Long Distance Bus Routes

[bluebottle]

They're generally "Express" services which don't stop at every bus stop.

 

[Mojo]

Why is the X39 so numbered? I used to catch it to college in winter or for exams (rode my moped every other day) and it stopped at every stop in Bristol City. I know it misses out Keynsham, but there are no bus stops on the Keynsham bypass anyway! Does it miss out some stops once it gets into Bath?

I remember it was a dreadful journey, and I couldn't believe some people took it all the way Bristol to Bath, even though the train is cheaper and many times quicker (even including the walk to Temple Meads). The drivers were also rude and it was so S-L-O-W.

 

[Aictos]

They're generally "Express" services which don't stop at every bus stop.

Not so for the X1 between Peterborough and Lowestoft, stops at practically every stop on the way which is why it takes so long, it's not so much a Express service but rather a Long Distance "Local" service stopping at every stop.

The service should really bring back the Plaxton bodied coaches which despite not having toilets were reasonable and call only at the following stops:

Peterborough Railway Station - Queensgate Shopping Centre (Peterborough) - Wisbeach Town Centre - Dereham - Kings Lynn Bus Station - Kings Lynn Railway Station - Norwich Town Centre - Norwich Railway Centre - Great Yarmouth Railway Station - Great Yarmouth Town Centre - Lowestoft Railway Station - Lowestoft Town Centre.

Which are the main points along the route, the other proposal would be:

Peterborough Railway Station - Wisbeach Town Centre - Dereham - Kings Lynn Railway Station - Norwich Railway Station - Great Yarmouth Railway Station - Lowestoft Railway Station.

The second option would take about 3 hours to do which seeing as it cuts a hour off the journey makes it more appealing.

 

[bluebottle]

Not so for the X1 between Peterborough and Lowestoft, stops at practically every stop on the way which is why it takes so long, it's not so much a Express service but rather a Long Distance "Local" service stopping at every stop.

The service should really bring back the Plaxton bodied coaches which despite not having toilets were reasonable and call only at the following stops:

Peterborough Railway Station - Queensgate Shopping Centre (Peterborough) - Wisbeach Town Centre - Dereham - Kings Lynn Bus Station - Kings Lynn Railway Station - Norwich Town Centre - Norwich Railway Centre - Great Yarmouth Railway Station - Great Yarmouth Town Centre - Lowestoft Railway Station - Lowestoft Town Centre.

Which are the main points along the route, the other proposal would be:

Peterborough Railway Station - Wisbeach Town Centre - Dereham - Kings Lynn Railway Station - Norwich Railway Station - Great Yarmouth Railway Station - Lowestoft Railway Station.

The second option would take about 3 hours to do which seeing as it cuts a hour off the journey makes it more appealing.

That's why I said generally.

 

[transportphoto]

The X1 only calls NRW Bus Stn (in Norwich) - it sells connections for the 25/35 (first) to the rail stn from St Stephens (St), which is a 3 min walk, or you could pay more and get another operator from the bus station.

 

[Oracle]

Just out of curiosity - why is Nearly every operator's long distance services begin / end with a 'X'?

They were supposed to be express routes but the X7 and X71 Wilts & Dorset is only limited-stop from to and from Totton Church from Southampton centre.

In the dim and distant past Thames Valley, then Alder Valley, had two services from Victoria-Reading: B ran via the A4 to Maidenhead and Reading, and A via the A30 through Staines, Virgina Water, Ascot, Bracknell, to Reading. Service A was PU/DO only in the London Transport area, so Virgina Water was the first stop at which you could use it as a normal bus so to speak; the B service was probably restricted until Slough. No indication of 'express'! Both had Lodekkas and then Leyland Nationals.

 

[Ivo]

Why is the X39 so numbered? I used to catch it to college in winter or for exams (rode my moped every other day) and it stopped at every stop in Bristol City. I know it misses out Keynsham, but there are no bus stops on the Keynsham bypass anyway! Does it miss out some stops once it gets into Bath?

I remember it was a dreadful journey, and I couldn't believe some people took it all the way Bristol to Bath, even though the train is cheaper and many times quicker (even including the walk to Temple Meads). The drivers were also rude and it was so S-L-O-W.

Rude and slow - and worsening by the day. Plus, half of them don't speak English as a first language!

Right then, the X39 situation. Consider the following five routes:

337 Bath - Keynsham
339 Bath - Bristol
349 Keynsham - Bristol
649 Bath - Bristol
X39 Bath - Bristol

During the day (Mon - Sat), routes 337 (two an hour) and 349 (three an hour) cover local journeys between either city and Keynsham, running a loop of most of the town. Thus, there is no need for an intermediate stop in Keynsham on through routes, so the X39 is clear to use the bypass. However, During the evenings, and on Sundays, these routes do not run, so the X39 can not run either. Instead, service 339 operates, which follows exactly the same route either side of the bypass, but runs into Keynsham town centre. Lastly, route 649 combines all three options (through but via Keynsham loop); this is a subsidised journey at 23:00 from both ends.

Services 339 and X39 are effectively one route. But one is fast and the other is "slow". The 'X' is used to show the faster route. There are other examples of this as well; for instance, service X42 runs fast (via the M32) to the edge of Bristol en route to Chipping Sodbury via Yate. Service 342 does not.

 

[mbonwick]

It's not as long as many of the above, but there is a route X2 running between Liverpool and Preston via Southport. It also uses very new double-deck buses (I forget which, but they are '09'-reg). It is generally hourly I believe; may be half-hourly (has been over a year since I was in Southport).

Scania N230UD chassis, upon which is a high-spec E400 body with full coach seating. In terms of comfort, these are just 1 step down from Stagecoach "Goldline".

 

[A0]

Somebody's already mentioned the Stagecoach United Counties X5 from Cambridge - Oxford. There's also the X4 which runs from Milton Keynes - Peterborough via Northampton, Kettering & Corby.

I think UC used to have a fairly extensive medium - long distance group of routes, which have progressively disappeared.

A couple of others -

Centrebus 700 from Stevenage - Stansted Airport running cross country so it takes 1h 40m

A slightly odd one - Uno's 620 which runs from Redbourn - Hatfield going on a circuitous route via Harpenden, Wheathampstead, St Albans which means a journey of about 15 miles as the crow flies takes 1 hr 20 mins !!!

 

[Ivo]

On that point of wandering routes, I would like to propose the 451 on the London/Surrey border. It runs from Staines to Kingston, and can be managed in 20 minutes dead from one end to the other.

It takes about 90 minutes.

It runs via Walton-on-Thames and Addlestone.

 

[Tom B]

A slightly odd one - Uno's 620 which runs from Redbourn - Hatfield going on a circuitous route via Harpenden, Wheathampstead, St Albans which means a journey of about 15 miles as the crow flies takes 1 hr 20 mins !!!

I'll beat that - Lothian's 49 takes 1hr 3 mins to make a 2 mile journey between The Jewel and Royal Infirmary. Admittedly, it does go all over the place!

 

[ChrisCooper]

There are a lot of buses that run quite circuitous routes between places that are not that far apart, yet take ages, the idea oviously being to link intermediate points on the route with the end points, rarther than end to end (there is nearly always a far quicker route for end to end). I remember a few years ago in Bullwell getting on a bus heading into Nottingham which went miles around, eventually coming in via the QMC on the opposite side of the city. Between Loughborough and Leicester there used to be the 121 which took well over an hour going out via the villages, compared to the 126/127 which took 40mins (and still do), running down the old A6. The 122, 123 and 124 were not much faster, I think the fastest was the 123, taking about an hour. The current 54 runs basically the same route as the 123, although takes a little longer getting into Leicester as it runs through the estates instead of coming in on the mainroad (being an extension of one of the city routes). You can always tell a really rambling bus route because when it comes to a sign pointing to the destination it will turn the other way.

 

[ivanhoe]

How about some routes that could be introduced . I give you Nottingham-Loughborough-Leicester-Coventry. Limited Stop between the towns, this could be a winner. Could also take in the Universities of Nottingham, Loughborough, Leicester and Coventry. Any other possibilities?

 

[starrymarkb]

There was a Loughborough-Leicester-Coventry - it was cut back to leicester then axed - believe Mike De Courcey has it under contract now...

 

[317 forever]

Another Long bus route is the Arriva Cymru operated X40 Cardiff - Carmarthen - Aberystwyth Trawscambira service which is every hour between Carmarthen & Aberystwyth and 4 times per day to Swansea & Cardiff. Journey time end to end is about 4 hours

Two other long Traws-Cambria routes are the X32 from Bangor to Aberystwyth and the X94 from Wrexham to Barmouth. The X32 was partially split into 2 overlapping sections recently but there are still some through journeys, in particular on Sundays by Express Motors and Lloyds in place of Arriva.

 

[Deerfold]

Trent Barton run a service called 'Trans PeaK' from Nottingham to Manchester via Derby, Belpter, Matlock, Bakewell, Buxton etc.

The service to Manchester runs every 3 hours and takes about 3 hours 35 mins.

There is also a service on the same bus which only goes as far as Buxton. This runs every hour and takes about 2 hours 20 mins.

The service uses Optare Excels (Only on the Buxton run) and Plaxton Premiers

Sadly going downhill from when I used to catch it years ago. I used to catch it home from Uni - I'd buy a day ticket which wasn't much more than the single fare and stop off at various places along the way - In the south there's plenty of other Trent buses and Buxton to Stockport there's the every 30 minutes Airport buses. Then I'd get trains Stockport or Manchester - Littleborough.

It used to run (early nineties) every 2 hours with a first departure from Manchester at 0720 and a last departure all the way through at 1920 with something later part way.

The current last departure from Nottingham to Manchester of 1510 is a little on the early side...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

There are a lot of buses that run quite circuitous routes between places that are not that far apart, yet take ages, the idea oviously being to link intermediate points on the route with the end points, rarther than end to end (there is nearly always a far quicker route for end to end). I remember a few years ago in Bullwell getting on a bus heading into Nottingham which went miles around, eventually coming in via the QMC on the opposite side of the city.

That'd be the 32. Really round the houses via Beeston Rylands! Used to run half-hourly with the 18 Nottingham-Ilkeston (not the terribly direct way either) until they doubled the frequency on the 18 and dropped the 32 a few years ago.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
There used to be a lot of long distance buses operating into the Yorkshire Dales from West Yorkshire. These were cut back substantially due to recent legislation on longer bus routes. A few survive:

800 York - Leeds - Ilkley - Grassington - Hawes 1/day on Sundays 4 hours
820 Seacroft - Leeds - Otley - Pateley Bridge - Ripon - Richmond 1/day on Sundays 4 hours

There used to be services from Wakefield and Huddersfield.

 

[robert2000]

x94 runs from chester to barmouth, someone said wrexham to barmouth, but only som services start/termintae here.

 

[Deerfold]

Bellamy Holidays operate a stopping bus service (200) once a day from Nottingham to Mapethorpe taking 4 hours 23 minutes.

 

[causton]

In/around Herts:
The Arriva Hemel-Stevenage 301 is quite long, over 2 hours in the peaks.
The nearby 500 Aylesbury-Watford is slightly shorter.
Sullivan's 951 from Borehamwood to Thorpe Park on Saturdays and BH Mondays - 2 and a half hours and that's using the M25 for a large amount of it!
Tiger Line's Amersham-Hatfield service is about 2 hours in the peak.

To be honest, there are no really long bus services (except the 724) and 2 hours is the limit for just about all of them - because of the train network heading north-south and little need for heading east-west (and proximity to London) I presume!

 

[trentside]

There are a number of longer distance services in Lincolnshire, run under the County Council's InterConnect brand - the majority by Stagecoach.

The longest is the 3/X3 which runs between Grimsby, Market Rasen, Lincoln and then Newark (the last section being known as the X3) branded as the Executive Connect - and run using leather seated double deckers, which are very comfy. The end to end journey time is 2 hours, 30 minutes. The timetable can be viewed here, the references to 'guaranteed connections' is just a technicality to avoid EU drivers hours regulations, and the services is worked by the same bus throughout, with passengers not having to change.

In addition to the above, there is also the 9 between Skegness, Mablethorpe and Louth. The end to end journey time is around 2 hours. Timetable.

Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes also run the Humber Flyer, with a journey time just short of 2 hours. The route links Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Humberside Airport and Hull. Timetable.

 

[Nightrider]

There,s a bus that arrives every Wednesday night at Glasgow,s Buchanan St bus station from Warsaw.
Take it,s an express service.

 

[MCR247]

I think thats more of a coach service than a long distance bus route

 

[BrummyBoy]

There was a Loughborough-Leicester-Coventry - it was cut back to leicester then axed - believe Mike De Courcey has it under contract now...

Yes at route X6, now run using 10 plate Optare double decks.


Its not exactly long distance but what about Birminghams route 11 (the outer circle) which takes nearly 3 hours end in end.

 

[MCR247]

Sorry if it has been mentioned, but the Trent Barton Transpeak from Nottingham - Manchester (with no toilet!) taking 3h35 must be a contender for the longest bus journey!

 

[jamesontheroad]

Sorry if it has been mentioned, but the Trent Barton Transpeak from Nottingham - Manchester (with no toilet!) taking 3h35 must be a contender for the longest bus journey!

Looking back over the last few pages, I reckon (although I may have missed some) that the the top four are:

First Eastern Counties X1 (Great Yarmouth - Peterborough) 4h30
Trent Barton Transpeak (Nottingham - Manchester) 3h35
Stagecoach X5 (Cambridge - Oxford) 3h25
Stagecoach United X4 (Milton Keynes - Peterborough) 2h20

 

[A0]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the Edinburgh - Carlisle service which takes over 3 hours and effectively follows the route of the Waverley line.

 

[route101]

haha ive done the Edinburgh to Carlisle route , x95 i think .

 

[jopsuk]

Did someone already point out that (unless there's a problem) the X5 is a "coach" service rather than a "bus"?

 

[Deerfold]

Looking back over the last few pages, I reckon (although I may have missed some) that the the top four are:

First Eastern Counties X1 (Great Yarmouth - Peterborough) 4h30
Trent Barton Transpeak (Nottingham - Manchester) 3h35
Stagecoach X5 (Cambridge - Oxford) 3h25
Stagecoach United X4 (Milton Keynes - Peterborough) 2h20

Yes, you missed the two 4h services from West Yorkshire to the Dales that I mentioned.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Did someone already point out that (unless there's a problem) the X5 is a "coach" service rather than a "bus"?

It's not. Legally it's registered as a bus service and so receives fuel duty rebate (or whatever they're calling it this week). Stagecoach use coach-type vehicles to run it.

As do TrentBarton on the TransPeak

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Sorry if it has been mentioned, but the Trent Barton Transpeak from Nottingham - Manchester (with no toilet!) taking 3h35 must be a contender for the longest bus journey!

Yes, it's been mentioned several times - in some detail.

 

[jopsuk]

It's not. Legally it's registered as a bus service and so receives fuel duty rebate (or whatever they're calling it this week). Stagecoach use coach-type vehicles to run it.

As do TrentBarton on the TransPeak

Fair enough- they advertise it on the website as a "Cross Country Coach Link"