Trivia: How far can you go on a bus for under a tenner?

[TravelDream]

Something from another thread brought this up for me. How far exactly could someone go in the UK for less than £10 if they were paying a normal cash adult fare?
To make it fair, I think the as the crow flies distance should be used from the start point to the end point. (E.g. This site: https://www.gps-coordinates.net/distance)

One I think is exceptional value in the Powys Rover ticket which costs £9. It allows unlimited travel on a number of buses in Powys* and outside of the county if your journey starts/ ends in the country. It allows someone to travel on the T4 and T12 from Cardiff to Oswestry which is 96 miles as the crow flies. A single trip would mean 9.4p per mile traveled and a day return 4.7p per mile traveled.


*Like many council rover tickets, the Powys one is utterly confusing for the ordinary user. Which buses can you use it on? Who knows based on Powys council's website. It seems you can definitely use it on the T4 and T12 though.

Buy a Rover, Family or Multi-ticket - Powys County Council

en.powys.gov.uk

https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/ZoneMaps/Wales/Ticket%20-%20Powys%20Day%20Rover%20%20-%20Ticket%20map%20From%202019-04-01.pdf

 

[Andyh82]

Transdev DayTripper is £10, so not under a tenner, but a tenner.

That would get you from Preston to Leeds, and you could then go to Harrogate and theoretically to York via Knaresborough

You need a more expensive ticket to go to York and the East Coast on either Cityzap or Coastliner

 

[roadierway77]

Stagecoach East Scotland offer a £9 dayrider for their East Scotland zone which could enable you to travel from Newton Mearns in southwest Glasgow to Aberdeen, which is about 128 miles as the crow flies - though you would have to change 2 or 3 times.

 

[Statto]

Stagecoach Lancashire Dayrider £8.20 can use from Liverpool to Burton Square on the 555.

One of the best value ones is Arriva North West & Wales £6 adult, can get you from Bolton to Holyhead in a day

 

[cnjb8]

TrentBartons ZigZag ticket for just over £6 allows you to travel anywhere on the TB network, except for Arriva X38 and Skylink Derby. ZigZag Plus allows you to travel on TB and Kinch

 

[NorthOxonian]

In theory, Berwick to Scarborough is possible on an Arriva all zones North East ticket for £8.50. Though you are forced to take the slow X12 service from Newcastle to Middlesbrough, rather than the direct express route!

Daventry to Hereford (or even into Monmouthshire) should be doable for £10 on an 853 explorer - a fairly new Stagecoach day ticket which includes their Oxfordshire and West networks.

There are also some excellent distances possible on multi-operator tickets. The Wiltshire Day Rover allows travel from Oxford to Bath or Southampton for £8.50, while for £9 (or thereabouts) you could go from Aldershot to Margate using the Discovery ticket which covers Surrey, Sussex, Kent, and "East Hampshire" (not formally defined anywhere).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arriva North East day rover (rather than Explorer North East) allows you to

X4 0559 ex Whitby to Middlesbrough 0725
X12 0750 ex Middlesbrough to Newcastle 1010
X15 1038 ex Newcastle to Berwick 1300

X15 1305 ex Berwick to Newcastle 1531
X12 1555 ex Newcastle to Middlesbrough 1830
X93 1935 ex Middlesbrough to Whitby 2033

However, you can't do the round trip to Scarborough

 

[Flange Squeal]

£9 (or thereabouts) you could go from Aldershot to Margate using the Discovery ticket which covers Surrey, Sussex, Kent, and "East Hampshire" (not formally defined anywhere).

I've always found it surprising no clear map, or even much publicity, has been made for the excellent Discovery ticket. East Hampshire District Council cover the area around Alton and down to Ropley so should be a good guide, and I've used a Discovery ticket without issue to/from Winchester before, so a theoretical "as the crow flies" distance of 119 miles for £9 adult / £17.50 family valid on majority of operators is pretty good! If it's even possible in a day though, the actual mileage would obviously be a damn sight higher too.

 

[NorthOxonian]

I've always found it surprising no clear map, or even much publicity, has been made for the excellent Discovery ticket. East Hampshire District Council cover the area around Alton and down to Ropley so should be a good guide, and I've used a Discovery ticket without issue to/from Winchester before, so a theoretical "as the crow flies" distance of 119 miles for £9 adult / £17.50 family valid on majority of operators is pretty good! If it's even possible in a day though, the actual mileage would obviously be a damn sight higher too.

I believe it may be based on operator - for example Stagecoach's services in Portsmouth are probably included but First's definitely are not (they don't even appear in the list of operators).

The furthest I ever managed in a day using it was 167.1 miles (I measured it as I went). I went in a horseshoe shape from Kingston through Surrey, Sussex, and then Kent, ending up at Bluewater. I am pretty confident much longer distances are possible though - I wasn't going for huge mileage.

 

[Planesandtrain]

Stagecoach South accept Discovery on all of their services so if you really wanted to you could get to Salisbury on it. I once did Kingston to Dover via Dorking, Crawley, Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, Ashford and Canterbury. Roughly 153 miles.

 

[TravelDream]

That would get you from Preston to Leeds, and you could then go to Harrogate and theoretically to York via Knaresborough

Preston to York isn't that far. A quick check shows it's just 60 miles.

Stagecoach East Scotland offer a £9 dayrider for their East Scotland zone which could enable you to travel from Newton Mearns in southwest Glasgow to Aberdeen, which is about 128 miles as the crow flies - though you would have to change 2 or 3 times.

A real contender! Exceptional value for the long distance traveler.

Stagecoach Lancashire Dayrider £8.20 can use from Liverpool to Burton Square on the 555.

One of the best value ones is Arriva North West & Wales £6 adult, can get you from Bolton to Holyhead in a day

Bolton to Holyhead is 93 miles. Quite far and obviously the road mileage is a lot more.

 

[_toommm_]

Holyhead to Crewe is 108 miles by road with the Arriva North West and Wales ticket. Even further if you go via Llandudno.

 

[Ianno87]

Stageoach East's Cambridgeshrie Dayrider Plus can be used from Saffron Walden (Essex)/Royston (Herts) or Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) up to Spalding (Lincs). £7 off memory.

 

[Statto]

Preston to York isn't that far. A quick check shows it's just 60 miles.


A real contender! Exceptional value for the long distance traveler.


Bolton to Holyhead is 93 miles. Quite far and obviously the road mileage is a lot more.

You can also do Chorley-Holyhead on the Arriva North West & Wales day ticket
362 Chorley-Wigan
360 Wigan-Warrington
Wigan-Warrington could be done changing in St Helens too, 320/352 Wigan-St Helens, 329 St Helens-Warrington.
X30 Warrington-Chester
Chester to Rhyl you have a choice of either 11/11M Chester-Rhyl, or 1 Chester Wrexham & X51/51/51B Wrexham-Rhyl
12 Rhyl-Llandudn0
5/X5 Llandudno-Bangor
4 Bangor-Holyhead

Not sure if you can do this as a return trip with some long journey times [practically on the North Wales coast routes], & that the last X30 is 18.50 Chester-Runcorn & no evening 360, return trip most likely have to do from Rhyl or Llandudno.

 

[neilmc]

I passed an 843 Coastliner bus on the A64 last week which proclaimed on the destination board that any journey after 19:00 cost just £1 in a summer offer. This would presumably mean that you could catch the last Scarborough to Leeds bus for just £1, surely the cheapest journey at less than 2p per mile (unless you have free travel or an ENCTS pass!) .

 

[Typhoon]

I believe it may be based on operator - for example Stagecoach's services in Portsmouth are probably included but First's definitely are not (they don't even appear in the list of operators).

The furthest I ever managed in a day using it was 167.1 miles (I measured it as I went). I went in a horseshoe shape from Kingston through Surrey, Sussex, and then Kent, ending up at Bluewater. I am pretty confident much longer distances are possible though - I wasn't going for huge mileage.

I think you are right about it being operator based, which makes sense as it should prevent any confusion over availability (although I once had to argue that when catching a Stagecoach Eastbourne vehicle!)

List of operators (and excluded journeys) at:- South Downs Discovery Ticket - South Downs National Park Authority

Edit: the list of operators is rather out of date unfortunately - a couple of smaller operators no longer operate!

There is a rather unhelpful

Other exclusions may apply. Check with operator.

under the list!!

I passed an 843 Coastliner bus on the A64 last week which proclaimed on the destination board that any journey after 19:00 cost just £1 in a summer offer. This would presumably mean that you could catch the last Scarborough to Leeds bus for just £1, surely the cheapest journey at less than 2p per mile (unless you have free travel or an ENCTS pass!) .

Even though I have a pass, I'd have been tempted to pay just to have the ticket.

 

[NorthOxonian]

I passed an 843 Coastliner bus on the A64 last week which proclaimed on the destination board that any journey after 19:00 cost just £1 in a summer offer. This would presumably mean that you could catch the last Scarborough to Leeds bus for just £1, surely the cheapest journey at less than 2p per mile (unless you have free travel or an ENCTS pass!) .

Could that be combined with an Arriva North East day ticket (roughly as described in post #7)?

You could take the X15 leaving Berwick at 11:05, which gets you into Newcastle at 13:31. You can then continue to Middlesbrough on the X12 leaving at 13:50, which arrives at 16:14. The X93 leaves Middlesbrough at 16:25, which gets you to Scarborough at 18:43, and finally you can take the 19:25 843 to Leeds, arriving at 22:03. Sadly you only have 50p left, and even if you had more I imagine Ripon, Harrogate, or Keighley are all actually closer to Berwick than Leeds is.

This same offer could be used on the North West and Wales ticket, except there you have £4 to spare so can use four Transdev services. Provided you got to Chorley before 7, I think you can reach Barnoldswick (at 23:23), changing at Blackburn, Accrington, and Burnley.

 

[TravelDream]

You can also do Chorley-Holyhead on the Arriva North West & Wales day ticket

Despite being longer by road, Chorley - Holyhead is actually shorter as the crow flies. It's just 86 miles.

List of operators (and excluded journeys) at:- South Downs Discovery Ticket - South Downs National Park Authority

Edit: the list of operators is rather out of date unfortunately - a couple of smaller operators no longer operate!

There is a rather unhelpful
under the list!!

What is it with local authority sponsered tickets and lack a clarity?! At least the National Park there suggests a list of operators (even if out of date). Powys Council's doesn't even bother with that! It just says to contact operators to ask. They must have some idea who accepts the ticket and where.

 

[lancededcena]

First Essex FirstDay tickets can go as far as Harwich and Clacton on the north, Southend and Basildon to the south, Brentwood and Grays on the fringes of London and west towards Ongar and Stansted Airport (excluding airport services)

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Recently travelled with a Discovery ticket from Canterbury to Caterham via Sittingbourne, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Westerham, Oxted and Redhill but of course you can go much further with that ticket.

 

[175mph]

I'm surprised that nobody here has mentioned the Stagecoach East Midlands 'Day Out' ticket. I can't remember the exact price off the top of my head, but last time I purchased one earlier this year it was £9.30 and covers Stagecoach services from Nottinghamshire such as Mansfield and the south of Lincolnshire all the way up to Hull.

 

[TravelDream]

I'm surprised that nobody here has mentioned the Stagecoach East Midlands 'Day Out' ticket. I can't remember the exact price off the top of my head, but last time I purchased one earlier this year it was £9.30 and covers Stagecoach services from Nottinghamshire such as Mansfield and the south of Lincolnshire all the way up to Hull.

No doubt it covers many services, but Mansfield to Hull is just a mere hop and skip at 54 miles.

 

[ChrisC]

I'm surprised that nobody here has mentioned the Stagecoach East Midlands 'Day Out' ticket. I can't remember the exact price off the top of my head, but last time I purchased one earlier this year it was £9.30 and covers Stagecoach services from Nottinghamshire such as Mansfield and the south of Lincolnshire all the way up to Hull.

The Stagecoach Dayrider Gold, which also covers services,from Nottinghamshire is even better value at only £7.20. With this you could travel from Nottingham to Leeds.

 

[route101]

Stagecoach East Scotland offer a £9 dayrider for their East Scotland zone which could enable you to travel from Newton Mearns in southwest Glasgow to Aberdeen, which is about 128 miles as the crow flies - though you would have to change 2 or 3 times.

One ticket that has decreased in price. Great value. I've used it from Glasgow to Dundee and back.

 

[sk688]

Salisbury to Burnham-on-sea for less than £5 is a pretty decent distance, using a West of England day ticket.

Salisbury to Chepstow is also doable for under £10, if you change for the x7 at Bristol.

 

[riceuten]

Arrive Herts and Essex Explorer - £7.80 - Clacton to Oxford - probably 130 miles.

 

[Cesarcollie]

Arrive Herts and Essex Explorer - £7.80 - Clacton to Oxford - probably 130 miles.

Do Arriva run to Clacton?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Do Arriva run to Clacton?

Chelmsford?

 

[swifty]

Salisbury to Burnham-on-sea for less than £5 is a pretty decent distance, using a West of England day ticket.

Salisbury to Chepstow is also doable for under £10, if you change for the x7 at Bristol.

It’s £6.60 on the app for the West of England adult ticket? (The Plus ticket which includes the Buses of Somerset services is £11)

The old First Day South West at £7.50 was pretty good value to get from the Bristol area down to Exeter. It was valid to Lands End but can’t recall of that was actually possible in a day!

 

[Flying Snail]

Translink Sunday bus rover is £9.50 (it was also available Mon-Sat during school holidays but there is no mention of that at present) Pick your locations, NI isn't that large for a direct point to point journey, around 100 miles as the crow flies would be the longest journey possible but you could easily spend a whole day traveling across the province without doubling back on yourself.