I have just returned from a very enjoyable short break staying in Colchester. It was fantastic to be able to easily travel around Essex by bus using the multi-operator Essex Saver Ticket costing £8 each day. All I had to do was to buy my £8 Essex Saver Ticket on the first bus that I boarded each day and then I was able to travel around the county for rest of the day using this ticket. It was great not having to worry about which company operated services or having to pay additional fares.
For example on one day I travelled from Colchester to Walton on the Naze (Stephensons), walked along sea front to Frinton on Sea, Frinton to Great Holland on Sea (Stephensons), Great Holland on Sea to Clacton (First Essex), Clacton to Wivehoe (First Essex) and finally Wivenhoe to Colchester (Hedenham).
It is so annoying that in my home county of Nottinghamshire these sort of days out cannot be done without great expense of paying for separate tickets from each operator. Nottingham City have recently introduced the Robin Hood Card but that does not cover anywhere much beyond the city boundary. As there is no one company having any kind of monopoly in the county it is difficult to complete many journeys involving more than one bus cheaply. Consequently I tend to use my car.
I am becoming increasingly aware on my travels that a number of counties, often throughout quite rural areas do have multi operator tickets available and these usually cast around £8 for a day. They have, of course, been available for many years in the more urban areas like London, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire, Merseyside etc, often at a much cheaper level than £8.
Not including the urban areas and cities some that covering whole counties I have come across are:
Interlink (Hertfordshire Explorer) @ £8.50
Avon Rider @ £7.50
Worcestershire County Connecta @ £7.20
Explorer North East @ £9.70 (this covers a large area of the North East
Discovery @ £8.50 (Surrey, East and West Sussex and Kent)
Devon Day @ £8.50 (trial for this summer)
Does anyone know of any more countywide tickets of this type?
There are of course other more expensive ones like Derbyshire Wayfarer which also covers rail journeys and Ride Cornwall that includes rail but only the major bus companies.
In addition there are areas where one company has almost a monopoly on the bus services and so a day ticket does just about include all buses. I have found that with the Stagecoach Explorer in Lancaster and the Lake District.
If only more counties would do the same. I'd love to see one for Nottinghamshire or even better a Discovery type ticket covering Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
For example on one day I travelled from Colchester to Walton on the Naze (Stephensons), walked along sea front to Frinton on Sea, Frinton to Great Holland on Sea (Stephensons), Great Holland on Sea to Clacton (First Essex), Clacton to Wivehoe (First Essex) and finally Wivenhoe to Colchester (Hedenham).
It is so annoying that in my home county of Nottinghamshire these sort of days out cannot be done without great expense of paying for separate tickets from each operator. Nottingham City have recently introduced the Robin Hood Card but that does not cover anywhere much beyond the city boundary. As there is no one company having any kind of monopoly in the county it is difficult to complete many journeys involving more than one bus cheaply. Consequently I tend to use my car.
I am becoming increasingly aware on my travels that a number of counties, often throughout quite rural areas do have multi operator tickets available and these usually cast around £8 for a day. They have, of course, been available for many years in the more urban areas like London, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire, Merseyside etc, often at a much cheaper level than £8.
Not including the urban areas and cities some that covering whole counties I have come across are:
Interlink (Hertfordshire Explorer) @ £8.50
Avon Rider @ £7.50
Worcestershire County Connecta @ £7.20
Explorer North East @ £9.70 (this covers a large area of the North East
Discovery @ £8.50 (Surrey, East and West Sussex and Kent)
Devon Day @ £8.50 (trial for this summer)
Does anyone know of any more countywide tickets of this type?
There are of course other more expensive ones like Derbyshire Wayfarer which also covers rail journeys and Ride Cornwall that includes rail but only the major bus companies.
In addition there are areas where one company has almost a monopoly on the bus services and so a day ticket does just about include all buses. I have found that with the Stagecoach Explorer in Lancaster and the Lake District.
If only more counties would do the same. I'd love to see one for Nottinghamshire or even better a Discovery type ticket covering Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
