Furthest distance that you could travel on one bus ticket.

stadler · 25 May 2025

What is the furthest possible distance you could travel on one bus ticket?

Obviously i am excluding ENCTS bus passes or staff passes etc so it has to be a proper bus ticket.

These are the top three furthest i can find so far:

Stagecoach North West Explorer (£12.00):
• Wrexham to Newcastle (144.48 Miles / 232.51 KM)

Stagecoach North West Explorer (£12.00):
• Wrexham to Dumfries (141.97 Miles / 228.48 KM)

Discovery Ticket (£10.00):
• Dover to Salisbury (134.94 Miles / 217.17 KM)

Is anyone aware of any other tickets that cover wide areas and let you travel very long distances?

RailUK Forums

Tayway · 25 May 2025

You can do Glasgow to Aberdeen on a Stagecoach East Scotland day rider I believe (£12.20). This is 144 miles by the direct driving route according to Google maps, but would be considerably longer via Fife and the Angus Coast.

Dai Corner · 25 May 2025

How about Chester-Corwen-Dollgellau-Aberystwyth-Carmarthen-Swansea-Brecon-Cardiff (about 250 miles) on a £13 TrawsCymru day ticket?

Shimbleshanks · 25 May 2025

Could you get on a circular route like the 11A/C in Birmingham and just go round and round all day?

Dai Corner · 25 May 2025

Shimbleshanks said:
Could you get on a circular route like the 11A/C in Birmingham and just go round and round all day?

Possibly, but you're not likely to do as many miles as you would on interurban or rural routes.

rg177 · 25 May 2025

The Explorer North East would get you from Berwick to Scarborough, which is around 144 miles direct.

Cumulatively it may well be possible to do Berwick - Newcastle - Carlisle - Newcastle - Middlesbrough - Whitby - Scarborough in a day and cover the Western extremity as well!

Trainguy34 · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
Discovery Ticket (£10.00):
• Dover to Salisbury (134.94 Miles / 217.17 KM)

Any way you can provide a link to this, I can't seem to find it and I know using that would be something I'd like very much.

Man of Kent · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
Discovery Ticket (£10.00):
• Dover to Salisbury (134.94 Miles / 217.17 KM)

Fairly certain this has been put forward before, but cannot be completed in a single day (Dover to Brighton alone takes a good 6 hours).

NorthOxonian · 25 May 2025

Man of Kent said:
Fairly certain this has been put forward before, but cannot be completed in a single day (Dover to Brighton alone takes a good 6 hours).

I did once manage a 150 mile (ish) trip on it - but it was only 25 miles as the crow flies, and might not be possible now due to cutbacks on Stagecoach's routes around Hastings and Ashford (and in particular, the fact there's no longer direct journeys between the two). Kingston - Guildford - Horsham - Brighton - Eastbourne - Hastings - Ashford - Maidstone - Chatham - Bluewater. It took about 15 hours... the first 715 out of Kingston and one of the last 700s into Bluewater.

stadler · 25 May 2025

Trainguy34 said:
Any way you can provide a link to this, I can't seem to find it and I know using that would be something I'd like very much.

It is issued and accepted on all routes run by the following bus operators:

• Arriva Kent
• ASD Coaches
• Autocar
• Big Lemon
• Chalkwell Coaches
• Community Transport Lewes Area (CTLA)
• Compass Bus
• Cuckmere Buses
• Diamond Buses South East
• Falcon Buses
• Farleigh Coaches
• Go Ahead Brighton & Hove
• Go Ahead Fasttrack
• Go Ahead Metrobus
• Go Coach
• Hams Travel
• Nu Venture
• Red Route Buses
• Regent Coaches
• Reptons Coaches
• Rye & District Community Transport
• Safeguard Buses
• Seaford & District
• Stagecoach South
• Stagecoach South East
• Sussex Coaches
• Wealdlink Community Transport
• White Bus Services

It is mentioned on a few operators websites but they are all a bit out of date and mention operators that no longer exist or no longer accept them. The above list is an up to date one.

It costs £10.00 for an Adult ticket or £8.00 for a Child ticket or £20.00 for a Family (1A+4C or 2A+3C) ticket. It is an amazing value seeing the huge area that it covers.

PG · 25 May 2025

Inverness - Dundee via Aberdeen, around 175 miles, using a
Bluebird Explorer DayRider ticket at £20.20.

Valid for unlimited travel on all Stagecoach Bluebird Zones, including the East Scotland X7 and Highland 10

Jimmi · 25 May 2025

rg177 said:
The Explorer North East would get you from Berwick to Scarborough, which is around 144 miles direct.

Cumulatively it may well be possible to do Berwick - Newcastle - Carlisle - Newcastle - Middlesbrough - Whitby - Scarborough in a day and cover the Western extremity as well!

It is, not 100% on the validity, but I think Explorers are valid on the Borders Buses 267/464 and Glen Valley Tours 473 to Wooler, so if going to Alnwick via Wooler on 267/473 instead of the X15 direct to Alnwick, you would get to roughly 300 miles by going to Carlisle as well.

You could most likely get some decent milage out of the £10 Dales Rover ticket on a summer Sunday when Dalesbus is running, especially as they're valid from Skipton to Preston on the 280 and Skipton to Burnley/Manchester on the M6/X43.

Trainguy34 · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
It is issued and accepted on all routes run by the following bus operators:

• Arriva Kent
• ASD Coaches
• Autocar
• Big Lemon
• Chalkwell Coaches
• Community Transport Lewes Area (CTLA)
• Compass Bus
• Cuckmere Buses
• Diamond Buses South East
• Falcon Buses
• Farleigh Coaches
• Go Ahead Brighton & Hove
• Go Ahead Fasttrack
• Go Ahead Metrobus
• Go Coach
• Hams Travel
• Nu Venture
• Red Route Buses
• Regent Coaches
• Reptons Coaches
• Rye & District Community Transport
• Safeguard Buses
• Seaford & District
• Stagecoach South
• Stagecoach South East
• Sussex Coaches
• Wealdlink Community Transport
• White Bus Services

It is mentioned on a few operators websites but they are all a bit out of date and mention operators that no longer exist or no longer accept them. The above list is an up to date one.

It costs £10.00 for an Adult ticket or £8.00 for a Child ticket or £20.00 for a Family (1A+4C or 2A+3C) ticket. It is an amazing value seeing the huge area that it covers.

Oh wow, yeah that's alot

duncombec · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
It is issued and accepted on all routes run by the following bus operators:

• Arriva Kent
• ASD Coaches
• Autocar
• Big Lemon
• Chalkwell Coaches
• Community Transport Lewes Area (CTLA)
• Compass Bus
• Cuckmere Buses
• Diamond Buses South East
• Falcon Buses
• Farleigh Coaches
• Go Ahead Brighton & Hove
• Go Ahead Fasttrack
• Go Ahead Metrobus
• Go Coach
• Hams Travel
• Nu Venture
• Red Route Buses
• Regent Coaches
• Reptons Coaches
• Rye & District Community Transport
• Safeguard Buses
• Seaford & District
• Stagecoach South
• Stagecoach South East
• Sussex Coaches
• Wealdlink Community Transport
• White Bus Services

It is mentioned on a few operators websites but they are all a bit out of date and mention operators that no longer exist or no longer accept them. The above list is an up to date one.

It costs £10.00 for an Adult ticket or £8.00 for a Child ticket or £20.00 for a Family (1A+4C or 2A+3C) ticket. It is an amazing value seeing the huge area that it covers.

Not quite... Farleigh and Seaford & District no longer operate any regular public services and haven't for at least a year (indeed, Farleigh's operations are now private use only). The Big Lemon also now have no suitable operations in the Discovery area, all their regular services being based in the Bristol/Bath areas.

Kent & Medway local authorities generally mandate their acceptance on tendered services, and I haven't had many problems with acceptance (except for a few bus drivers who've been awkward because they've seen me taking photos) with reasonably widespread use. That said, I haven't tried all of the operators on the list, and one in particular had a third-hand (potentially now former) reputation for "don't take Arriva tickets on this bus".

stadler · 25 May 2025

duncombec said:
Not quite... Farleigh and Seaford & District no longer operate any regular public services and haven't for at least a year (indeed, Farleigh's operations are now private use only). The Big Lemon also now have no suitable operations in the Discovery area, all their regular services being based in the Bristol/Bath areas.

Kent & Medway local authorities generally mandate their acceptance on tendered services, and I haven't had many problems with acceptance (except for a few bus drivers who've been awkward because they've seen me taking photos) with reasonably widespread use. That said, I haven't tried all of the operators on the list, and one in particular had a third-hand (potentially now former) reputation for "don't take Arriva tickets on this bus".

That is a good point. Farleigh Coaches can be removed from the list. I forgot they had ceased their public bus routes.

Seaford & District still sell and accept the Discovery on their school routes. I doubt many people do but you can buy or use a Discovery on their school routes if you want. Their buses are all branded as Big Lemon now so the Seaford & District brand has disappeared. It is odd one as legally they are still Seaford & District but their buses are all painted in Big Lemon livery with Big Lemon logos. That is why i kept Big Lemon and Seaford & District on the list.

JonathanH · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
It is mentioned on a few operators websites but they are all a bit out of date and mention operators that no longer exist or no longer accept them. The above list is an up to date one.

It always seems very vague to me about where the western boundary is on the Discovery ticket, some of the websites still refer to validity reaching "East Hampshire", which I interpret as the bit of Stagecoach South that came from Hants & Surrey, rather than the former Hampshire Bus bit.

kez19 · 25 May 2025

Jimmi said:
It is, not 100% on the validity, but I think Explorers are valid on the Borders Buses 267/464 and Glen Valley Tours 473 to Wooler, so if going to Alnwick via Wooler on 267/473 instead of the X15 direct to Alnwick, you would get to roughly 300 miles by going to Carlisle as well.

You could most likely get some decent milage out of the £10 Dales Rover ticket on a summer Sunday when Dalesbus is running, especially as they're valid from Skipton to Preston on the 280 and Skipton to Burnley/Manchester on the M6/X43.

Or alternative ticket (not local here), but is possible by bus? ie TNE Day Saver from Berwick to Barnard Castle (if not) as far as Newton Aycliffe/Blackhill Rocks (source just using the map on GNE app) £7.50

stadler · 25 May 2025

JonathanH said:
It always seems very vague to me about where the western boundary is on the Discovery ticket, some of the websites still refer to validity reaching "East Hampshire", which I interpret as the bit of Stagecoach South that came from Hants & Surrey, rather than the former Hampshire Bus bit.

Stagecoach South issue and accept it everywhere. It is valid on their entire network. That includes as far out as the Salisbury area and around the Andover and Basingstoke and Winchester areas. I have actually purchased a Discovery on a Stagecoach bus in Salisbury on two separate occasions within the past year or so. The ticket is valid by operator rather than boundaries.

peterblue · 25 May 2025

All these are measured point to point from one extremity to another. For total mileage, I suspect the answer there is shuffling back and forth between some fast-running motorway service in Scotland. Maybe you could buy a day ticket valid on the 900 (is there one apart from the Citylink explorer pass?) and you could easily cover about 15ish trips between Glasgow and Edinburgh at about 50 miles each.

stadler · 25 May 2025

Man of Kent said:
Fairly certain this has been put forward before, but cannot be completed in a single day (Dover to Brighton alone takes a good 6 hours).

I have just gone through the timetables and it is possible to do Salisbury to Dover or Dover to Salisbury all on the same day. Both directions work. You would have to do the Salisbury - Andover - Basingstoke - Alton - Guildford - Horsham - Brighton - Eastbourne - Hastings - Lydd - Folkestone - Dover or vice versa to be able to fit it all in on the same day. There are some tight connections but as long as everything runs on time it just about works. If you start with the earliest bus then there is even a bit of room for delays or one missed connection.

JD2168 · 25 May 2025

Stagecoach Gold DayRider £10.50
Valid all the way from Wakefield or Pontefract to Nottingham including Doncaster, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Buxton, Matlock, Worksop

nick291 · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
What is the furthest possible distance you could travel on one bus ticket?

Obviously i am excluding ENCTS bus passes or staff passes etc so it has to be a proper bus ticket.

These are the top three furthest i can find so far:

Stagecoach North West Explorer (£12.00):
• Wrexham to Newcastle (144.48 Miles / 232.51 KM)

Stagecoach North West Explorer (£12.00):
• Wrexham to Dumfries (141.97 Miles / 228.48 KM)

Discovery Ticket (£10.00):
• Dover to Salisbury (134.94 Miles / 217.17 KM)

Is anyone aware of any other tickets that cover wide areas and let you travel very long distances?

Stagecoach West's Explorer Ticket allows you to get to Bristol-Daventry for only £8! I did it at the start at the month and annoyingly it didn't scan on a lot of the buses I used, mainly in Oxfordshire/Northants.

Shimbleshanks · 25 May 2025

Dai Corner said:
Possibly, but you're not likely to do as many miles as you would on interurban or rural routes.

But on the other hand you could start very early and finish very late. If you could get six complete circuits in, that would be 162 miles. Of course, you'd need to convince the driver that you weren't completely mad.

Tetchytyke · 25 May 2025

stadler said:
Stagecoach North West Explorer (£12.00):
• Wrexham to Newcastle (144.48 Miles / 232.51 KM)

It’s further than that, Apple Maps had it at roughly 216 miles from Wrexham to Newcastle via Carlisle (rather than as a crow flies). Probably more if you trace the exact bus routes. I’m struggling to think of much that would get you further.

NorthOxonian · 25 May 2025

peterblue said:
All these are measured point to point from one extremity to another. For total mileage, I suspect the answer there is shuffling back and forth between some fast-running motorway service in Scotland. Maybe you could buy a day ticket valid on the 900 (is there one apart from the Citylink explorer pass?) and you could easily cover about 15ish trips between Glasgow and Edinburgh at about 50 miles each.

If you purely wanted to maximise mileage then any reasonably fast bus which has good connections in both directions could make sense.

A good example would be the Go North East X10. Take the first bus in the morning from Gateshead to Middlesbrough, then return as far as Peterlee. You can then shuttle between there and Billingham - by my reckoning you can manage this on every departure from the 0652 from Peterlee to Billingham until the 2045 from Billingham to Peterlee (typical journeys involve leaving Peterlee at xx09, arriving Billingham xx30, dep Billingham xx38, arr Peterlee xx60). For the last journey you then may as well travel through to Middlesbrough and return to Gateshead - in theory you could catch the last bus from there to Durham, though in practice unless it's a Friday night you'll probably only get as far as Chester le Street (you could also head to Sunderland).

The total distances are:
Gateshead - Middlesbrough (x2): 45 miles
Middlesbrough - Peterlee (x2): 22 miles
Peterlee - Billingham (x28!): 14 miles
Plus whatever you can do out of Gateshead/Newcastle after 2327 - let's say 15 miles or thereabouts as that's roughly the distance on the 56 or the 21.

For a grand total of 539 miles... admittedly it would be a very boring day, but you'd get the miles in!

WM Bus · 25 May 2025

Shimbleshanks said:
Could you get on a circular route like the 11A/C in Birmingham and just go round and round all day?

You’d probably get kicked off at the terminus. As it was split into two

You could get on the 8A/C though and spend all day going round the inner city suburbs like Hockley, Ladywood, Saltley & Small Heath.

DatGuy135 · 26 May 2025

duncombec said:
and one in particular had a third-hand (potentially now former) reputation for "don't take Arriva tickets on this bus".

Does that operator happen to rhyme with the words bed boot? Every time I have used their services I have been told this, although in my experience after explaining what the ticket was have always been allowed on, as a "benefit of the doubt" I suppose.

route101 · 26 May 2025

peterblue said:
All these are measured point to point from one extremity to another. For total mileage, I suspect the answer there is shuffling back and forth between some fast-running motorway service in Scotland. Maybe you could buy a day ticket valid on the 900 (is there one apart from the Citylink explorer pass?) and you could easily cover about 15ish trips between Glasgow and Edinburgh at about 50 miles each.

There is no Citylink Day Ticket, it would be useful if there was one even if for just the central belt. I think it would undermine single and return trips, that's why its its not offered.

Furthest distance that you could travel on one bus ticket.

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