National Express boosts capacity for Rugby World Cup

National Express is preparing to add thousands of extra seats to services during the forthcoming Rugby World Cup after a surge of bookings from fans looking to travel to the matches. 

The UK’s largest coach operator has pledged to add thousands more seats to its network after seeing year-on-year bookings soar by almost a third on services in areas with large numbers of Rugby World Cup spectators, with tens of thousands of coach seats already booked.

The 2015 tournament is set to become the biggest in history, according to organisers, with 48 matches being played in 13 match venues across England including the famous Twickenham, Wembley and the Queen Elizabeth Park stadiums in London, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and St James’ Park in Newcastle.

With 90 per cent of match tickets already sold out according to competition officials, demand for travel on National Express’ coach network has soared by more than 200 per cent on certain routes to the major rugby games.

The most popular Rugby World Cup match-hosting cities, listed in order of the number of bookings to travel there during the tournament, are:

  London

  Birmingham

  Cardiff

  Manchester

  Leicester

  Leeds

  Exeter

  Milton Keynes

  Brighton

  Gloucester

  Newcastle

In areas where Rugby World Cup ticket sales are highest, there has been a big knock-on effect on coach ticket sales, National Express said.

Cardiff to London is the most booked journey during the tournament with sales up 200 per cent year-on-year as rugby fans in Wales bag travel to key matches. This is followed by Bristol to London which has seen a 50 per cent increase in bookings and Leicester to London which has also seen a 50 per cent year-on-year increase in bookings during the World Cup.

Boasting three of the tournament’s venues, London is the most popular match-hosting city to travel to by coach with nearly 40,000 travelling there during the competition.

This is followed by Birmingham which is hosting World Cup matches at Villa Park; Cardiff which is hosting matches at the Millennium Stadium; and Manchester, which is hosting matches at Manchester City Stadium.

In a boost to those looking to travel to matches with their friends and family, National Express is offering groups of four or more 25 per cent off the cost of their coach tickets, provided the tickets are booked three days in advance.