National Express plans €30m expansion

Bus company National Express plans to spend €30 million on expanding its Irish fleet and hiring more workers over the next five years.

The UK company employs 60 people running the Dublin Express service between the capital’s airport and city centre, in which it has invested €5 million to date.

National Express said on Monday that it intends spending €30 million on buying up to 50 new buses for its Irish business over the next five years.

The company plans to boost its existing operations in Dublin and begin running intercity services in the Republic.

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It will increase its current fleet of 14 buses to 20 by the end of the year and hire a further 40 workers in 2023.

John Boughton, managing director, National Express Ireland said the business rode out the pandemic and its Government-imposed lockdowns and restrictions, “and now we want to actively explore new opportunities,” he added.

National Express also said it intends to be the first bus company in the Republic with a zero-emissions fleet by 2030.

It already has 29 electric buses and 20 hydrogen-powered vehicles in Birmingham in the British midlands and wants to add “hundreds more” in the next few years.

Meanwhile it will increase the number of its electric vehicles to 150 in the next year when Coventry in England becomes the first city in Britain to have all-electric buses.

National Express is the UK’s biggest coach operator, running frequent scheduled services linking hundreds of destinations in Britain.