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One end to t'other

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HR2

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I wonder what the longest fare stage 'put your hand out to stop bus' route in this country is? The 685 From Newcastle to Carlisle must be a good candidate.
 
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Sprinter

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Two others I can immediately think of:

X53- Bournemouth- Exeter via Poole, Weymouth, Bridport and Seaton (4 1/2 hour one way journey!) First Dorset
700- Brighton- Portsmouth via the south coast Stagecoach
 

ChrisCooper

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First Eastern Counties X1 which runs from Lowestoft to Peterborough via Yarmouth, Norwich and Kings Lynn. Its over 115miles, and takes just under 4 1/2 hours. It's frequent aswell, running every half an hour for most of the day. It usually uses Plaxton bodied Volvo B12 coaches, but I have seen a Dennis Dart on once (that was at Yarmouth heading for Lowestoft, so I don't know how far it had come though).
 

eezypeazy

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Quite a few come to mind.... I believe that the Newcastle - Blackpool service (now run by Classic) is, in fact a "stage carriage" service, as they used to be known.

Until recently, Munroe's of Jedburgh had a contract for Edinburgh - Jedburgh - Otterburn - Newcastle, but it now runs Jedburgh - Newcastle only (Service 130?)(about 115 miles?).

Arriva's Newcastle - Berwick is 60 + miles.

The AD122 (Hadrian's Wall Bus Service) from Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, to Bo'ness must be 70+ miles

And, of course, District Line, you live at one end of the longest route in Tyne and Wear, being the Go Ahead's 638 Crawcrook - Sunderland.

eezypeazy
 

Gareth Hale

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I think some Citylink Scotland are long

Glasgow to Inverness, Glasgow to Oban, Inverness to Isle of Skye. Inverness to Aberdeen.

Also Megabus are huge.
 

Tom B

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eezypeazy said:
a "stage carriage" service, as they used to be known.

What are these? Are they when different operators run the route, and you change buses at specified points?
 

tramboy

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Surely trentbarton's "Transpeak" must be up there with the odd long route...Nottingham/Derby to Buxton/Manchester (it alternates...check out www.transpeak.co.uk for more!)

Cheers

Dave
 

TAS

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ChrisCooper said:
First Eastern Counties X1 which runs from Lowestoft to Peterborough via Yarmouth, Norwich and Kings Lynn. Its over 115miles, and takes just under 4 1/2 hours. It's frequent aswell, running every half an hour for most of the day. It usually uses Plaxton bodied Volvo B12 coaches, but I have seen a Dennis Dart on once (that was at Yarmouth heading for Lowestoft, so I don't know how far it had come though).
I 'don't' think it's normal stopping though. Limited stop only I 'think'.
 

eezypeazy

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Cockfosters said:
What are these? Are they when different operators run the route, and you change buses at specified points?

No, they did not necessarily involve changing or different operators.

Until the Transport Act of 1980, bus services had, since the 1930s, been split into "stage carriage" and "express" services, and required different types of licences. Stage Carriage services were, essentially, stopping services - the others are self explanatory.

There were some quite extraordinarily long stopping services. For example, United Automobile Services and Eastern Scottish jointly ran stopping services between Edinburgh and Newcastle, a journey of about 120 miles via the A1, some calling at every town and village along the way, and taking about five hours to complete! The vehicles worked the entire length of the route, as did the crews; however, the routes were, in this case, timed to cross at the Scottish border, where the conductors would swap ticket machines and cash bags, thus ensuring that United took the revenue from the southern bit, and Eastern Scottish the revenue north of the border. In the late 1970s, the service was split at Berwick, with United operating the southern half.

The Wright Brothers services between Newcastle and Keswick is quite interesting.... during WW2, most express coach services ceased, but stage carriage services continued. Hence, Wright Bros were able to operate their Newcastle to the Lake District service without interruption, whilst Northern General had to suspend their Lakes services.

eezypeazy
 

Tom B

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Thanks eezypeazy - so they were basically normal "local" services running over a longer distance, but registered as a local stopping service?
 

eezypeazy

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Cockfosters said:
Thanks eezypeazy - so they were basically normal "local" services running over a longer distance, but registered as a local stopping service?

Yes.

eezypeazy
 
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