Online all-UK bus journey planner?

[randyrippley]

Is there an online journey planner which enables you to plot bus-only (not train, not coaches) routes for the whole of the UK?
I've just got a NOW card and I'm trying to work out how easy it is to travel long distances using it
Everything I've found wants to route via rail or coach

 

[WibbleWobble]

traveline.info
travelinesw.com

You just need to use the toggle options and deselect the modes you don't wish to use.

On traveline.info, just click on "More Options", then "Choose Travel Mode".
On travelinesw.com, it is on the second page under "Options" then "Transport Types".

 

[snowleopard]

Both traveline.info and travelinesw.com seem to be somewhat limited in actually providing bus-only (non-coach) journeys for longer distances.

E.g. while both happily provide "bus only" connections for, say, "Exeter - Plymouth", traveline.info is already overwhelmed by the idea of "Plymouth - Bristol", nevermind longer journeys than that.

While travelinesw.com, in fairness, manages "Plymouth - London", "Birmingham - London" or "Sheffield - London", it can't cope with "Manchester - London" or "Liverpool - London".

Any ideas why? Is it because they can't show journeys with take longer than 24h (?) or require an overnight break.

And if so, are there any engines which could actually compute a proper long local bus-only (no trains, no coaches) journey for, say, Edinburgh-London, Aberdeen-London, Penzance-London, North Wales-London etc.? Or do these have to be broken down into individual parts to be viably computed?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is there an online journey planner which enables you to plot bus-only (not train, not coaches) routes for the whole of the UK?
I've just got a NOW card and I'm trying to work out how easy it is to travel long distances using it
Everything I've found wants to route via rail or coach

Google Maps will exclude rail (unless it can't see anything else) but unfortunately not coach. May be useful for some though.

 

[randyrippley]

Thanks for the replies
Unfortunately so far nothing seems to actually work as advertised.
Either coaches aren't excluded even when you request them to be, or the programs don't seem to be capable of more than around four or five hops.
Try a search Preston-Birmingham (for instance) and the systems fall over

 

[Mike99]

Using your example try Preston to Warrington then Warrington to Birmingham. Seems to come up with some options.

 

[JonathanH]

Try a search Preston-Birmingham (for instance) and the systems fall over

Travelinesw gives me times from Preston to Shrewsbury, but not to destinations which have a regular service onwards, so there could just be a limited number of connections possible. As the journey gets longer, there are more combinations to have to consider.

 

[randyrippley]

Both traveline.info and travelinesw.com seem to be somewhat limited in actually providing bus-only (non-coach) journeys for longer distances.

E.g. while both happily provide "bus only" connections for, say, "Exeter - Plymouth", traveline.info is already overwhelmed by the idea of "Plymouth - Bristol", nevermind longer journeys than that.

While travelinesw.com, in fairness, manages "Plymouth - London", "Birmingham - London" or "Sheffield - London", it can't cope with "Manchester - London" or "Liverpool - London".

Any ideas why? Is it because they can't show journeys with take longer than 24h (?) or require an overnight break.

And if so, are there any engines which could actually compute a proper long local bus-only (no trains, no coaches) journey for, say, Edinburgh-London, Aberdeen-London, Penzance-London, North Wales-London etc.? Or do these have to be broken down into individual parts to be viably computed?

that's exactly the problem I keep hitting

 

[Tetchytyke]

Any ideas why? Is it because they can't show journeys with take longer than 24h (?) or require an overnight break.

A journey planner is just a database search and, as with any database search, the more complex the search the harder it is to complete. When you think of all the thousands of options that exist on service buses from, say, London to Leeds, it’s no wonder the systems can’t complete the search. It’s about being realistic in what you expect the computer to be able to do.

 

[RT4038]

A journey planner is just a database search and, as with any database search, the more complex the search the harder it is to complete. When you think of all the thousands of options that exist on service buses from, say, London to Leeds, it’s no wonder the systems can’t complete the search. It’s about being realistic in what you expect the computer to be able to do.

Quite right.

Just do the planning in bite sized chunks - to an enthusiast the break points will be pretty obvious (and there may well be several possibilities, so try them all). Any non-enthusiasts are unlikely to be making such journeys.

 

[ALEMASTER]

Out of interest I checked the journey planning facility on Google Maps, it does have a setting in the options to priorities buses but it treats scheduled coaches such as Flixbus as a bus service!

 

[snowleopard]

Quite right.

Just do the planning in bite sized chunks - to an enthusiast the break points will be pretty obvious (and there may well be several possibilities, so try them all). Any non-enthusiasts are unlikely to be making such journeys.

I get the technical limitations - but are the break points obvious? How would you choose them?

Say you want to travel from London to Manchester. The route “as the crow flies” goes through countryside, picking random villages as break points seems inefficient if you don’t know whether they happen to be on a useful bus route. So do you just use the nearest bigger towns/cities (Luton? Northampton? Leicester - Derby? Or even a Birmingham - Stoke detour) as break points and thus potentially alter the route from the straight line?

(This is not rhetorics, I’m genuinely interested in how you would set break points for something like this without pre-committing yourself to detours you might not have needed)

Out of interest I checked the journey planning facility on Google Maps, it does have a setting in the options to priorities buses but it treats scheduled coaches such as Flixbus as a bus service!

Yes, and while Traveline SW allows you to deselect coaches, it treats e.g. LHR (from Oxford to Heathrow) or similar airport connections from say Luton into London as buses not coaches. Which may well be technically correct for some reason but people would probably deem a vehicle that goes nonstop for as long distances as these to be a coach rather than a bus!

 

[JonathanH]

(This is not rhetorics, I’m genuinely interested in how you would set break points for something like this without pre-committing yourself to detours you might not have needed)

A basic understanding of where there are still fairly long distance routes running is helpful. Many have disappeared over the years.

It isn't so much a matter of committing to detours as simply looking at a map and trying out the various obvious split points - eg the conurbations on the way.

Leicester is a good staging point for Manchester to London, for example, because there is still a longish distance bus through the Peak District, even if it no longer reaches Manchester, and there is a good service from Derby to Leicester.

 

[RT4038]

I get the technical limitations - but are the break points obvious? How would you choose them?

Say you want to travel from London to Manchester. The route “as the crow flies” goes through countryside, picking random villages as break points seems inefficient if you don’t know whether they happen to be on a useful bus route. So do you just use the nearest bigger towns/cities (Luton? Northampton? Leicester - Derby? Or even a Birmingham - Stoke detour) as break points and thus potentially alter the route from the straight line?

(This is not rhetorics, I’m genuinely interested in how you would set break points for something like this without pre-committing yourself to detours you might not have needed)


Yes, and while Traveline SW allows you to deselect coaches, it treats e.g. LHR (from Oxford to Heathrow) or similar airport connections from say Luton into London as buses not coaches. Which may well be technically correct for some reason but people would probably deem a vehicle that goes nonstop for as long distances as these to be a coach rather than a bus!

Use busatlas.uk to guide you. A study of these maps will soon show you why the break points are fairly obvious. For London-Manchester try London-Leicester and London-Birmingham first - then Leicester-Manchester etc. The break points are most likely going to be the major places. There is no means of getting the optimum answer, without trial and error. Appreciate it is not 'all on a plate' , but there are so many possible combinations the planners are limited by capacity.

As you see what the planner gives you, you may wish to try other break points based on those answers. (Northampton and Oxford are key places, but other routes with more changes are available). It doesn't matter so much that you are not travelling in a straight line, it is minimising the number of changes (because they come with a time penalty and jeopardy), and frequency/route speed, minimising waiting plus getting the miles in.

 

[snowleopard]

Use busatlas.uk to guide you. A study of these maps will soon show you why the break points are fairly obvious. For London-Manchester try London-Leicester and London-Birmingham first - then Leicester-Manchester etc. The break points are most likely going to be the major places. There is no means of getting the optimum answer, without trial and error. Appreciate it is not 'all on a plate' , but there are so many possible combinations the planners are limited by capacity.

As you see what the planner gives you, you may wish to try other break points based on those answers. (Northampton and Oxford are key places, but other routes with more changes are available). It doesn't matter so much that you are not travelling in a straight line, it is minimising the number of changes (because they come with a time penalty and jeopardy), and frequency/route speed, minimising waiting plus getting the miles in.

A basic understanding of where there are still fairly long distance routes running is helpful. Many have disappeared over the years.

It isn't so much a matter of committing to detours as simply looking at a map and trying out the various obvious split points - eg the conurbations on the way.

Leicester is a good staging point for Manchester to London, for example, because there is still a longish distance bus through the Peak District, even if it no longer reaches Manchester, and there is a good service from Derby to Leicester.

Thank you both, that's genuinely helpful!

 

[RT4038]

Thank you both, that's genuinely helpful!

On the assumption that you are requiring to go by local buses only, from Central London to Manchester, I would guess the fastest route (fewest buses) is probably 113 to Edgware/142 to Watford/321 to Luton/X1 to Milton Keynes/X6 to Northampton/X7 to Leicester/Skylink to Derby/Transpeak to Buxton/199 to Stockport/192 to Manchester , or something like that. 757 from Victoria to Luton would short circuit the first 3.