Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Sometimes there's a member of staff at Windermere doing that.
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Off-board fare purchase on bus systems
- Thread starter generalnerd
- Start date
Sometimes there's a member of staff at Windermere doing that.
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RailUK Forums
The Adult/Child/Family City Day tickets available at Edinburgh Tram platform TVMs are also valid on the vast majority of Lothian Buses routes, but you could argue that's not in the spirit of the OP as it isn't exclusively a bus ticket.
I guess that also applies to most other tram and metro networks around the country. Docklands Light Railway, London Underground, Manchester Metrolink, Nottingham Express Transit, Tyne & Wear Metro, West Midlands Metro, all have TVMs that sell rover tickets valid on buses too. You could also include all of the National Rail stations too as they sell Travelcard tickets (and previously the Bus & Tram Pass up until last month) that is valid on London Buses too.
generalnerd
Member
Interesting. I have noticed this a bit more as of late, generally using a spare bus driver.
aron2smith
Member
In Edinburgh, I've noticed they have a good amount of staff visible both at the airport and the city centre (Princes Street) in the day time willing to sell tickets to use on the Airlink 100 service. They are especially noticeable at the airport. Very expensive service at £5.50 single or £8 return though, given Lothian all day bus and tram tickets cost £5 and its unlimited!
London still has the Bus Saver Ticket which is an off bus ticket. Shops no longer sell them but you can still order them directly. They cost £1.75 each (same as what Contactless or Oyster costs) and the minimum order is 25 books of 6 tickets meaning £262.50 is the minimum order. I normally place one big order a year. You have to tear the ticket in half along the line and give one half to the driver and you keep the rest. Now that the cabs are sealed it means the driver has to open his cab door to take it so it is probably slower than using Contactless or Oyster payment. But it is still a very useful off bus ticketing option. The best thing about it is that they never expire so you can stock up before the bus fare increases which means you pay even less than the Contactless or Oyster fares.
What ticket machine did he have?
It would have been a handheld Ticketer machine. Ticketer produce a handheld version. Transdev staff often use those at major stops during busy periods.
tram21
Member
It's now the same price as normal buses!
Airlink route 100 still charges the same extortionate prices. It is only the other Lothian Buses routes that serve the airport (17 and 18) that removed the surcharge. So you could use the other routes for the normal prices.
And "Conductors" on LTs did not sell tickets.
It used to be that the old 36 that went the long route from the city centre to the airport was a normal price, now it's just those routes that avoid the city centre. Presumably it's effectively a tourist tax, as locals with weekly or longer tickets can use the 100 as if it were any other bus.
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generalnerd
Member
That’s actually quite good, I thought they retired them years ago
That sounds like a lot of hard work. Is there any reason you do this?
I think I last used Bus Saver tickets in 2001.
Steddenm
Member
Aircoach at Dublin Airport have a little booth that sells tickets before you board in the bus pick up area, and I think that Bus Éireann/Expressway have some TVMs at the airport, Busáras and other bus stations across the Republic.
How is hard work. It is extremely simple. I just do one big order every year or every two years or just before the prices increase and that is it. It is not hard to rip off half of the ticket and hand it to the driver. It takes five seconds. I do not consider it hard work at all.
I continue using Bus Saver Tickets for two reasons mainly. Firstly i simply prefer paper tickets. Call me old fashioned but i do not like Contactless payments or Oyster or Smartcards or E Tickets or M Tickets or any of this modern stuff. I much prefer good old fashioned paper tickets. Maybe it is age thing or maybe i am old fashioned but paper tickets have always been my preference.
Secondly using Bus Saver Tickets often saves me quite a bit of money. One week before the bus fares increased from £1.65 to £1.75 in March 2023 i did a big order of 500 books of 6 tickets (so 3,000 tickets total) and i still have some of those left now. So i am still currently paying £1.65 for a bus journey while everyone else is paying £1.75 for Contactless and Oyster payments. That is £300.00 i have saved once i have used up all those tickets. I still have just under 100 tickets left from that order so they are almost gone.
I placed another large order of Bus Saver Tickets last month. Of course this time i will being paying £1.75 each (the bus fares have not increased again recently so no recent chances to do a big order before they increase) but that is still the same as what Contactless and Oyster users pay. So i am not paying any more by using the Bus Saver Tickets than what everyone else pays.
I am London most days (and i also very regularly use the TFL route 465 within the Dorking area too) so on average i use around five TFL buses a week and sometimes even as many as ten buses a week or more. So it works out good value for me. Of course on quite a few occasions i have a Travelcard so i use that instead. Also up until last month (when it was withdrawn) i used to often purchase the Bus & Tram Pass whenever i was planning on travelling on lots of buses in one day as that worked out very good value for lots of bus journeys. But overall i find the Bus Saver Tickets to be the best option for me.
aron2smith
Member
That's good news. I never understood why Scottish cities charged extra to use a bus just because it goes to the airport.
It is an International thing rather than just a Scottish thing. Airports all over the world do this and charge extra for buses and trains just because they go to the airport. It is ridiculous but unfortunately it is very common.
aron2smith
Member
Never saw this in England. London airports and Manchester from the top of my head just charge the same fares as any normal bus to go to the airport. Ironically, the train and tube fares to Heathrow are all over the place though.
Yes the six London airports all charge normal fares on the local buses. However at both Gatwick and Heathrow they have rip off hotel buses. Gatwick has rip off hotel buses that charge an extortionate £4.50 Single or £8.00 Return (the local buses are £1.70 Single). Heathrow has rip off hotel buses that charge an extortionate £6.80 Single or £12.00 Return (the local buses are £1.75 Single). You can get to all of these airport hotels by the cheap local buses (which are in fact both quicker and more frequent than the hotel buses). So unfortunately even at Gatwick and Heathrow they have rip off buses that charge extra just because it is an airport.
It hasn't been mentioned specifically yet but Glasgow Airport also occasionally has ticket sellers standing at the front of the queue. When the bus is boarding, the driver will also sell tickets at the same time which is quite efficient.
It was the case on my last trip to Belfast. On the Glider buses the driver is in a cab like a tram or a train, so no access to passengers normally. But the 300 to BFS airport is a regular bus and I think there was only a TVM at the Europa bus station (since moved to Grand Central), not at other stops along the route, some of which are rather rural - and that route is also used for non-airport journeys so the driver has to be able to sell tickets.
You may not see it this way, but £1.65 in the bank as of March 2023 would (could) be £1.80 today.
It was the case on my last trip to Belfast. On the Glider buses the driver is in a cab like a tram or a train, so no access to passengers normally. But the 300 to BFS airport is a regular bus and I think there was only a TVM at the Europa bus station (since moved to Grand Central), not at other stops along the route, some of which are rather rural - and that route is also used for non-airport journeys so the driver has to be able to sell tickets.
You may not see it this way, but £1.65 in the bank as of March 2023 would (could) be £1.80 today.
I used the local stopping bus at Marco Polo to avoid the extortionate Express Bus prices before they started charging them on the local services too (you could avoid a premium if buying a weekly or longer ticket).
National Express regularly charges a premium for Airport stops (most obvious on trips to London via Heathrow where it's cheaper to stay on to London). I spent a few months years ago before National Express was keen on advance style ticketing travelling from Halifax to London overnight on a Friday, continuing to Slough. I'd usually go to Victoria, but if it was fully booked I would get the Heathrow service from Bradford which cost around 50% more.
There’s been a separate thread for this somewhere. It’s usually because the airports charge an access fee which has to be recovered somehow. Try getting to Bristol Airport, for example.
This thread is where it was discussed most recently including ways to avoid them by walking elsewhere or using other services:
How to avoid the airport public transport tax surcharges.
I was reading the other thread regarding the airport public transport tax surcharges that so many airport worldwide have for public transport. I thought it would be rather useful to create a list of these airports showing how to avoid the airport surcharge and comparing the cheapest option with...
www.railforums.co.uk
Bristol Airport is easy to avoid by walking ten minutes to the Airport Tavern on the main road where normal bus fares apply.
Although iirc there is no legal walking route in/out of the airport site.
I have done it before without issue. There is pavement all the way from the Airport Terminal building to the Airport Tavern bus stop. It is not possible to not have a "legal" walking route. Even if there was no pavement you could still walk on the side of the road and it would not be "illegal" as pedestrians can walk on road that is not a motorway. But in this case there is actually pavement the entire length so it is no issue at all to walk in and out of the airport.
On a public highway/ right of way -yes. On a private road “not dedicated to the use of the general public” surely a different matter. Academic as I’m sure it would only matter for insurance purposes in case of accident.
aron2smith
Member
I've heard if you get off the bus 1 or 2 stops before Bristol Airport, it's a normal fare. In general, it seems like the policies are the wrong way round, Airports should be encouraging people to come by public transport and helping fund buses as much as possible, so we don't see the ridiculous land use for parking around airports so much! Some of that profit from the rip off food and drink could be used for the public good!
generalnerd
Member
What buses are they useable on? Is it all TfL sponsored routes or are some routes exclude that are TfL sponsored/included that aren’t
aron2smith
Member
It's really funny as a lot of the local bus stops are minutes walk if that from the hotels. A bit like Heathrow Express, these hotel buses seem a bit pointless as TFL covers all bases.