CBT Epic Bus Competition: How Far Can You Go on 3 Buses?

[DynamicSpirit]

The Campaign for Better Transport have launched a competition to find the longest bus journey you can make, changing buses no more than twice so paying the £2 max fare no more than three times. The winner (who'll win £150 national trust vouchers) will be the person who manages the longest as-the-crow-flies end-to-end distance. https://bettertransport.org.uk/enter-our-epic-bus-journey-competition/

After a successful campaign by Campaign for Better Transport, most single bus fares across England have been capped at £2 until the end of June.

Which got us thinking… how far would it be possible to go for £2? What about £4, or £6?

To find out, we’re launching the epic bus journey competition!

The challenge: to travel as far as possible by bus in one day. Your journey can have up to three ‘legs’ (i.e. you can travel on up to three different, but connecting buses), and no ‘leg’ of your journey can cost more than £2.

The prize: £150 in National Trust vouchers. That’s enough to get you a year’s family membership of National Trust, granting you free entry to over 500 fabulous places (like the Treasurer’s House in York, pictured above: one of many National Trust properties accessible by bus).

Just think of all the days out by bus you could have!

How to enter
To enter, complete your journey, then fill in the form below. We hope you’ll also share your journey on social media using the hashtag #epicbusjourney – find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You can find terms and conditions below the form.

I'm not planning to enter it myself - I have better things to do than spend a day travelling around for a tiny chance of winning £150 and a 99% chance of having basically wasted a day . But posting here in case anyone else fancies trying. And I thought it could stimulate an interesting discussion of what routes might be available, and how far you could actually go on three bus journeys within the £2 single fare scheme. Any thoughts on good routes? Either max mileage journeys, or journeys within the competition rules that would be especially scenic.

 

[Blindtraveler]

There are doubtless far better contenders out there but Keswick to Liverpool via Lancaster and Preston springs immediately to mind

Various opportunities involving the trans peak also could be quite good

 

[dodecahedron67]

There are doubtless far better contenders out there but Keswick to Liverpool via Lancaster and Preston springs immediately to mind

Various opportunities involving the trans peak also could be quite good

I think Manchester to Northampton (change Derby and Leicester) would be the longest you could get with Transpeak?

 

[Ken H]

Workington-Keswick-Lancaster-Skipton. I reckon you could get back too.

 

[CBlue]

In this part of the world the two longest that spring to mind are

Newmarket - Oxford (Stephenson's 12 to Cambridge, Stagecoach 905 to Bedford, Stagecoach X5 to Oxford)

Lowestoft - Northampton (Excel services to Peterborough changing at Norwich, X4 to Northampton)

 

[bobslack1982]

Berwick - Newcastle
Newcastle - Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough- Scarborough

About 150 miles.

 

[_toommm_]

Leeds to Newcastle?

Leeds to Whitby
Whitby to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough to Newcastle

 

[johnnychips]

I think Manchester to Northampton (change Derby and Leicester) would be the longest you could get with Transpeak?

The TransPeak no longer runs to Manchester. But you could do Buxton (maybe Dove Holes) to Northampton changing at Derby and Leicester; or Sheffield/Manchester Airport to Leicester changing at Buxton and Derby.

 

[bobslack1982]

Leeds to Newcastle?

Leeds to Whitby
Whitby to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough to Newcastle

Has to be as the crow flies and Leeds to Newcastle is only 90 miles.

 

[Ken H]

How about Oldham-Huddersfield-Leeds-Scarborough or Whitby.
Or Rochdale-Halifax-Leeds-Scarborough.

 

[LAIRA]

Living in the South West X38 Plymouth-Exeter 44A-Axminster X51 - Weymouth is about 100miles.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I’d probably go Norwich-Peterborough-Northampton-Brackley.

 

[PTR 444]

How about Salisbury to Bedford?

Salisbury - Swindon (Salisbury Reds X5)
Swindon - Oxford (Stagecoach S6)
Oxford - Bedford (Stagecoach X5)

 

[InOban]

Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle, Newcastle to Carlisle, Carlisle to Workington?

 

[Parebunks]

Put some of these into Google Earth to work out straight-line distances:
Berwick-Scarborough 195km
Lowesoft-Northampton 185km
Norwich-Brackley 180km
Salisbury-Bedford 150km
Oldham-Whitby 145km
Keswick-Liverpool 135km
Buxton-Northampton 133km
Leeds-Newcastle 130km
Plymouth-Dorchester 125km
Winner so far looks to be Berwick-Scarborough, but Lowesoft to Northampton could be a basis for something better with a little work!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I did a bit of thinking using @Parebunks's excellent bus map linked to in this thread. I don't think any of these are going to beat Berwick-Scarborough, but they are quite good...

Lancaster -> (555) ->Keswick -> (554) -> Carlisle -> (685) -> Newcastle (As the crow flies distance won't be so good because of the North-to-East direction change at Carlisle)

Cirencester -> (882) -> Gloucester -> (33) -> Hereford -> (X3) -> Cardiff (Probably only works in one direction since, according to Stagecoach's website, the cross-border journey into Wales only gets the £2 fare cap if you're getting on the bus in England)

Swindon -> (S6) -> Oxford -> (S5) -> Bicester -> (X5) -> Bedford

 

[JonathanH]

Swindon -> (S6) -> Oxford -> (S5) -> Bicester (X5) -> Bedford

This can be beaten by starting in Cheltenham and not switching from the S5 to the X5.

Cheltenham -> (S2) -> Oxford -> (X5) -> Bedford -> (905) -> Cambridge

 

[DynamicSpirit]

This can be beaten by starting in Cheltenham and not switching from the S5 to the X5.

Cheltenham -> (S2) -> Oxford -> (X5) -> Bedford -> (905) -> Cambridge

Ah yes, you're correct. I'd missed on the map that the X5 starts at Oxford. And for as-the-crow-flies distance, Cheltenham-Cambridge (151km) just beats Swindon-Cambridge (146km).

 

[JD2168]

98 from Doncaster to Gainsborough then 100 to Lincoln then 56 to Skegness. All on services operated by Stagecoach.

First X78 from Doncaster to Sheffield then Stagecoach 65 to Buxton then either 199 to Manchester Airport or TransPeak to Derby.

Stagecoach 99 from Doncaster to Retford then Sherwood Arrow to Nottingham then Nottingham City Transport 1 to Loughborough.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

The Campaign for Better Transport have launched a competition to find the longest bus journey you can make, changing buses no more than twice so paying the £2 max fare no more than three times. The winner (who'll win £150 national trust vouchers) will be the person who manages the longest as-the-crow-flies end-to-end distance. https://bettertransport.org.uk/enter-our-epic-bus-journey-competition/



I'm not planning to enter it myself - I have better things to do than spend a day travelling around for a tiny chance of winning £150 and a 99% chance of having basically wasted a day . But posting here in case anyone else fancies trying. And I thought it could stimulate an interesting discussion of what routes might be available, and how far you could actually go on three bus journeys within the £2 single fare scheme. Any thoughts on good routes? Either max mileage journeys, or journeys within the competition rules that would be especially scenic.

I managed to do the following in just 3 buses:

- Oxford to Bournemouth: S6 to Swindon, X5 to Salisbury, X3 to Bournemouth
- Bath to Oxford: X31 to Chippenham, 55 to Swindon, S6 to Oxford
- Oxford to Hereford: 853 (now S2) to Cheltenham, 94 to Gloucester, 33 to Hereford
- Oxford to Peterborough: X5 to Milton Keynes, X6 to Northampton, X4 to Peterborough
- Oxford to Leicester: X5 to Milton Keynes, X6 to Northampton, X7 to Leicester

In Dorset & Devon, another epic journey I can think of is as follows:

X51/X53 Weymouth to Axminster
44A Axminster to Exeter
315 Exeter to Barnstaple

In East Anglia & West Midlands, I can also think of another one here:

96/D1/D2 Rugby to Northampton
X4 Northampton to Peterborough
excel Peterborough to Norwich

Another one that comes to mind in Northern England:

840 Leeds to Whitby
X4/X93 Whitby to Middlesbrough
X9/X10 Middlesbrough to Newcastle

 

[175mph]

56 Skegness to Lincoln.

100 Lincoln to Scunthorpe.

350 Scunthorpe to Hull.


Alternatively, replace Skegness with Grantham, with the route number from Grantham to Lincoln being 1.

 

[Statto]

Chester to Skipton
1 or X1 Chester to Liverpool
X2 Liverpool to Preston
280 Preston to Skipton

All on Stagecoach

 

[DunsBus]

I've just had a thought. Anyone living on the Isle of Wight is immediately disadvantaged, unless they catch a ferry or hovercraft from Ryde to Portsmouth and start their trip from there.

 

[plugwash]

Various opportunities involving the trans peak also could be quite good

I thought the transpeak had been gutted a long time ago.

IIRC years ago it the transpeak was a bus come coach service running all the way from Manchester to Nottingham via (among other places) Buxton Matlock and Derby. I belive the Derby to Nottingham leg dissappeared ages ago leaving it as Manchester to Derby. Then the Manchester to Buxton leg was dropped from 50% of trips. Nowadays the Manchester to Buxton leg appears to have gone and the remaining Buxton to Matlock and Matlock to Derby legs split onto two seperate bus numbers (though it's not clear to me if they are the same physical bus or not).

 

[GusB]

Could we stick to discussing how far it's possible to go on three buses? The thread is drifting off-topic. Thanks

 

[richw]

Living in the South West X38 Plymouth-Exeter 44A-Axminster X51 - Weymouth is about 100miles.

I was thinking similar, is bude to Exeter still possible on one bus?

My initial thought was bude/ Launceston to Exeter. Exeter to Axminster then Axminster to Weymouth

 

[Fleetmaster]

Do the terms and conditions make it clear that it doesn't matter if the "bus" journey is operated as a split service (I.e. one through working on one route number, but two registrations). This is more likely on longer routes where you come up against legal and operational constraints.

Also, can people post the times, so it is clear the journey is actually possible in one day.....

 

[LAIRA]

I was thinking similar, is bude to Exeter still possible on one bus?

My initial thought was bude/ Launceston to Exeter. Exeter to Axminster then Axminster to Weymouth

No through bus to Bude now need to change in Okehampton although on a Sunday it would be the same bus, not sure about in the week.

 

[abbo1234]

555 Keswick - Lancaster
40 Lancaster - Preston
X2 Preston - Liverpool
All Stagecoach.

 

[JD2168]

Sheffield to Oldham:
29 from Sheffield to Holmfirth - Tm Travel then
Any of the Huddersfield to Holmfirth First services then
184 from Huddersfield to Oldham.

Sheffield to Leeds:
2 or X17 from Sheffield to Barnsley then 59 from Barnsley to Wakefield all Stagecoach then Arriva 110 to Leeds.

Barnsley to Whitby:
Stagecoach 59 from Barnsley to Wakefield then
Arriva 110 from Wakefield to Leeds then
Transdev Coastliner 840 to Whitby.