Explore Wales pass.

[ashworth]

Part of an e mail I’ve just received.


9. The Explore Wales pass can be used in with the following bus operators in Wales; First Group, Cardiff Bus, Arriva Bus Wales and Stagecoach Bus.

10. Prices are valid until 19/05/2018.

Has anyone else recently had any experience of using The Explore Wales Pass in recent weeks on buses? I see that the prices are valid until 19/05/2018, which is this coming Sunday!

I’m planning on using an Explore North and Mid Wales Pass next month and so I am hoping that there is no large price rise or removal of the remaining bus validity. In addition to the 4 days rail travel I am planning on using it on other days to travel by buses from Caernarfon to Bangor and beyond (Arriva) and tto make use of the 50% discount on the Welsh Highland Railway.

Has anyone used the Red Rover bus ticket @ £6.80 which supposedly valid for a day on all buses in Gwynedd and Anglesey. As I’m staying in Caernarfon this could be useful for travelling south from Caernarfon on buses not operated by Arriva.

 

[0B00]

Prices are valid until at least September 2018 - confirmed by a senior ATW manager to me on Monday.

WHR will also be aware of the product and offer you the reduced fare.

The 'Red Rover' is widely used and you should have no problems buying one on the first bus you choose, and using it as advertised. Details here: https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/R...d-travel/Travel-passes/Red-Rover-Tickets.aspx

 

[ashworth]

Prices are valid until at least September 2018 - confirmed by a senior ATW manager to me on Monday.

WHR will also be aware of the product and offer you the reduced fare.

The 'Red Rover' is widely used and you should have no problems buying one on the first bus you choose, and using it as advertised. Details here: https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/R...d-travel/Travel-passes/Red-Rover-Tickets.aspx

Thanks that’s great news. I’m quite looking forward to a few days exploring an area I know very little,

Am I likely to have any problems using my Explore North and Mid Wales Pass on Arriva buses between Bangor and Caernarfon as that’s a route I will probably use a number of times during my stay.

 

[30907]

I've used the N Wales Rover on Arriva (and others) in the area without problems, so I imagine the same would apply to the Pass.

 

[glenbogle]

Thanks that’s great news. I’m quite looking forward to a few days exploring an area I know very little,

Am I likely to have any problems using my Explore North and Mid Wales Pass on Arriva buses between Bangor and Caernarfon as that’s a route I will probably use a number of times during my stay.

I’ve never had any problems with the major bus companies, good news about the price as going down the first week in June and basing myself in Llandudno with intention of visiting a few of the little railways and using the Wag back from Cardiff.

 

[ashworth]

I will see what happens next week!
I’m going to travel as far as Crewe on Sunday with an Off Peak Return from Mansfield and then stay overnight in Crewe.

Monday morning I will hopefully with no problems, purchase an Explore North and Mid Wales Pass from the booking office at Crewe.
As I’m not able to check into my hotel in Caernarfon until 2pm, I’m planning on travelling from Crewe to Shrewsbury, then Shrewsbury to Bangor, and then hopefully having no problems using my ticket on the Arriva Bangor to Caernarfon bus. Later that afternoon and evening I plan to make a few local journeys keeping to Arriva buses.

On the other days I plan to make use of the 50% discount on the Welsh Highland Railway and Ffestiniog Railway travelling back via the Conwy Valley Railway and Llandudno.
It will be travelling south from Caernarfon to reach the Cambrian Coast Line at Porthmadog or Pwllheli where I may have problems using my ticket on the bus and I may have to pay extra to use a Red Rover bus ticket. If the Explore Wales Pass is no longer valid south of Caernarfon to travel between The North Wales Coast and the Cambrian Coast lines that really does restrict the use of this rover ticket.

On my bus only days, I will probably just have to buy a Red Rover if I encounter any problems especially in Snowdonia and on the Llyn Peninsular. I should be ok on Anglesey if I stick to Arriva bus routes.

 

[Rover]

I look forward to hearing what happens.

 

[ashworth]

I look forward to hearing what happens.

I got my Explore North and Mid Wales Pass at Crewe. The lady at the booking office had no problems finding the Explore Wales Passes but no Explore North and Mid Wales Pass listed! There was an Explore North Wales Pass which did seem to be the one. Fortunately I knew the price was £45.55 with a Senior Railcard Discount and I was also able to quickly look up the code on the GB Rail Rover Guide website which confirmed that it was correct. It is advertised everywhere, even on the National Rail and Arriva Trains websites, as Explore North and Mid Wales. I was issued the ticket and even on the ticket, new till roll style, it was printed as Explore North Wales. Incidentally it was immediately rejected by the barrier at Crewe and again at Shrewsbury!

No problems using it throughout the week on Arriva Buses in any area of North Wales, including Caernarfon, Bangor, Anglesey, Llandudno and Porthmadog
Interestingly, it was also accepted without any problems on Lloyds Coaches when I used the T2 on a few occasions.

Surprisingly I was also able to use it on Berwyn Coaches between Caernarfon and Pwllheli and also beyond Pwllheli to some quite remote destinations on the Llyn Peninsular. It was helped by the fact that I encountered the same driver on many of these journeys and so didn't have to keep explaining it. He just waved me on.

I am not sure whether the drivers on Lloyds and Berwyn mistook the ticket for the North Wales Day Rover which is still valid on all bus services in North Wales. Perhaps the fact that it was printed as Explore North Wales helped If a driver looked puzzled, I just said Explore North Wales Ticket and they let me on with no more questions! Also an advantage of the large till roll format worked to my advantage because I was able to fold the ticket and display all the necessary information whilst hiding the words Rail Rover!

The only refusal I had was on Gwynfor Coaches around Snowdonia. The driver just said not valid on here. It was on the Snowdon Sherpa network of buses, so perhaps they never have been valid even before this years changes. I just used a very good value Red Rover Ticket @ £6.80 for that day both on various Gwynfor and Arriva buses.

I had a good week based in Caernarfon and as I also used the Explore Wales Ticket to gain a 50% discount on the Welsh Highland and Ffestiniog Railways it was good value. However, if I hadn’t made use of the discount on those railways and if as now advertised I was only able, in North Wales, to use Arriva buses, it wouldn’t have been so much use for a holiday based in Caernarfon. Fornuately, rightly or wrongly, I was able to use the Lloyds Coaches T2 to at least reach Porthmadog and the Cambrian Coast.

 

[glenbogle]

1. Good report - basically you’ve just got to chance your arm and see what happens. All the “T” express buses are free still at the weekends so it’s worth keeping that in mind if you’re planning a lost distance bus trip. The Sherpas were valid last year but the company that ran them went into liquidation so maybe the new company are not taking them - it used to only be a couple of pound of that to go to Llanberis from Betws and considering how spectacular a journey it was it was an absolute bargain.

 

[Rover]

Glad you enjoyed your trip.
It's not straight forward when trying to find some rover tickets they have a "rover group" name as well as a "rover name", the former in your case being "NMIDWALES 4IN8" and the latter "EXPLORE NORTH WALES" and to add more confusion they are marketed under the name "EXPLORE NORTH AND MID WALES PASS".

 

[Dai Corner]

The T2 is a TrawsCymru Service run under contract to the Welsh Government. They may well have mandated acceptance of the pass.

 

[Up the Toon]

I'm planning on visiting Wales towards the end of September and getting an 'Explore Wales' pass. So far I've got all the ticketing in place to get me to/from Crewe, but as yet not the rail pass itself. I've got two queries - how early before travel can I buy an 'Explore Wales' pass (I'm sure I read somewhere it can only be bought 3 days before the first day of travel), and will I be able to buy it from the Edinburgh Waverley ticket office, or will I have to wait until I get down to Crewe?

 

[Gareth Marston]

I'm planning on visiting Wales towards the end of September and getting an 'Explore Wales' pass. So far I've got all the ticketing in place to get me to/from Crewe, but as yet not the rail pass itself. I've got two queries - how early before travel can I buy an 'Explore Wales' pass (I'm sure I read somewhere it can only be bought 3 days before the first day of travel), and will I be able to buy it from the Edinburgh Waverley ticket office, or will I have to wait until I get down to Crewe?

You should be able to buy it at Waverley no problem I can sell all the Rover products from our STAR machine including the Scottish ones here in Mid Wales. You can certainly get them pre dated by more than 3 days something tells me it my be capped for one calendar month like railcards but I'll check tomorrow for you.

 

[paddington]

I got one of the explore wales 4 in 8 recently.

Surprisingly one of the barrier staff at Cardiff Central put it in the barriers and it worked, despite the fact I might not have chosen to use it on that date...

It didn't work at any other barriers I tried.

Buying it at Waverley may cause staff to get confused, I bought mine at Llanelli and at least 50% of train and barrier staff always thought the ticket was a return to there, despite the big date in the middle... nobody ever asked for the date boxes or looked at them if I handed the ticket over.

I didn't realise it was not valid on certain bus operators and managed to blag my way onto a few for free too...

 

[Gareth Marston]

You should be able to buy it at Waverley no problem I can sell all the Rover products from our STAR machine including the Scottish ones here in Mid Wales. You can certainly get them pre dated by more than 3 days something tells me it my be capped for one calendar month like railcards but I'll check tomorrow for you.

No you can date them months ahead.

 

[Gareth Marston]

I got one of the explore wales 4 in 8 recently.

Surprisingly one of the barrier staff at Cardiff Central put it in the barriers and it worked, despite the fact I might not have chosen to use it on that date...

It didn't work at any other barriers I tried.

Buying it at Waverley may cause staff to get confused, I bought mine at Llanelli and at least 50% of train and barrier staff always thought the ticket was a return to there, despite the big date in the middle... nobody ever asked for the date boxes or looked at them if I handed the ticket over.

I didn't realise it was not valid on certain bus operators and managed to blag my way onto a few for free too...

Ive only sold two this year......poorly advertised compared to what they use to be and as a consequence staff aren't use to seeing them.

On STAR Type North and the North & Mid Wales 4 in 8 is the last option after 5 pages listed as Explore North Wales 4 in 8.

 

[attics26]

No you can date them months ahead.

tried to buy starting date in September but travel centre cannot get a start date beyond 4 weeks, just have to remember before I go

 

[Up the Toon]

Ive only sold two this year......poorly advertised compared to what they use to be and as a consequence staff aren't use to seeing them.

On STAR Type North and the North & Mid Wales 4 in 8 is the last option after 5 pages listed as Explore North Wales 4 in 8.

Many thanks for the response, I'll hang back until the beginning of September before attempting to buy the pass from Waverley. I'm over in Edinburgh most weeks so it isn't a problem. Thanks again.

 

[ashworth]

Ive only sold two this year......poorly advertised compared to what they use to be and as a consequence staff aren't use to seeing them.

When I used an 4 in 8 Explore North Wales Pass a few weeks ago I wasn’t once asked to show the other half of the ticket with the date boxes.

It’s nowhere as useful as it used to be now that you can’t officially use any buses when in North North Wales other than Arriva. As I reported in my earlier post I didn’t have any problems with Lloyd’s accepting it between Caernarfon and Porthmadog. I had the feeling many bus drivers mistook it for the North Wales Day Ranger which is valid on most buses. I even had an Arriva bus driver question it’s validity when he saw the date printed on my ticket as he didn’t understand that my ticket was valid for 8days. It will be interesting to see if Arriva continue to accept this ticket on their buses in the future when they no longer hold the rail franchise. If ever it got to the point where you couldn’t travel by bus between the North Wales Coast Line and the Cambrian Line I think the sales will fall even further.

 

[Susan Celica]

Thinking of getting a 4 in 8 Explore Wales pass for next month anyone know if it is still valid on buses. Visiting Holywell, Ruthin and Mold also if valid on buses how about getting on a bus to these places from Chester?

Thanks for any replies

 

[_toommm_]

Thinking of getting a 4 in 8 Explore Wales pass for next month anyone know if it is still valid on buses. Visiting Holywell, Ruthin and Mold also if valid on buses how about getting on a bus to these places from Chester?

Thanks for any replies

Definitely valid on buses (I finished my last one in July) - it should only be valid on First South and West Wales, Cardiff Bus, Stagecoach South Wales and Arriva Cymru buses, so you may not be able to use it on buses from Chester.

IME other bus companies have took it, even one of the smallest independent companies down in Blaenau, but your mileage may vary...

 

[sheff1]

Worryingly the Transport for Wales site makes no reference to validity on buses.
https://tfwrail.wales/ticket-types/explore-wales

Whether this is a real change or an oversight .....

 

[_toommm_]

Worryingly the Transport for Wales site makes no reference to validity on buses.
https://tfwrail.wales/ticket-types/explore-wales

Whether this is a real change or an oversight .....

Neither does NationalRail, but GBRailRover does.

 

[Rover]

GB RailRover gives the information as it was under Arriva Trains Wales (ATW), the National Rail (NR) website will post information passed to them by Transport for Wales (TfW) and although the NR website was updated on the 5th October it is difficult to ascertain at this stage whether NR have been given the full information.

True that neither the TfW website nor the NR website presently give any information regarding buses but the TfW website gives ony the very basic and scant information. Unfortunately there are no terms and conditions for the rovers and rangers as there was on the ATW website.

As TfW is now the Welsh Government's "baby" you would think that they would want to continue to integrate the bus network with the rovers but we shall have to see.

 

[krus_aragon]

As TfW is now the Welsh Government's "baby" you would think that they would want to continue to integrate the bus network with the rovers but we shall have to see.

I'd expect validity on the long-distance TrawsCymru buses (which they specify, and give free travel on weekends) at the very least!

 

[Llandudno]

GB RailRover gives the information as it was under Arriva Trains Wales (ATW), the National Rail (NR) website will post information passed to them by Transport for Wales (TfW) and although the NR website was updated on the 5th October it is difficult to ascertain at this stage whether NR have been given the full information.

True that neither the TfW website nor the NR website presently give any information regarding buses but the TfW website gives ony the very basic and scant information. Unfortunately there are no terms and conditions for the rovers and rangers as there was on the ATW website.

As TfW is now the Welsh Government's "baby" you would think that they would want to continue to integrate the bus network with the rovers but we shall have to see.

Are there any instances of bus rail integration in Wales?

Some examples:
Bus 38 leaves Blaenau Ffestiniog at 1130 for Dolgellau
Guess what time the train arrives at BF from Llandudno, yes 1130.
Four hour wait for next bus!

No Sunday trains for most of the year between Llandudno Junction and Llandudno, are the buses between Llandudno Junction and Llandudno timed to connect with the hourly train service to/from Chester, of course not!

 

[Rover]

Further to the acceptance on buses I have been in contact with Barry Doe who has been in contact with TfW and had the following reply:

"We've recently had confirmation from the following bus operators that they wish to continue participating with the Explore Wales product. This info will shortly be added to the information supporting the product.
First Group.
Cardiff Bus.
Arriva Bus Wales.
Stagecoach Bus."

The absence of information was due to the fact that with the change of operators contracts had to be renegotiated with each bus operator.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Are there any instances of bus rail integration in Wales?

Some examples:
Bus 38 leaves Blaenau Ffestiniog at 1130 for Dolgellau
Guess what time the train arrives at BF from Llandudno, yes 1130.
Four hour wait for next bus!

No Sunday trains for most of the year between Llandudno Junction and Llandudno, are the buses between Llandudno Junction and Llandudno timed to connect with the hourly train service to/from Chester, of course not!

Try Powys - the council have gone out their way over the years to make it not happen!

I have a bus lane and a (now vandalized) bus bay and stop here at Newtown station and no buses. They put up an EU funded Information Board across the road from the station showing how to get to the bus station but its behind a lamp post and a tree!

 

[Dai Corner]

Are there any instances of bus rail integration in Wales?

The only example of a bus specifically timetabled to connect with trains I'm aware of is the 901 Ystrad Mynach Station-Blackwood. It even has through ticketing.

https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Transport/901_14-10-2018.aspx

 

[adrock1976]

The only example of a bus specifically timetabled to connect with trains I'm aware of is the 901 Ystrad Mynach Station-Blackwood. It even has through ticketing.

https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Transport/901_14-10-2018.aspx

Is that bus route a direct replacement for a former railway link similar to Peterborough - Kings Lynn via Wisbech?