Are your buses good value?

[700007]

Do you want to share where this is?

The sunny delight that is Brighton & Hove.

 

[Megafuss]

I think it's a mixed bag.

In some areas you do get real value. You can pay £25 for a 1 week Megarider valid in Cambridge, Peterborough and everywhere else in Cambridgeshire, plus parts of Essex, Suffolk and Lincolnshire.

Across the border, First Essex charge £38 a week for the equivalent ticket in Essex. You can't even use the X10 and X30 for that price (it's £47 a week to do so!).

 

[markymark2000]

It's £14-£15 for a Stagecoach Merseyside ticket which then gives you unlimited travel in Merseyside, Cheshire and the very limited network in Flintshire and Wrexham.

In Basingstoke though, they have a £21 weekly ticket which only covers 1 route. Basingstoke to Newbury. 1 hour end to end and it runs hourly (complimented by hourly shorts from Kingsclere to Basingstoke). £21 and it's only valid on that 1 route. That to me is outrageous. Want to use the 'Link' and the Basingstoke local network, that is £25

The Surrey small operators are some of the biggest rip offs in my opinion. They sell weeklies in the region of £20 for a section of a route. The full network (which isn't big in some cases) costs £30. The fact they are selling weeklies for half a route in my opinion is just silly. £30 for weeklies as well in my opinion is far too high and one of the biggest reasons why people don't use public transport. I know that operations costs aren't cheap and that in most cases, weekly ticket prices affect the concessionary payment but still.

 

[Llandudno]

It's £14-£15 for a Stagecoach Merseyside ticket which then gives you unlimited travel in Merseyside, Cheshire and the very limited network in Flintshire and Wrexham.

In Basingstoke though, they have a £21 weekly ticket which only covers 1 route. Basingstoke to Newbury. 1 hour end to end and it runs hourly (complimented by hourly shorts from Kingsclere to Basingstoke). £21 and it's only valid on that 1 route. That to me is outrageous. Want to use the 'Link' and the Basingstoke local network, that is £25

The Surrey small operators are some of the biggest rip offs in my opinion. They sell weeklies in the region of £20 for a section of a route. The full network (which isn't big in some cases) costs £30. The fact they are selling weeklies for half a route in my opinion is just silly. £30 for weeklies as well in my opinion is far too high and one of the biggest reasons why people don't use public transport. I know that operations costs aren't cheap and that in most cases, weekly ticket prices affect the concessionary payment but still.

I presume the Stagecoach ticket in the Merseyside area is priced so low is because there is actually some public transport competition in most of the area, Arriva and, of course, Merseyrail.

Plus Merseytravel offer multi-mode and multi-operator day and season tickets.

The ticket is good value if you only need to use Stagecoach though!

 

[Pat1105]

It's £14-£15 for a Stagecoach Merseyside ticket which then gives you unlimited travel in Merseyside, Cheshire and the very limited network in Flintshire and Wrexham.

In Basingstoke though, they have a £21 weekly ticket which only covers 1 route. Basingstoke to Newbury. 1 hour end to end and it runs hourly (complimented by hourly shorts from Kingsclere to Basingstoke). £21 and it's only valid on that 1 route. That to me is outrageous. Want to use the 'Link' and the Basingstoke local network, that is £25

The Surrey small operators are some of the biggest rip offs in my opinion. They sell weeklies in the region of £20 for a section of a route. The full network (which isn't big in some cases) costs £30. The fact they are selling weeklies for half a route in my opinion is just silly. £30 for weeklies as well in my opinion is far too high and one of the biggest reasons why people don't use public transport. I know that operations costs aren't cheap and that in most cases, weekly ticket prices affect the concessionary payment but still.

Stagecoach in general are a rip off.

 

[markymark2000]

I presume the Stagecoach ticket in the Merseyside area is priced so low is because there is actually some public transport competition in most of the area, Arriva and, of course, Merseyrail.

Plus Merseytravel offer multi-mode and multi-operator day and season tickets.

The ticket is good value if you only need to use Stagecoach though!

In part yes but they didn't have to extend the fares into Cheshire. There is no logner distance competition so they could quite easily have a Merseyside, Cheshire and a network zone.

Stagecoach in general are a rip off.

If there is no competition, all of the big companies can be rip offs. In towns with more than 1 operator though (even when they don't compete) and the prices tend to go down slowly to prevent competition from the other operator.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's £1.10 into Douglas from here, about 1.5 miles, and to the far end of the prom in Onchan is only £1.30. It's about £2.50 to the airport and £3 to the far end of the island. A day ticket is £7. The buses are a mix of Citaros and Geminis, with next stop displays. It's all very pleasant...and owned by the government!

 

[DDB]

Depending on how you count sunk costs I could argue my annual bus travel in Nottingham costs me minus twenty-five pounds!

I commute by tram to the train station and then by train. A year season ticket on the Tram would cost me £525. But I have a robinhood all mode season ticket instead which costs £612 (£87more). However as it includes train travel along part of my train route I only need a train season ticket from the robinhood boundary not Nottingham itself which saves me £112 on the train season ticket.

The net effect is that as well as saving £25 I also get practically unlimited bus travel (including night buses) in Nottingham.

DDB

 

[ALEMASTER]

In Sheffield within the city single fares generally range between £1.10 and £3.00.

Citywide pass valid on all buses and trams within the city limits regardless of operator is £5.10 for a day ticket (slightly cheaper operator specific options also available) or £18.50 for a weekly ticket (discounted to £17.50 if purchased online).

There are also all operator passes for the whole of South Yorkshire, with a Connect+ ticket including buses, trams and local trains - Day ticket is £8.80 and weekly £30.60 (£7/£23.50 without the trains).

Cross the border into Derbyshire though and the prices of single fares skyrocket and there are no multi operator options. Stagecoach do a very good value Silver and Gold Dayrider/Megarider though. The Silver includes all of South Yorkshire plus Dronfield and Chesterfield whilst the Gold includes South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Weekly ticket purchased online is £16 for Silver and £23 for Gold.

 

[Llandudno]

In Sheffield within the city single fares generally range between £1.10 and £3.00.

Citywide pass valid on all buses and trams within the city limits regardless of operator is £5.10 for a day ticket (slightly cheaper operator specific options also available) or £18.50 for a weekly ticket (discounted to £17.50 if purchased online).

There are also all operator passes for the whole of South Yorkshire, with a Connect+ ticket including buses, trams and local trains - Day ticket is £8.80 and weekly £30.60 (£7/£23.50 without the trains).

Cross the border into Derbyshire though and the prices of single fares skyrocket and there are no multi operator options. Stagecoach do a very good value Silver and Gold Dayrider/Megarider though. The Silver includes all of South Yorkshire plus Dronfield and Chesterfield whilst the Gold includes South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Weekly ticket purchased online is £16 for Silver and £23 for Gold.

Always thought it was a shame that you couldn’t buy a rail add on to the Stagecoach Megarider season ticket
between Chesterfield and Sheffield to give fully flexible public transport options. Surely the biggest competitor is the motor car when commuting between the Chesterfield/Dronfield area and Sheffield. As can be be witnessed by the chronic traffic congestion through Woodseats en-route to Sheffield City Centre.



I guess there was the opportunity for this ticket option to be introduced a few years ago when Stagecoach held the East Midlands rail franchise as well as running all the buses between Chesterfield and Sheffield, but zero chance now they don’t hold the rail franchise.

 

[Deerfold]

Cross the border into Derbyshire though and the prices of single fares skyrocket and there are no multi operator options.

That's not quite true. There's definitely a jump in price, but the Derbyshire Wayfarer is valid throughout Derbyshire and to and from Sheffield by bus and train.

Validity of Derbyshire Wayfarer - Derbyshire County Council

www.derbyshire.gov.uk

 

[Llandudno]

That's not quite true. There's definitely a jump in price, but the Derbyshire Wayfarer is valid throughout Derbyshire and to and from Sheffield by bus and train.

Validity of Derbyshire Wayfarer - Derbyshire County Council

www.derbyshire.gov.uk

The Derbyshire Wayfarer is a useful ticket even though the price has gone up to £13.40.

Unfortunately the Wayfarer is not valid on trains before 0930 on weekdays and following recent cuts to evening and weekend bus services validity in rural areas and indeed many urban areas is somewhat limited.

The A6 corridor between Matlock and Buxton and the town of Bakewell sees no buses at all after around 7pm which used to be prime Derbyshire Wayfarer territory

 

[Midnight Sun]

Bus services in Wisbich are a real mess, five companies running different routes, three of whom came about when Stagecoach throwed in the towel on services that were run by Norfolk Green. It is now cheaper to take the train from March to Kings Lynn and travel in half the time, in Norflok Green day, the 46 was a through service and the price £3.80 return (2015). Now if coming from March you will just miss the X1 and the 46 to Kings Lynn. Take March to Peterborough, by bus 1hr 10 minuites fare £7 return. Train 15 minuites fare £8.40 return which service is busy? Wisbich Bus Station to Wisbich Tesco (1.5 miles) £3.80 return. So someone coming from Outwell would have to pay more than £10 to shop at Tesco due to no through tickets the distance from Outwell to Tescos via the bus station is 6.5 miles. And the council cannot understand why bus use is in decline in North Cambridgeshire.

 

[busken]

Reading Buses seem good value to me £2 single (£1.60 if you buy 10 in advance) £4 all day for whole of the Reading area or £16 for all day for 7 days Even cheaper than that if you buy 90 or even 365 days. Compare this to using a car to go to town where parking charges are around £1.50 per hour.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Unfortunately with both Cambridgeshire and Derbyshire, these are areas that have cut back their spending markedly on bus services.

Mind you, I doubt many were travelling by bus from March to Peterborough - people with jobs have too much to do to spend two hours on a bus each day when there's a train available!!