Battle of Brum Express and Uni Express do battle

The Uni Express and the Birmingham Express, the two bus services operating on campus that offer cheap prices for students on specific nights out, are in bitter competition with one another.

The Birmingham Express is the newer of the two services, offering a ten pound ride to Gatecrasher and back on a Wednesday night.

So far the service has run two times, with co-creator William Daniels saying, “Our business took off to a very good start. On our first trip we took 200 people down, and on our second trip we took 100 people.”

The Uni Express was established in 2007 and runs a number of nights out. They have also organized one-off events for societies such as Warwick Annual Fund, Street Vibe, Warwick Hitch, Warwick Law Soc, Mixed Netball, Warwick Snow, Bellydance society and many more.

The creation of the Birmingham Express has angered the Uni Express creators, as they say that they were the originators of the concept, and that the Birmingham Express has tried to use their success and brand to their advantage.

The Birmingham Express denies the accusations, saying, “We feel we are offering healthy competition to the Uni Express. By breaking up the monopoly situation that existed before, students are now being offered better events at lower prices.”

With two bus companies competing on one campus, business is bound to be affected.

On the question of whether the establishment of the Birmingham Express threatens to seriously harm the Uni Express, Co-creator Demetri Koursarsis from the Uni Express says, “We offer cheaper prices, which they have tried to match.

“We also offer more variety to our nights. The Birmingham Express does not affect us since after their first trip we heard many customers were disappointed to find they were not actually using The Uni Express.”

Despite the competition from the Uni Express, the creators of the Birmingham Express look to continue their business, with the goal to start expanding their list of nights out in the near future.

William Daniels says, “We are… determined to continue to compete with The Uni Express to the benefit of all Warwick Students. We are just trying to provide good nights out for students.”