Longest urban bus routes

[Omnidekkalover]

Outside of NXWM’s 11/A and First South Yorkshire’s 18/A and superloop SL7. I’m curious to see what the longest urban bus services are in Britain

 

[stadler]

Outside of NXWM’s 11/A and First South Yorkshire’s 18/A and superloop SL7. I’m curious to see what the longest urban bus services are in Britain

London has some night bus routes which are strong contenders for the longest urban bus route:

N9 - Central London to Heathrow Airport

N15 - Central London to Romford

N68 - Central London to Coulsdon

N199 - Central London to St Mary Cray

N207 - Central London to Uxbridge

N279 - Central London to Waltham Cross

The daytime versions of these bus routes are all much shorter than the night bus versions.

 

[TrenHotel]

The longest route in London is the SL7 (Heathrow to Croydon) - 24 miles (38km). Painfully long even though it's limited stop, and people still rock up with their airline luggage in Croydon.

After that are the N199 (Trafalgar Square to St Mary Cray) - 22 miles (35km) - and the N89 (Trafalgar Square to Erith) - 21 miles (34km), both night buses, both serving all stops on somewhat indirect routes.

(data from http://www.londonbusroutes.net/details.htm)

 

[Lukeo2311]

Not in the UK but Melbourne has 2 long bus routes, the 901 and the 684!

 

[aron2smith]

London has some night bus routes which are strong contenders for the longest urban bus route:

N9 - Central London to Heathrow Airport

N15 - Central London to Romford

N68 - Central London to Coulsdon

N199 - Central London to St Mary Cray

N207 - Central London to Uxbridge

N279 - Central London to Waltham Cross

The daytime versions of these bus routes are all much shorter than the night bus versions.

In many cases the day equivalents of the night routes are 2, in some cases even 3 day routes back to back. Wouldn't surprise me if the N199 was at least equivalent to 3 day routes as it takes at least 1 1/2 hours end to end, even though the roads are very empty on most of this route at night! It's over 20 miles long I believe.

Some of the shorter London night routes used to be the same routes in the daytime decades ago, the 29 used to be Charing Cross to Enfield. Today it's 29 - Charing Cross to Wood Green and 329 - Turnpike Lane to Enfield. But the N29 is still Charing Cross to Enfield. Similar with the 279, was once Hammond Street to Smithfield! So it was longer than even the night route is today, as annoyingly TFL don't want to know about serving Cheshunt for some reason, even though it could really do with the services.

 

[Robertj21a]

Brighton & Hove route 2 - Steyning to Rottingdean.

 

[TrenHotel]

In many cases the day equivalents of the night routes are 2, in some cases even 3 day routes back to back. Wouldn't surprise me if the N199 was at least equivalent to 3 day routes as it takes at least 1 1/2 hours end to end, even though the roads are very empty on most of this route at night! It's over 20 miles long I believe.

Some of the shorter London night routes used to be the same routes in the daytime decades ago, the 29 used to be Charing Cross to Enfield. Today it's 29 - Charing Cross to Wood Green and 329 - Turnpike Lane to Enfield. But the N29 is still Charing Cross to Enfield. Similar with the 279, was once Hammond Street to Smithfield! So it was longer than even the night route is today, as annoyingly TFL don't want to know about serving Cheshunt for some reason, even though it could really do with the services.

The N199 is actually a combination of the old N47 night route and the day 199 bus. A 24-hour 47 replaced the rest of the N47 about a decade ago.

In terms of day routes, the Canada Water to Orpington bit is a combination of the 199 and 208.

 

[SSmith2009]

Stagecoach X7 Leicester to Northampton (previously extended further onto Milton Keynes)

 

[RT4038]

Stagecoach X7 Leicester to Northampton (previously extended further onto Milton Keynes)

This is not an urban bus route though - I suspect less than 20% is in an urban area?

 

[EMU303]

Both First Glasgow services 6 East Kilbride to Clydebank and 201 EK to Airdrie are over two hours journey times.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

Leeds Ring Road services 9/9C, timed at 2 hours 48 for a circuit.
Or Bradford "City Circle" 601/602 at 1 hour 50.

 

[Geswedey]

In many cases the day equivalents of the night routes are 2, in some cases even 3 day routes back to back. Wouldn't surprise me if the N199 was at least equivalent to 3 day routes as it takes at least 1 1/2 hours end to end, even though the roads are very empty on most of this route at night! It's over 20 miles long I believe.

Some of the shorter London night routes used to be the same routes in the daytime decades ago, the 29 used to be Charing Cross to Enfield. Today it's 29 - Charing Cross to Wood Green and 329 - Turnpike Lane to Enfield. But the N29 is still Charing Cross to Enfield. Similar with the 279, was once Hammond Street to Smithfield! So it was longer than even the night route is today, as annoyingly TFL don't want to know about serving Cheshunt for some reason, even though it could really do with the services.

29 used to be Victoria to Enfield and prior to that Victoria to Potters Bar / South Mimms mostly run in sections though there were some through journeys on the whole length of the route. Some Sunday routes in London also used to be quite lengthy combining different weekday routes.

 

[PTR 444]

The summer variant of Morebus route 70 (Rockley Park - Hoburne Holiday Park) is the furthest distance between two termini on a bus route entirely within BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), and is timed at 2 hours 25 minutes.

 

[Omnidekkalover]

I forgot to say NCT’s 79/A isn’t exactly short but I wouldn’t have categorised it as long either standing at approximately 1hr 30mins

 

[route101]

Not in the UK but Melbourne has 2 long bus routes, the 901 and the 684!

I did Frankston to Melbourne Aiport, was something like 4 hours!

 

[MCR247]

I forgot to say NCT’s 79/A isn’t exactly short but I wouldn’t have categorised it as long either standing at approximately 1hr 30mins

Although probably quite impressive that it probably isn’t more than 30 minutes away from the city centre at any point of its journey

 

[NorthOxonian]

Go North East's 1 would have to be a contender. While it doesn't stay entirely within one town or city, it never leaves built up areas in Tyneside. In terms of distance it is around 25 miles long (though I haven't measured exactly), and the longest variants timetabled to take 2 hours and 16 minutes!

The main reason for the absurd length is it's two (arguably three) routes stitched together - the old 97 between the MetroCentre and Gateshead (via Whickham - itself a very indirect route), and then the 1 between there and Whitley Bay (via Byker, Wallsend, North Shields, and Tynemouth).

Most of the latter parallels the Metro (though between Byker and Gateshead, it does provide a direct link which needs a change by Metro), but far enough away from the line to better serve residential estates and some of the town centres (for instance Wallsend). There aren't many end to end passengers but it does tend to get busy with intermediate trips.

 

[Omnidekkalover]

Forgot about that deviation fest from a few weeks ago when I went to Newcastle

 

[kez19]

I’ve never done the full run but since Go North East are mentioned would the 21 to Brandon and the X21 to Bishop Auckland count?

I was also thinking of the Arriva services from Newcastle, the link to Berwick is long from what I gather by the timetables? X15/X18?

Xplore Dundee 10 - Ninewells to Broughty Ferry (roughly 1hr 30), but goes through mostly housing schemes Charleston, Lochee (by pass), St Mary’s, Kirkton, Whitfield, Douglas then Barnhill.

Might be wrong to say Stagecoach but again the 16 to Perth and the 73 to Arbroath?

 

[plugwash]

What makes a bus route "urban"?

For example the 125 gold runs from bolton to preston, running through a bunch of urban areas along the way, but also having stretches of the route where the road is surrounded by fields.

 

[Robertj21a]

What makes a bus route "urban"?

For example the 125 gold runs from bolton to preston, running through a bunch of urban areas along the way, but also having stretches of the route where the road is surrounded by fields.

So not an urban bus route then.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

What makes a bus route "urban"?

For example the 125 gold runs from bolton to preston, running through a bunch of urban areas along the way, but also having stretches of the route where the road is surrounded by fields.

That’s interurban - same as the 21/X21 in the North East

 

[Edvid]

The Leicester Orbital (40, tendered to Centrebus) was a nigh-on 2-hour loop before this week's northern/southern split. The 40S is still about 1h30m end-to-end if you include overlaps with the 40N.

 

[JKP]

I’ve never done the full run but since Go North East are mentioned would the 21 to Brandon and the X21 to Bishop Auckland count?

I was also thinking of the Arriva services from Newcastle, the link to Berwick is long from what I gather by the timetables? X15/X18?

Xplore Dundee 10 - Ninewells to Broughty Ferry (roughly 1hr 30), but goes through mostly housing schemes Charleston, Lochee (by pass), St Mary’s, Kirkton, Whitfield, Douglas then Barnhill.

Might be wrong to say Stagecoach but again the 16 to Perth and the 73 to Arbroath?

The X15/X18 are most certainly not urban services. There are a lot of green fields between Newcastle and Berwick I am pleased to say. Barley for Scotch whisky at the northern end.

 

[Ken H]

Historical, but the Leeds City Transport 45 was said to be the longest urban bus route outside London. Here it is in 1973.

Timetable World

timetableworld.com

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The X15/X18 are most certainly not urban services. There are a lot of green fields between Newcastle and Berwick I am pleased to say. Barley for Scotch whisky at the northern end.

Indeed - once you’re out of Gosforth, it’s pretty much rural.

The 21/X21 is built up Newcastle to Chester le Street but then a big gap to Framwellgate Moor/Pity Me

 

[Taunton]

The older onetime London bus routes, I recall one, I think the 37, from Peckham to Hounslow, didn't commonly have buses running end to end, but would be run in overlapping sections, with buses coming from two or more depots. The overlaps varied during the day, and there might be the odd end-to-end run early on Sunday mornings.

For the all night buses, the days of running at speed are pretty much passed, with lengthy waits at traffic signals for non-existent crossing traffic,

 

[Andyh82]

Some of the routes Arriva do in West Yorkshire are quite long, the 202/203 takes almost two hours Leeds to Huddersfield, the 268 between Wakefield and Bradford is around 1 hour 45 mins

They are all interurban but are mostly within built up areas, any fields you see don’t last very long

 

[JD2168]

Stagecoach 217/218 from Rotherham to Barnsley is very long taking almost 2 hours at times, the corresponding 22x between the same destinations is an hour less.

There used to be other long urban services in Sheffield that no longer run. These are:
1/2/59 Sheffield to Malin Bridge/Hilsborough commonly known as the ‘Outer Circle’
17 at one time went from Sheffield to Hilsborough via a similar if longer route than the 18 taking in Parson Cross instead of Shirecliffe.
201 which ran from Sheffield to Meadowhall via Hilsborough, Stocksbridge & Chapeltown

 

[Dwarfer1979]

The Leicester Orbital (40, tendered to Centrebus) was a nigh-on 2-hour loop before this week's northern/southern split. The 40S is still about 1h30m end-to-end if you include overlaps with the 40N.

Before the split the 40 was about 49 kms long so unless other routes were running on tachos it was probably the longest single urban route. Since the split the 40S is unlikely to be so.