I would'nt pay too much attention to the spec on National Express coaches , as Nat Ex does'nt actually own any of the coaches that operate for them (save the ones owened by fellow Nat Ex group companies used on National Express contracts) , National Express do not directly operate any of their services and coach contractors operate the services for them , therefore a wide variety of coach types and specs can be found operating the network , Nat Ex do have a standard spec that contract operators can by , but these are not the only types that can be used. There have been a mix of manual and auto boxes (and several things in between) for many yaers now.