Mod Note: Posts #1 - #5 originally in this thread.
As to tourist destinations I could manage St Albans with two changes but without time for much more than a long lunch if I want get back in time for my last bus.
As a pensioner from the Home Counties I get reallly p*ssed off when people start going on about how we abuse our ENCTS passes with day trips to the sea side. Even to get to our main hospital at Stoke Mandeville will involve three changes for most of the day and a lunchtime appointment if you want to get home the same day without a taxi.I think it may also be worth looking at "rural PTEs" in the manner Switzerland sort-of has. It always amazes me just how poor and poorly-coordinated local (i.e. non-London-bound) public transport generally is in the Home Counties when compared with the North, for instance.
As to tourist destinations I could manage St Albans with two changes but without time for much more than a long lunch if I want get back in time for my last bus.