At 5.10am on Wednesday 1 July, a familiar sight will reappear on the motorways and main roads of Britain.
After a gap of 86 days, National Express long-distance buses will resume, with the dawn departure from Gloucester to Victoria Coach Station in London leading the way.
National Express, along with its rival Megabus, ended scheduled passenger services on 5 April in response to government advice against all-but-essential travel, concerns for staff welfare and a collapse in demand.
But regular passengers will find life on the road again very different, due to biosecurity precautions.
Travellers are required to wear face-coverings both in the bus station and on board the coach – where they can expect plenty of space, because half the seats will be left empty.
Passengers will be instructed only to sit in by the window, with aisle seats are blocked off.
The aim is to increase the separation between two people on the same row to two metres – compared with just 45cm between travellers in adjacent seats on a budget airline.
The distance between the passenger in front and behind is much less, but the high seat backs are expected to reduce the risk that coronavirus could be transmitted between travellers.
Two-metre social distancing will be practised in bus stations, and contactless payments encouraged when buying tickets.
No-one will be allowed on a bus without having their temperature taken. Anyone with a reading above 38C will be denied boarding and given a full refund.
Passengers will be asked to fill vehicles from the back, and empty from the front.
Chris Hardy, managing director of National Express UK Coach, said: “As restrictions begin to ease and people plan to start travelling once again, we are adapting how we operate to help keep everyone safe.”
As with airlines, the coach operator is starting with only a skeleton service, covering a quarter of the mileage of the pre-covid network.
From Cardiff to London, the previous 22 buses per day has reduced to just six. Between Liverpool and Manchester, coaches leave every three hours, rather than hourly.
From Birmingham to Leeds, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle there is just a single daily departure.
The other big long-distance coach operator, Megabus, has not given a resumption date.
Passengers enquiring on social media are being told: “Sorry we're not able to advise on a date at this stage for when our services will be back up and running.”
