009 National Express sold Travel London and Travel Surrey to Abellio.
In June 2009 a takeover offer from fellow transport operator FirstGroup was rejected.
In July 2009, the Department for Transport announced that it would take the National Express East Coast franchise into public ownership at the end of the year after National Express announced it would not invest any further funds into the franchise, effectively declaring it planned to default.
In July 2009, a junior transport minister, the Gillingham MP Paul Clark, spelled out a series of concerns to National Express in a letter following a meeting with an employee of National Express East Coast who lives in his constituency.
On 3 September 2009 National Express' largest shareholder, Spain's Cosmen family with 18.5%, and CVC Capital Partners made a takeover offer of £765 million for the company.
Also in November 2009 the government announced that National Express East Anglia would not be granted a three-year extension that it had otherwise qualified for, because of the East Coast default.
In December 2016, coach operator Clarkes of London was purchased with 56 vehicles.
In March 2020, Lucketts Travel was purchased.
In September 2021, National Express entered into talks to acquire Stagecoach Group.
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National Express competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Express Transit | 2011 | $21.0M | 10,001 | 49 |
| Durham School Services | 1917 | $309.0M | 10,001 | 1 |
| Paratransit | 1978 | $50.0M | 220 | 3 |
| Jefferson Lines | 1919 | $56.0M | 375 | 4 |
| Veterans Transportation Services | 2008 | $39.0M | 230 | - |
| OATS Transit | 1971 | $50.0M | 30 | 11 |
| Diversified Transportation Services | 1990 | $1.0M | 5 | - |
| LMTS | 1977 | $3.8M | 20 | - |
| A&A Metro Transportation | 1952 | $8.8M | 100 | 4 |
| OCC Transport | 1971 | $5.0M | 50 | - |
National Express history FAQs
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National Express may also be known as or be related to National Express, National Express LLC and National Express Llc.