Overview
National Express partnered with Alt Labs to create NXIS, a 10-week innovation programme designed for mature start-ups and scale-ups.
The programme formed part of a wider effort to strengthen innovation across National Express’ operations in the UK, Europe, and North America. It connected the business with emerging technology companies, universities, and innovation partners, giving teams a structured way to identify, test, and implement new ideas.
During its first year, NXIS supported 25 start-ups across two cohorts. The projects focused on customer experience, safety, revenue growth, engineering, and operational efficiency, with one area of the programme alone delivering more than £1.2 million in cost savings.
The Brief
Following a change in leadership, National Express wanted to bring its approach to innovation more closely in line with the group’s wider growth strategy.
The organisation operated across several countries and business units, each with its own priorities, expertise, and operational pressures. Although ideas were being generated across the group, there was no consistent route for assessing them, testing them quickly, or sharing learning between teams.
National Express had developed an Innovation Strategy built around three areas: partnerships with specialist innovation centres, closer relationships with universities and research partners, and dedicated innovation teams within individual business units.
Alt Labs was asked to help turn that strategy into a practical programme that could identify promising ideas, reduce the burden on operational teams, and move viable solutions into testing.
Our Solution
Alt Labs created NXIS, a 10-week accelerator programme bringing together start-ups, scale-ups, researchers, and teams from across National Express.
The programme focused on businesses with products that were sufficiently developed to be tested within a large transport organisation. Each company was matched with relevant teams and given access to the insight, operational knowledge, and support needed to explore how its technology could work across the group.
NXIS provided National Express with a consistent process for sourcing ideas, evaluating their commercial and operational potential, and developing minimum viable products before committing to wider implementation.
“We engaged with Alt Labs because they had a great structure and a plan including all the training modules and ways of working that would help us to apply a more Innovative way of solving the problems that were facing our business. The team gave us a whole wrap around service, everything from onboarding prospective candidates, to the structure that they were working in, right through to turning it into proof of concept. As a result of working with Alt Labs and using some of their methodologies and techniques, we've certainly been able to embed more of those ways of working and thinking into our business, driving a much more Innovative culture and approach to problem solving.”
Our Approach
Alt Labs began by carrying out an innovation audit across National Express’ operations in the UK, Europe, and North America. This work identified existing activity, areas of opportunity, and the challenges where external ideas and technologies could have the greatest impact.
The programme then brought participating businesses together with specialists from commercial, engineering, safety, customer experience, digital, legal, and procurement teams.
Over 10 weeks, Alt Labs supported both the start-ups and internal teams through a rapid test-and-learn process. Participants were helped to refine their propositions, understand National Express’ operational requirements, manage risk, and build minimum viable products that could be trialled before a larger roll-out.
The approach also encouraged closer collaboration between business units, allowing insight and learning from one part of the organisation to be shared more widely.
The Results
NXIS was launched across National Express’ operations in the UK, Europe, and North America.
During the first year, 25 start-ups took part across two cohorts, developing solutions linked to customer experience, safety, revenue, engineering, and operational efficiency. The programme also contributed to National Express receiving a Business Excellence award for innovation.
One of the strongest early results came from Polish start-up VERS. By analysing fleet data, the company identified £350,000 of annual fuel and energy wastage across National Express’ UK bus operations. The issue was traced to a simple operational setting, allowing the business to address the loss without a major infrastructure investment.
National Express West Midlands also extended its relationship with CitySwift following an initial trial through the programme. CitySwift’s platform uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and transport data to improve scheduling and network planning.
The technology gave planning teams a clearer view of passenger demand and vehicle supply, helping them make better decisions around services and timetables. This improved reliability and the passenger experience while reducing operating costs, with £1.2 million saved across the planning function.
Beyond the individual projects, NXIS gave National Express a repeatable way to work with external innovators, test ideas more quickly, and assess their value before introducing them across the wider organisation.
