Reasonably priced long bus journeys

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Inspired to set up this thread by the other thread concerned with expensively priced short bus journeys.

The High Peak stopping service 199 from Manchester Airport to Buxton is only £5.30 single fare and I often see airline passengers with large luggage items using the service from areas such as Buxton, Chapel en le Frith and Whaley Bridge.

 

[neilmc]

How about the 22 Bolton-Stockport which has the Stagecoach maximum fare of £3.10? The route is so long there's over 50 fare stages so the vast majority of single fares are £3.10!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

How about the 22 Bolton-Stockport which has the Stagecoach maximum fare of £3.10? The route is so long there's over 50 fare stages so the vast majority of single fares are £3.10!

At the risk of clouding things so early, but the Arriva Wales day saver is a mere £5.00 and that allows you some quite long journeys for not much money such as c.50km routes like Rhyl to Chester or Llandudno to Caernarfon.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

A single on Stagecoach Perth service 15 from Crieff to Perth, which is roughly 18 miles, only costs £2.80.

 

[madannie77]

Penrith to Warcop on Grand Prix Coaches' 563 is £4.30 return, not bad for almost 20 miles in each direction.

 

[90019]

Lothian's 44 from Balerno to Tranent is roughly 20 miles, and as it's a Lothian bus, it's a £1.50 flat fare regardless of distance, making it around 7.5p per mile if you were to go end to end.

 

[Polarbear]

Again straying into the realms of day rovers, but a £10.50 Stagecoach North West day explorer will (in theory) get you from just over the Welsh border in Saltney (near Chester) to Newcastle on Tyne or Dumfries.

To be honest, it would be a push to get from one end of the network to the other in one day!

Arriva's flat fare of £2.20 single in Merseyside can be quite good value on some of the longer runs.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Well, if Day Rovers are included, a Stagecoach West Explorer, for £6.50, will get you all the way from Oxford to Hereford (via Swindon, Cheltenham and Gloucester.). Indeed you can leave Oxford at 9.45 and get to Hereford this way before 4pm, so you could possibly press on further into Wales too - that really is what I call a bargain...

It's very odd how fares on subsidised/tendered routes vary widely - in some places they are quite extraordinarily cheap (I've found this in Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire recently); in others (I've found this in Essex) quite the reverse. Indeed some of the more infrequent rural routes in Oxfordshire are free of charge, although this fact is barely advertised!

 

[Statto]

Going on day tickets Explorer North East £9.50 Adults & travel the area from Berwick to Scarborough or Richmond Yorkshire & Catterick including Carlisle, Barnard Castle, Middleton in Teesdale, you can also use Explorer North East on Tyne & Wear Metro & Shields Ferry.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Again straying into the realms of day rovers, but a £10.50 Stagecoach North West day explorer will (in theory) get you from just over the Welsh border in Saltney (near Chester) to Newcastle on Tyne or Dumfries.

To be honest, it would be a push to get from one end of the network to the other in one day!

Arriva's flat fare of £2.20 single in Merseyside can be quite good value on some of the longer runs.

Although you'd have to start early think the Stagecoach one can be done in a day,

 

[RJ]

London has a handful of routes that exceed 20 miles, all for a £1.45 flat fare;

X26 - West Croydon to Heathrow Central (21 miles)
N89 - Trafalgar Square to Erith (21 miles)
N9 - Aldwych to Heathrow Central (21 miles)
N47 - Trafalgar Square to St Mary Cray (20 miles)

There are two routes which have scheduled trips that exceed 2 hours end to end, for the same fare;
X26 - West Croydon to Heathrow Central
25 - Oxford Circus to Ilford

 

[Liam]

X95 Edinburgh to Carlisle is £7.20 and just under 100 miles.

 

[Springs Branch]

How about the 22 Bolton-Stockport which has the Stagecoach maximum fare of £3.10? The route is so long there's over 50 fare stages so the vast majority of single fares are £3.10!

The 22 is operated jointly by Stagecoach and First Manchester (plus a few evening runs by Manchester Community Transport).
First Manchester offers a £18 Carnet as an mTicket smartphone app, valid for "10 single journeys on any Greater Manchester First bus service".
This means you could get from Bolton to Stockport (on a First bus) for £1.80, if you consider this carnet a single fare (it seems to be "any time", single-trip-on-one-vehicle, although it is pre-purchased).

Presumably First's mention of Greater Manchester means you can't legitimately do Manchester to Huddersfield (Service 184, 25 miles) or Manchester to Warrington (Service 100, 20 miles) for £1.80. But Manchester to Lowton or Diggle (both ~15 miles) is not too bad at that price.

 

[extendedpaul]

Cardiff to Newtown (Powys) on the Trans Cymru T4, then Newtown to Shrewsbury on the X75 can both be done on a Powys Day Rover ticket costing £8. About 150 road miles the routes the buses take.

I don't think you can get back by bus the same day on the ticket but an advance ticket from Shrewsbury to Cardiff by train costs £17 advance without a railcard so a good day out for £25.

I had an hour in Newtown and an hour in Shrewsbury and was back in Cardiff at 7.20pm.

It's also possible to travel from Newtown to Machynlleth and then Aberystwyth on the Powys Day Rover which I think is even further.

 

[bussnapperwm]

NXWM 11A/11C, whole circle, £2.10 single, 8p per mile going from Perry Barr round the circle back to Perry Barr. and from the 28th of This month, a chance of bashing a ex Warrington Marshall on there of GRS Travel.

 

[higthomas]

Or you could use NX west midland route 11, you can do the whole 27 mile circle for £2.10
In fact if you head a little East, things get better, where a 31 mile hop on the 360 around coventry costs £1.90

 

[trickyvegas]

Presumably First's mention of Greater Manchester means you can't legitimately do Manchester to Huddersfield (Service 184, 25 miles) or Manchester to Warrington (Service 100, 20 miles) for £1.80. But Manchester to Lowton or Diggle (both ~15 miles) is not too bad at that price.

I believe you can travel the full length of the 184 route on a £4 Firstday ticket.

 

[bussnapperwm]

Or you could use NX west midland route 11, you can do the whole 27 mile circle for £2.10
In fact if you head a little East, things get better, where a 31 mile hop on the 360 around coventry costs £1.90

Ah yeah I forgot the 360. 6p per mile!

 

[Polarbear]

Another long run using a day rover would be a First Yorkshire day ticket priced at £4.60. The ticket is valid on the entire route 184 between Manchester & Huddersfield so you could get from Manchester to Wetherby (or a few other places in & around West Yorkshire) for that price.

 

[pdsalford]

Presumably First's mention of Greater Manchester means you can't legitimately do Manchester to Huddersfield (Service 184, 25 miles) or Manchester to Warrington (Service 100, 20 miles) for £1.80. But Manchester to Lowton or Diggle (both ~15 miles) is not too bad at that price.

First confirmed to me that carnet tickets are valid in these circumstances.

 

[TUC]

Translink's Belfast-Dublin service has a fare of £8.50 is you book on-line, for a journey of 104 miles.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Straying again into day rover-type tickets, but Translink's ILink one day ticket will give you the whole of Northern ireland bus and rail for £15.50, including service 212 Londonderry-Belfast (70 miles) and service 261 Belfast-Enniskillen (82 miles).

 

[theshillito]

Again straying into the realms of day rovers, but a £10.50 Stagecoach North West day explorer will (in theory) get you from just over the Welsh border in Saltney (near Chester) to Newcastle on Tyne or Dumfries.

To be honest, it would be a push to get from one end of the network to the other in one day!

Although you'd have to start early think the Stagecoach one can be done in a day,

This sounds like something dumb that I would do, though I would be traveling from Crewe initially. None of the Traveline sites are offering me the journey (any operator, bus only), so any ideas on an itinerary to try and do it would be appreciated.

 

[Springs Branch]

This sounds like something dumb that I would do, though I would be traveling from Crewe initially. None of the Traveline sites are offering me the journey (any operator, bus only), so any ideas on an itinerary to try and do it would be appreciated.

Seeing the £10.50 Stagecoach NorthWest Explorer ticket mentioned earlier, I was intrigued by how feasible it might be to do the full trip in one day and the answer is not too difficult (if you like buses).

Here's an itinerary from Chester to Newcastle-upon-Tyne that's not too early a start, not too late a finish and long enough connections to reduce risk of missing one and for toilet stops etc.
[xx] indicates the bus route number.

08:45 Chester Bus Exchange [X8] Liverpool Whitechapel arr 09:55 *

10:06 Liverpool Queen Sq [X2-2X] Preston Bus Stn 12:06

12:30 Preston Bus Stn [40] Lancaster Bus Stn 13:47

14:20 Lancaster Bus Stn [555] Keswick Bus Stn 17:02

17:40 Keswick Bus Stn [554] Carlisle Bus Stn 18:50

19:07 Carlisle Bus Stn [685] Newcastle Eldon Sq 21.18

* If you think the Limited Stop X8 is somehow cheating, or don't fancy the +11 connection in Liverpool, you could start from Chester on Service 1 at 08:05, which has a "+18" in The' Pool.
If it's a nice day, you could set off about an hour earlier and break the 555 leg somewhere in the Lake District (Ambleside, Grasmere or some quieter spot) and pick up the next 555 an hour later.
The last leg on the 685 is an Arriva bus, but Stagecoach tickets are valid.
You arrive in Newcastle in plenty time for a celebratory pint of their Brown ale.

Coming back south, I'm not sure if it's possible. The 685 Newcastle/Carlisle is jointly operated by Stagecoach and Arriva, and you'd need to wait for the first departure from Newcastle operated by a Stagecoach bus which is at 08:45. Although you can use the NorthWest Explorer on the 685, you cannot buy the ticket on an Arriva bus.
So it may be the train home at £69.50 Anytime Single (or pay Arriva for a single to Carlisle on an earlier bus).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Again straying into the realms of day rovers, but a £10.50 Stagecoach North West day explorer will (in theory) get you from just over the Welsh border in Saltney (near Chester) to Newcastle on Tyne or Dumfries.

There are some epic treks possible by stage-carriage bus using a Stagecoach Northwest Explorer and tacking an additional trip on the end.

With a start around 6 to 6.30am and finishing around 8 to 9pm you can squeeze the value out of your ticket by doing Liverpool/Manchester to Edinburgh or Glasgow via Preston, The Lakes and Dumfries for around £20 (after adding the extra fare onwards from Dumfries).
It's Stagecoach companies all the way if you start from Liverpool.
Starting from Manchester, you now need to pay First Manchester for the ride into Bolton, since Stagecoach withdrew the historic X60 Manchester-Preston-Blackpool service.

Not for the faint-hearted, though.

 

[theshillito]

To get around the way back starting with Arriva, I suppose you could jump onto another Stagecoach bus prior to that one?

 

[Springs Branch]

To get around the way back starting with Arriva, I suppose you could jump onto another Stagecoach bus prior to that one?

The problem is that it would be a Stagecoach Newcastle bus, which would not be set up to sell a NorthWest Explorer ticket and whose driver probably never heard of it.

They need to be bought on either a Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancs or a Stagecoach North Lancs & Cumbria company bus. At the other end of the area, you can't buy them on Stagecoach Manchester or Stagecoach Wigan buses either.

So you need to wait for the first SC North Lancs & Cumbria bus of the day to arrive from Carlisle to buy this particular ticket.

I haven't worked it out in detail, but I now suspect it is possible to do the Newcastle - Liverpool direction in one day, even with the later start.

 

[richw]

Does Megabus count? I recently did Redruth to London Victoria for £1.40 (£1.00 fare less 10% student discount plus 50p booking fee!)

 

[dzug2]

Stagecoach X5 between Oxford and Cambridge must be over 80 miles and can be done for £1 as megabus. Or is that cheating?

It is a normal walk on service otherwise

 

[185143]

X95 Edinburgh to Carlisle is £7.20 and just under 100 miles.

How long does that take?

 

[bb21]

3.5 hours end to end I think.

 

[extendedpaul]

If Megabus international journeys count I reckon London to Barcelona is probably unbeatable. Just short of 1000 miles for £1 + 50p booking fee. Currently on sale for 9 December.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

the X1 Peterborugh - Lowestoft is a fair trek some four and three quarter hours , some 84 miles. A first Network ticket is £10 so a possible round trip of over 160 miles.

There is the X15 & X18 Berwick - Newcastle services (the X18 scenic service taking nearly 4 hours) with a DaySaver costing £7.50