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Plus Bus - Best & Worse Value

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Mutant Lemming

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Which are best and worst value ?
On one hand £3.20 gets you most of Glasgow's bus network whereas at £2.50 the Harpenden version seems pretty poor value, especially on a Sunday.
 
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Liverpool is pretty poor.

£3.20 for Plusbus, or £3.50 for better choice of bus operators within a wider area and rail travel included!

£2.70 for Birmingham is pretty good though. Covers decent area.
 

ChrisCooper

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Loughborough Plusbus is £2.80 and only covers 2 operators, one of which only operates 1 hourly service into the town. The other operator is the main one but only operates about half the remaining buses in the town. If it included at least Arriva and Centrebus and included the surrounding villages it would be far better value.
 

Ivo

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As is so often the case where buses are involved, Brighton performs very well. You get a very large area that spans from Shoreham and Steyning in the west to Newhaven and Seaford in the east, for the grand total of £2. In addition, it is available even when travelling between two stations in the area - and most stations are available as PlusBus destinations (unlike some places where only the central station qualifies).

See here for a map of all major routes in Brighton - but even it doesn't cover the entire PlusBus area; it only covers Southwick and Rottingdean. The PlusBus area continues in both directions.
 

Deerfold

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Liverpool is pretty poor.

£3.20 for Plusbus, or £3.50 for better choice of bus operators within a wider area and rail travel included!

£2.70 for Birmingham is pretty good though. Covers decent area.

The area for Liverpool only seems to be greater if you get the £4.70 All areas version. Plusbus is also valid in the peak between 0630 and 0930.
 

Statto

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Liverpool is pretty poor.

£3.20 for Plusbus, or £3.50 for better choice of bus operators within a wider area and rail travel included!

£2.70 for Birmingham is pretty good though. Covers decent area.

The Saveaway ticket outdoes the Plusbus in Merseyside in that regard, that there's no real need for a Plusbus ticket, same with the other PTE areas who have similar ticket schemes.
 

34D

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Loughborough Plusbus is £2.80 and only covers 2 operators, one of which only operates 1 hourly service into the town. The other operator is the main one but only operates about half the remaining buses in the town. If it included at least Arriva and Centrebus and included the surrounding villages it would be far better value.

They are quite notable omissions for plusbus (Arriva part-owns some Centrebus companies with Mr. Peddle) - especially as when launched plusbus was all buses in its various towns.

Has arriva nationally pulled out?
 

Deerfold

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The West Yorkshire one at £3 (Leeds/Bradford/Wakefield/Huddersfield/Keighley) sems fairly good - compared with the usual £5 for the equivalent bus-only ticket.

Especially good are the railcard and child discounts which do not exist for the normal ticket (though there is a £1 child version valid on some operators in the school holidays).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
They are quite notable omissions for plusbus (Arriva part-owns some Centrebus companies with Mr. Peddle) - especially as when launched plusbus was all buses in its various towns.

Has arriva nationally pulled out?


The West Yorkshire ones are valid on Arriva. As are Hitchin and Stevenage.

Where else have they pulled out?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The Saveaway ticket outdoes the Plusbus in Merseyside in that regard, that there's no real need for a Plusbus ticket, same with the other PTE areas who have similar ticket schemes.

I'd disagree with that - see my previous post - plus plusbus is usually far cheaper than the PTE tickets.
 
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W-on-Sea

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Didcot PlusBus is not great. Only £2, but not valid on the town local services (operated by Whites Coaches) , nor on the main, frequent service (operated by Courtney Buses( to one of the two major business/science parks outside the town.
And the two major towns that Didcot is a railhead for (Wantage and Wallingford) are just outside the zone...

It's a bit better since several contracts were transferred from a local low-cost operator of generally quite shabby buses (which didn't accept PlusBus, or indeed any other common ticket) to Thames Travel, which do accept PlusBus.

OK within a limited area, the PlusBus price compares favourably with the Oxford Smart Card (South Oxfordshire Zone) ticket (£18 for any five days) that has validity on the same operators, but which does stretch to those two other towns. But it's not great,
 

Eire Sprinter

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£3.50 for unlimited Bus Vannin travel in the Isle of Man.

Only valid when purchased with train and ferry tickets to the Island (via Heysham or Liverpool on Isle of Man Steam Packet Company).

A nice touch rather than rooting for change upon arrival.

Good value considering a "Saver 1" (one day bus ticket) is £7.

A big factor in deciding whether to buy the Plusbus would be whether the ferry one is travelling on arrives sufficiently early and or if one is planning to make several trips on the day of arrival.
 

Max

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Considering there is no equivalent day ticket, £3.10 for the Hull Plusbus isn't bad value, but at the railcard price of £2.05 it's unbelievably cheap!
 

ChrisCooper

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They are quite notable omissions for plusbus (Arriva part-owns some Centrebus companies with Mr. Peddle) - especially as when launched plusbus was all buses in its various towns.

Has arriva nationally pulled out?

It's just in Loughborough. Arriva and Centrebus are both valid in Leicester, and Arriva are in Derby.
The validity with companies can be odd though. In some places for example minor operators will be included, yet some fairly major operators won't. Big groups seem far more likely to be included than independants. Then again multi-operator bus tickets can be the same, with sometimes significant omisions. In a few cases operators will be valid with plusbus but not the multi operator ticket or vice versa.
 

SS4

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The West Midlands one is good value. I'm not sure if it covers the whole of the nbus area though. Or whether they're valid in peak time, I got on a 28 (NXWM) at about 7:45am and the driver didn't say anything but we all know the bus drivers aren't going to know the ins and outs of plusbus and the 28 was relatively empty
 

dvboy

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The West Midlands one is good value. I'm not sure if it covers the whole of the nbus area though. Or whether they're valid in peak time, I got on a 28 (NXWM) at about 7:45am and the driver didn't say anything but we all know the bus drivers aren't going to know the ins and outs of plusbus and the 28 was relatively empty

It covers all buses in the nNetwork West Midlands area, and the Metro too, so great value.

The £4.00 day ticket equivalent I posted above is incorrect. It's actually equivalent to a 1 Day nbus & Metro at £5.70.
 

RJ

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Loughborough Plusbus is £2.80 and only covers 2 operators, one of which only operates 1 hourly service into the town. The other operator is the main one but only operates about half the remaining buses in the town. If it included at least Arriva and Centrebus and included the surrounding villages it would be far better value.

It's good value when you consider that a single on Kinchbus is anything up to £1.60.
 

WelshBluebird

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The Cardiff one is really good value if you have a railcard. £1.85, so saving £1.35 over a normal Cardiff Bus Day to Go ticket. Covers pretty much the same area, and usable with some other bus companies too. Even without a railcard, £2.80 is still cheaper than the normal Cardiff Bus Day to Go.
 

Tomonthetrain

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It covers all buses in the nNetwork West Midlands area, and the Metro too, so great value.

The £4.00 day ticket equivalent I posted above is incorrect. It's actually equivalent to a 1 Day nbus & Metro at £5.70.

The plusbus for the wm is quite useful because of the validity. It sure has helped me out on many occasions when I needed to get from one end of the midlands to the centre just to get a 0930 train!
 

Harlesden

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If one has forgotten to include Plusbus in an order for Advance tickets, is it possible to get Plusbus at the station prior to departure? Is a mere 30p discount compared to the price of a "buy on the bus" day ticket common? In my case, the Plusbus is £3.10 whereas buying a day ticket from the first driver I encounter costs £3.40
 

GadgetMan

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In my case, the Plusbus is £3.10 whereas buying a day ticket from the first driver I encounter costs £3.40

Depending on where you are travelling to, you will probably find the plusbus will be valid on multi operators, whereas the one bought from the First driver may only be valid on First buses.
 

LexyBoy

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Reading PlusBus is decent (if not outstanding) value; with a Railcard it's £2 for roughly the same area as a £4 Reading Buses day ticket (£1.80 single), with additional validity on the other operators (Thames Travel and Arriva being the only significant ones; fortunately Reading Buses have a near-monopoly). And you don't need exact change for PlusBus :).

Didcot PlusBus is not great. Only £2, but not valid on the town local services (operated by Whites Coaches) , nor on the main, frequent service (operated by Courtney Buses( to one of the two major business/science parks outside the town.
And the two major towns that Didcot is a railhead for (Wantage and Wallingford) are just outside the zone...

It's a bit better since several contracts were transferred from a local low-cost operator of generally quite shabby buses (which didn't accept PlusBus, or indeed any other common ticket) to Thames Travel, which do accept PlusBus.

OK within a limited area, the PlusBus price compares favourably with the Oxford Smart Card (South Oxfordshire Zone) ticket (£18 for any five days) that has validity on the same operators, but which does stretch to those two other towns. But it's not great,

I think PlusBus isn't best suited to relatively rural locations - it's better for towns where one is likely to make several short journeys by bus, rather than a single (or return) journey to a more distant place. The latter can be catered for with through tickets to the destination by bus as exists for other places already.

As well as Wallingford and Wantage, Didcot is a railhead for Abingdon - although the bus links with Oxford are better, Didcot is better if going west. Abingdon and Wallingford are both accessible from two or more directions - it would be great (if a routeing nightmare!) if bus links could work from any suitable station - for example "Wallingford Bus" could be via Didcot, Oxford, Reading or Goring. Pie in the sky land however :)

As an aside, I was amused to note that Goring station advertises itself "for bus link to Wallingford". Erm, that would be 4 buses per day, from a small station with only local services; as opposed to 1bph from Didcot and 2bph from either Oxford or Reading!

It is silly that the shuttle bus to Milton Park isn't included, but it's not surprising as it's run on a rather odd model - it's effectively free for regular users, but visitors to the park are charged - hardly the warm welcome you'd think businesses would aim for. I'd estimate there's probably around 10 paying passengers a day, so it's not going to make any worthwhile revenue.
 

reb0118

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Liverpool is pretty poor.

£3.20 for Plusbus, or £3.50 for better choice of bus operators within a wider area and rail travel included!

Ah off to Liverpool on Monday again. Usually just get taxis as in a group & mates usually don't do buses. This time was going to try Plusbus - so you saying not to bother.

Info on trip. Arriving at Lime Street. Heading to Old Swan area to pick up tickets for match. Few pints there before heading to Anfield. Quick dash after game to Lime Street to catch last Preston service. Change there for Aberdeen Sleeper.

Back to Plusbus - Linlithgow was great value at £1.50 as a standard single from Bo'ness to Lintithgow is £2.50 ish. Price has risen twice since now £2.30 still good value for day ticket and now seasons also available.
 
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Edinburgh Plusbus covers a wide area on multi-operators. The worst Plusbus experience I've had is Durham, tiny area and unclear which services it isn't valid on. I was refused travel on an Arriva-operated Park & Ride service while this was on a Sunday meaning that was the only frequent service in the direction I wanted to go.
 

ChrisCooper

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It's good value when you consider that a single on Kinchbus is anything up to £1.60.

That probably says more about the poor value of Kinch fares than good value of the Plusbus though. For a town of it's size Loughborugh has a very poor and overpriced bus service.
 

Statto

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Ah off to Liverpool on Monday again. Usually just get taxis as in a group & mates usually don't do buses. This time was going to try Plusbus - so you saying not to bother.

Info on trip. Arriving at Lime Street. Heading to Old Swan area to pick up tickets for match. Few pints there before heading to Anfield. Quick dash after game to Lime Street to catch last Preston service. Change there for Aberdeen Sleeper.

Back to Plusbus - Linlithgow was great value at £1.50 as a standard single from Bo'ness to Lintithgow is £2.50 ish. Price has risen twice since now £2.30 still good value for day ticket and now seasons also available.

Buy a Liverpool Area Saveaway ticket, valid on most buses in the Liverpool area but not Cross River buses, also valid on Trains but not the Ferries[only All Area ticket is valid on Ferries & Cross River buses], & it's just 30p more than the PlusBus. http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/articleimages/Saveaway Dec 11.pdf
 

Deerfold

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Ah off to Liverpool on Monday again. Usually just get taxis as in a group & mates usually don't do buses. This time was going to try Plusbus - so you saying not to bother.

He was - my views differed.


Buy a Liverpool Area Saveaway ticket, valid on most buses in the Liverpool area but not Cross River buses, also valid on Trains but not the Ferries[only All Area ticket is valid on Ferries & Cross River buses], & it's just 30p more than the PlusBus. http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/articleimages/Saveaway Dec 11.pdf

I take it no-one's reading my posts or the Mersyrail leaflet - the plusbus area is the same as the more expensive £4.70 Saveaway ticket and has no off-peak.

Obviously if you don't need these features then get the (still more expensive) Saveaway...
 
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sonic2009

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Not part of the PlusBus Scheme.

But Ashchurch to Tewkesbury Bus is cheap at :

50p Day Single
90p Day Return
90p Period Return
 
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