[Trivia] Cheapest and Most Expensive UK Bus/Coach Tickets (single journeys only)

[tbtc]

I don't think we've had this before (?)... what are the cheapest and most expensive single bus/coach tickets it is possible to buy in the UK?

To avoid argument, I'm not talking about "free" tickets/services (there must be *some* charge for the fare), I'm not talking about private hire, I'm just wanting examples of services open to the public where a single fare can be purchased by an ordinary member of the public (or at a booking office in the case of long distance coach services) - no rovers/ rangers/ day tickets/ returns/ season tickets - just a single journey from "A" to "B".

For the most expensive, we can have the most expensive ticket that involves no change of vehicle and/or the most expensive "through" ticket for a single journey (assuming it can be booked as a "through" ticket in one transaction with one ticket - e.g. if National Express will sell you a through ticket on a route where they don't provide a through service but one ticket will get you from (e.g) Cornwall to Aberdeenshire.

Let's restrict it to bus/coach services where the passengers stay with the bus/coach - ferries are permitted where the bus/coach actually boards the ferry with you (but not when a ferry is part of the journey but the bus/coach doesn't board the ferry). For that reason, no trains involved (e.g. MegaBusPlus).

Also, no "tours" (Wallace Arnold and the like) - I want this to be about regular bus/coach services where you can buy a ticket from "A" to "B" (not round trips or services that include entry to a stately home with cream tea as part of the ticket price).

(and, without trying to sound like a killjoy, serious examples only, e.g. I wouldn't accept someone trying to pay for a £1.70 fare on a Lothian Buses service with only a £50 note, even though the driver cannot give change!)

 

[GusB]

Portree - Penzance on NationalExpress.com comes up at £138.30 for a fully flexible single ticket (Citylink on 1st leg)

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

£1.50 for X26 between Croydon and Heathrow has to be one of the cheapest, plus a shorter journey (less than an hour) before boarding the X26 would also be included by virtue of the Oyster Hopper Fare

 

[cav1975]

The 783 feeder service to Rainham (Kent) station charges £1. It is contracted to ASD coaches by Medway Council.

 

[APT618S]

The Parkgate Shopping Service in Rotherham run by Powells charges 60p for a single between Forge Island Bus Stn. and Parkgate.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Megabus would very likely be the main source for the cheapest coach journeys, with their, albeit much more limited availability these days, £1 fares for select journeys.

I haven't spotted any £1 fares thus far, but I've found a fare for London to Manchester for £4.50.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Megabus would very likely be the main source for the cheapest coach journeys, with their, albeit much more limited availability these days, £1 fares for select journeys.

I haven't spotted any £1 fares thus far, but I've found a fare for London to Manchester for £4.50.

If i'm not mistaken though you could never in reality get a £1 fare as you had to pay an additional 50p booking fee, raising the price to £1.50.

 

[Silver Cobra]

If i'm not mistaken though you could never in reality get a £1 fare as you had to pay an additional 50p booking fee, raising the price to £1.50.

Very true. Both National Express and Megabus have booking fees when purchasing online, so that has to be factored in as well.

Did another quick search on Megabus for any cheaper fares, and found London to Birmingham for £3 (£3.50 with booking fee). It'll be interesting to see if there's any even cheaper fares than that.

 

[PeterC]

In Bucks a local journey within Chesham on council contracted services can be as little as £1.10.

 

[Flying Snail]

Portree - Penzance on NationalExpress.com comes up at £138.30 for a fully flexible single ticket (Citylink on 1st leg)

Citylink charge some very high fares on their routes with no rail competition, the cheapest available fare from Uig to Glasgow is £45.60

 

[AlastairFraser]

In Bucks a local journey within Chesham on council contracted services can be as little as £1.10.

Quite a difference to Bracknell Forest- on a Courtney Coaches service it cost me over £2.00 to go a mile from Easthampstead to Bracknell station.

 

[6Gman]

Does Warrington still have the town centre circular that charges something like 20p ?

 

[darloscott]

All of my college services in the North East are 50p single and technically open to all, but of course we don’t advertise it!

 

[Statto]

Does Warrington still have the town centre circular that charges something like 20p ?

Don't think it runs anymore, route looks like it's been partly replaced by the Cheshire Cat

 

[extendedpaul]

Megabus would very likely be the main source for the cheapest coach journeys, with their, albeit much more limited availability these days, £1 fares for select journeys.

I haven't spotted any £1 fares thus far, but I've found a fare for London to Manchester for £4.50.

Megabus confirmed on twitter a while ago that £1 fares have been withdrawn.

Someone complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that Megabus advertising was misleading as there was usually only one seat per journey available @ £1 and on some services none at all. The ASA agreed and this led to their withdrawal at the end of 2018. Obviously they were only ever a marketing tool but very useful once you knew how to get them (especially on Megatrain!). I think the cheapest fare now is £3 including Bristol-Cardiff and Birmingham-London.

Also the booking fee on Megabus has increased from 50p to £1, although unlike on National Express multiple journeys can be booked with one booking fee. In the £1 tickets days I regularly booked 10 return Megabus Journeys for £20.50.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I once purchased a single journey on the Megabus from Cardiff to Birmingham for 50p (plus the booking fee of course) about four years ago. I wasn't sure on my travel arrangements so I booked it anyway even though I didn't end up using it in the end. But for £1, you can't go wrong even if you don't use it. I've probably got the email confirmation somewhere.

By contrast, the most expensive bus fare I've ever paid was actually with First Bristol before they introduced the inner and outer zone stages and student rates. It was £3.30 for an adult single from Great Stoke Way into the city centre on the 73, which I thought was astronomical. My heart was on fire on that journey. I certainly made the most of the free WiFi! I questioned the driver on whether that was a day ticket and he just casually replied with no mate that's a single. Only a few weeks later First introduced the student day ticket which was £2.80 at the time (I believe it's now gone up to £3.20 or so).

 

[extendedpaul]

I could have topped that but chickened out and never completed the booking... In my Megabus basket I had two return journeys London to Barcelona, four £1 tickets plus a 50p booking fee, total £4.50. I'm fairly sure I posted about it here at the time.

Discussed it with my OH and we felt that the 24+ hours travel in each direction was too much. Let the booking time run out. Still haven't visited Barcelona.

I once purchased a single journey on the Megabus from Cardiff to Birmingham for 50p (plus the booking fee of course) about four years ago. I wasn't sure on my travel arrangements so I booked it anyway even though I didn't end up using it in the end. But for £1, you can't go wrong even if you don't use it. I've probably got the email confirmation somewhere.]

 

[route101]

Very true. Both National Express and Megabus have booking fees when purchasing online, so that has to be factored in as well.

Did another quick search on Megabus for any cheaper fares, and found London to Birmingham for £3 (£3.50 with booking fee). It'll be interesting to see if there's any even cheaper fares than that.

Citylink charge some very high fares on their routes with no rail competition, the cheapest available fare from Uig to Glasgow is £45.60

Yeah , seems to no advances on that route , wouldnt you just buy a explorer ticket at £49?

Glasgow to Aberdeen fares are dear too

 

[MedwayValiant]

Services to Skye don't run full in winter, but I suppose that might be the point. No one goes to Skye in January just for the fun of it, only because they need to - so Citylink may as well charge "British Airways fares" rather than "Easyjet fares". The people who have no choice but to be on that bus will take it whether it's 50p or £50.

Or maybe there are just not as many advance fares on Citylink as there used to be. I just looked at Inverness to Ullapool, and there are only full fare tickets available for two weeks hence. When I actually did that journey five years ago, I got Inverness to Ullapool for £2.

The OP's original question made it plain that he was allowing long journeys on bookable services, even if the journey requires multiple changes, but suppose we restrict ourselves to single journey cash fares on non-bookable services. Is there anything higher than the £21 cash fare from Inverness to Thurso on the X98/X99?

 

[GusB]

The OP's original question made it plain that he was allowing long journeys on bookable services, even if the journey requires multiple changes, but suppose we restrict ourselves to single journey cash fares on non-bookable services. Is there anything higher than the £21 cash fare from Inverness to Thurso on the X98/X99?

The Inverness - Aberdeen single fare is dearer at £24.65, but the Stagecoach website highlights the Explorer ticket as being cheaper. I would hope drivers would also highlight the cheaper fare to those who buy on board and haven't the foresight to check for the cheapest tickets!

 

[MedwayValiant]

That fare of £24.65 is for two adults travelling together. The single fare for one person is £13.45, and it is in fact the single fare from Aberdeen to anywhere west of Keith or Macduff.

Megabus also sells tickets for the 10, although I think only for complete journeys between Aberdeen and Inverness (ie not from eg Aberdeen to Elgin). So the service isn't completely non-bookable.

 

[GusB]

That fare of £24.65 is for two adults travelling together. The single fare for one person is £13.45, and it is in fact the single fare from Aberdeen to anywhere west of Keith or Macduff.

Megabus also sells tickets for the 10, although I think only for complete journeys between Aberdeen and Inverness (ie not from eg Aberdeen to Elgin). So the service isn't completely non-bookable.

That's what came up for one adult when I searched

Edited - my apologies, somehow that ended up being routed on the 35! It is indeed £13.45 direct.

 

[route101]

Services to Skye don't run full in winter, but I suppose that might be the point. No one goes to Skye in January just for the fun of it, only because they need to - so Citylink may as well charge "British Airways fares" rather than "Easyjet fares". The people who have no choice but to be on that bus will take it whether it's 50p or £50.

Or maybe there are just not as many advance fares on Citylink as there used to be. I just looked at Inverness to Ullapool, and there are only full fare tickets available for two weeks hence. When I actually did that journey five years ago, I got Inverness to Ullapool for £2.

The OP's original question made it plain that he was allowing long journeys on bookable services, even if the journey requires multiple changes, but suppose we restrict ourselves to single journey cash fares on non-bookable services. Is there anything higher than the £21 cash fare from Inverness to Thurso on the X98/X99?

Same on Glasgow to Aberdeen , just see Full fares quite often.

 

[Mwanesh]

Megabus confirmed on twitter a while ago that £1 fares have been withdrawn.

Someone complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that Megabus advertising was misleading as there was usually only one seat per journey available @ £1 and on some services none at all. The ASA agreed and this led to their withdrawal at the end of 2018. Obviously they were only ever a marketing tool but very useful once you knew how to get them (especially on Megatrain!). I think the cheapest fare now is £3 including Bristol-Cardiff and Birmingham-London.

Also the booking fee on Megabus has increased from 50p to £1, although unlike on National Express multiple journeys can be booked with one booking fee. In the £1 tickets days I regularly booked 10 return Megabus Journeys for £20.50.

The £1 fare is still there but they dont advertise it .I followed the complaint from start.The guy could not find the Pound fares when he wanted to travel.

 

[swt class 450]

Bus Vannin (who operate the Isle Of Man bus network) have quite a few Adult Single fares for just 60p (mainly for short journeys of just three stops).

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Not the highest of fares but a very poor value fare -

£7 return Long Melford to Sudbury if you travel by Beestons, a 10 minute journey.

There are other cheaper alternatives between these two points however, just found someone on Twitter asking for the fare once.

 

[Slower Travel]

Not the highest of fares but a very poor value fare -

£7 return Long Melford to Sudbury if you travel by Beestons, a 10 minute journey.

There are other cheaper alternatives between these two points however, just found someone on Twitter asking for the fare once.

I suppose this takes us into the realm of the Most (In)Expensive Ticket Per Mile...£7 for 10 mins is a stinker.

 

[Deerfold]

If i'm not mistaken though you could never in reality get a £1 fare as you had to pay an additional 50p booking fee, raising the price to £1.50.

They seem to have given them up, but their New Year seat sales used to provide some very cheap fares - £0 (plus booking fee). A couple of years ago I booked two return trips Leeds to London for just the 50p booking fee.

 

[route101]

Glasgow Airport bus is pretty expensive £8 for 15 -20 mins

 

[extendedpaul]

The £1 fare is still there but they dont advertise it .I followed the complaint from start.The guy could not find the Pound fares when he wanted to travel

Please post an example when you next spot one. I've searched Megabus regularly on various routes for £1 fares with no success so far in 2019. Best I've found has been £2 from Manchester to Liverpool.