Mobico Group
Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. The company also operates transport services including trains abroad: in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany, Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and South Korea, and long-distance coach services across Europe. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
History
Early years
In 1972, the state-owned National Bus Company decided to bring together the scheduled coach services operated by its bus operating companies in the United Kingdom under one brand. Sir Frederick Wood, a prominent businessman and industrialist, was asked to oversee the creation of this new business model and led the group as its chairman from 1972 to 1978. Initially branded as National, the National Express brand was first used in 1974.With the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s, National Express was subject to a management buyout in March 1988. The management team pursued various means of diversification; during 1989, the company purchased Crosville Wales.
1990s
Starting in early 1990s, National Express' financial performance began to deteriorate; this led to a new management team taking over the company in July 1991 which had the backing of ECI Partners, a mid-market private equity firm. The new team refocused the group on its core activities, leading to the sale of Crosville Wales to British Bus. During 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. During April 1995, National Express purchased West Midlands Travel, the formerly council-owned bus network of Birmingham and the West Midlands; it was rebranded Travel West Midlands in September 1996. This move began the brand family of Travel... local bus operations. Bournemouth Airport was acquired in April 1995.
During April 1996, National Express commenced operating its first UK railway franchises, Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline. One year later, three other franchises were awarded, these being Silverlink, Central Trains and ScotRail. 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 February 1997, Taybus Public Transport was acquired and rebranded Travel Dundee.
During 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. During February 1999, Robinson Bus Service was purchased; it was followed in August 1999 by Durham Transportation. These acquisitions placed National Express as one of the top three United States school bus operators.
In May 1999, National Express purchased Australia's largest private bus operator, National Bus Company. National Bus Company had bus operations in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, and also held a 57% shareholding in Westbus, Sydney's largest bus operator. Westbus also had a London coach operation. In August 1999, National Express was awarded the M>Train, M>Tram and V/Line Passenger rail franchises in the Australian state of Victoria.
2000s
During January 2000, National Express expanded into the American market by acquiring ATC, a public transportation operator. In July 2000, Prism Rail was purchased, though which the c2c, Wales & Borders, Wessex Trains and West Anglia Great Northern franchises were added to National Express' portfolio.In December 2002, National Express handed in its rail franchises in Victoria, Australia, having been unable to renegotiate financial terms with the State Government.
During February 2004, the London bus operations of Connex were purchased and rebranded Travel London. In April 2004, National Express East Anglia commenced operating the Greater Anglia rail franchise. In September 2004, National Express sold its Melbourne bus operations to Ventura Bus Lines, and Brisbane and Perth bus operations to Connex. After being placed in administration in January 2005, Westbus was sold to ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in August 2005.
In June 2005, the London bus arm of Tellings-Golden Miller was purchased by National Express, after which it was rebranded as Travel London. During July 2005, National Express sold ATC to Connex. In October 2005, the company agreed to buy most of the operations of privately owned Spanish transport operator ALSA, which operates bus and coach services in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and long-distance coach services to other parts of Europe. Alsa's operations in South America and China were retained by the previous owners.
In April 2007, National Express acquired Continental Auto, the second-largest bus and coach operator in Spain.
File:Dot2dot 1018.JPG|thumb|Dot2Dot Volkswagen in London in April 2008
During 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. Dot2Dot did not prove to be commercially viable and thus ceased operations in November 2008.
In November 2007, National Express announced plans to re-brand all of their operations under a new unified National Express identity. It was intended to achieve greater recognition for all the group companies, to coincide with recent acquisitions and after current rail operations had improved in reliability to warrant association with the established express coach image. It coincided with the appointment of a group director for all UK operations and relocation of the head office from London to Birmingham, bringing all operations under a single strategic management structure. Day-to-day management remained within individual companies.
During February 2007, the Department for Transport announced that National Express, along with Arriva, First, and Virgin Rail Group, had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the InterCity East Coast franchise. In August 2007, the Department for Transport awarded the Intercity East Coast franchise to National Express, leading to the creation of National Express East Coast shortly thereafter. Under the terms of its franchise agreement, National Express committed to paying a £1.4-billion premium to the Department of Transport over a time span of seven years and four months. However, numerous rail analysts promptly voiced concerns that the company had paid too much for the franchise, and had effectively repeated GNER's mistake in order to secure the franchise. On 9 December 2007, National Express East Coast commenced operations, taking over from Great North Eastern Railway.
In May 2009, National Express sold Travel London and Travel Surrey to Abellio.
Operational safety concerns
On 3 January 2007, a speeding National Express coach overturned on the M4/M25 slip road, leaving three passengers dead. The driver was jailed for five years.In July 2009, a junior transport minister, the Gillingham MP Paul Clark, listed 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. The worker claimed that, due to reduced maintenance checks, some trains were in use with defective brakes, an allegation that was strongly denied by the company, which stated it would "never compromise on safety". He wrote: "As a result of reduced maintenance checks, 'some long-haul sets are in use with brake defects'. Increasing cuts in staff combined with an increasing pressure to ensure that trains run safely has resulted in fears among staff that a major accident is 'just around the corner'." Passengers, he added, "have been 'poisoned' as a result of coffee machines not being cleaned correctly, with cleaning fluids left in situ". The minister said he was "shocked and appalled at the information with which I've been provided. You will understand that these allegations are exceptionally serious".
School bus drivers in the US have raised concerns about the safety of the buses run by Durham, a subsidiary of National Express, and the second-largest operator of school bus services in North America. According to representatives of Durham bus drivers, fluid leaks, tyres that need to be replaced, black mould and non-functional emergency equipment are regular concerns, whilst workers continued to operate buses while sick because they cannot afford to miss a day of work and drivers are not paid for all the time they work.
Default on East Coast rail franchise
By 2009, National Express East Coast had come under increasing financial pressure due to various factors, including compounding rises in fuel prices and the poor economic climate of the time, commonly known as the Great Recession. In contrast to the company's projected revenue increases during its franchise, NXEC's actual operating income had decreased by 1 percent during the first half of 2009. According to Rail, the franchise had quickly garnered a reputation for cost-cutting and a decline in service levels, particularly in terms of the onboard catering. It had also introduced various new charges, such as a £2.50 per journey leg for seat reservations.During April 2009, National Express confirmed that the company was still pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with the franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due or some other form of assistance. During these negotiations, the company had reportedly offered to pay over £100 million to be released from its commitment to operate the franchise. 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 defaulting on the franchise, National Express directly incurred losses of £72 million by forfeiting bonds. Directly Operated Railways took over the East Coast franchise on 14 November 2009.
The franchise failure sparked public and industry calls for the permanent public ownership of the InterCity East Coast franchise, or even the complete scrapping of the entire franchise system. 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; this was reportedly a result of the East Coast default. However, National Express were subsequently granted an extension until October 2011, followed by another through to February 2012.