TRIVIA - Longest distance with ONE bus ticket

[atraindriver]

<deleted>

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Newcastle to Lancaster (via Keswick and a trundle round Honister) on a Stagecoach North West Explorer?

(I didn't come back).

Very scenic!

A good few years ago (c.1994?) I used the southern Explorer that was quoted before though not as extensive as Bournemouth to Dover. If you bought it from Wilts and Dorset, it was also valid on Southern National so....Salisbury - Shaftesbury - Gillingham - Wincanton - Yeovil - Sherborne - Dorchester - Puddletown - Poole - Bournemouth - Salisbury which was quite attractive.

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Can't believe no one beat me to the ENTS ticket, Lands End to the Scottish border.

Concessionary passes don't count, this discussion is about tickets that anyone can have

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Here's a variation on a theme..... These are all theoretical (?) so what is the longest journey that people have actually done with one ticket?

Myself, my parents and my sister all went to Bramley (Leeds) to visit relatives from where we live in Oldham (184, X63, X11) with the £8.20 (now £9 I think) First WY day which is a HUGE bargain for a group of up to five people (any age too, not restricted to 2 adults 3 children) and even better on a weekend when we visited some family friends in Halifax (184, 503) when the price was down to £5 (yes, for the WHOLE group - now it's £6) - much more convenient than the train (fewer changes, don't have to buy multiple tickets, 10x cheaper) considering we got there quicker than we would have if we took the train from Rochdale! I even used the ticket (£5 for one adult) one time to go all the way to Leeds cos I wanted to (184, X63, X6) and to add some extra mileage, I rode the new X26 to Cross Gates!

Another time I had a daytrip to Scotland cos I just had to try the Stagecoach dayriders up there when I found out there was a whole intercity network operated by modern coaches all valid with them! Bought a Fife dayrider plus (£7.90 student discount) and went X55 Edinburgh to Dunfermline (brand new Panther LEs were one of the best things I've ridden), explored the very picturesque town centre, X26 to Dundee to check out that city (loved the architecture there), X54 back to Edinburgh; the Plaxton Elites are such lovely coaches to ride, seats are super comfortable (even more so than the train) and the route was fairly scenic; even had some breathtaking views crossing the Forth and Tay, that was fun! If I had more time, I'd have bought the East Scotland dayrider and hopped on an X7 to Aberdeen, but getting to Scotland from Manchester and having to return on the same day puts some serious time constraints; was lucky I managed to have some time to explore each city I visited up there!

Pretty sure Citylink will sell almost anything on-bus once you’re away from the main bus stations, so something like Great Western Road or Dumbarton to Uig return should be possible on-bus.

EDIT - just measured it, 444 miles return. Doable in a day, leaving Gartnavel Hospital at 07:01, getting back at 21:59, you get from 13:35 to 14:45 to watch the boats. £63.80 for a day return

What I had in mind when I started this thread are bus day tickets that are under £20 (many under £10) which cover massive regions, but I guess that works; I imagine that must be very scenic though considering it's the highlands! You can also buy tickets onboard National Express coaches if there are seats available but there's no point cos return tickets are usually more expensive than the train off-peak (e.g. Manchester to Leeds is £17 return on the train, but £21 return on NatEx from the driver)

Me and my wife did a version of the Arriva North West & Wales one last year. Rather than start in Chorley, though, we started down the road from our house in Manchester.

From there it was on to Macclesfield, then Crewe, then onto Chester. Come to think of it, we only went as far as Bangor in the end, but still...!

Honourable mention, too, to the Red Rover ticket we got the next day (£5.50 for that as well, I think). That took us on a lap of Anglesey in the morning before getting us to Aberystwyth in the afternoon.

It's great to see that people actually make these epic bus voyages with the tickets making full use of its value! Isn't it strange how people who have to make a round trip just a few miles to the next town (e.g. Conwy to Llandudno, Wigan to Skelmersdale, Wilmslow to Macclesfield, etc.) have to use the same ticket (£5.50) as someone going from Manchester to Bangor on the buses? Although that's probably how these bus companies still turn a profit despite the crazy bargains that these tickets can offer!

 

[_toommm_]

I did Holyhead to Helsby yesterday - £5.50 on the bus and 8 or 9 hours is a good way to spend the day. Very pretty too

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Before 1989 a Saturday:
Train Nottingham to Matlock. Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket for one adult (as a child I travelled free) in use from Long Eaton. Late running East Midland 17 Matlock to outskirts of Chesterfield for a suddenly tight connection onto East Midland 66? Chesterfield to Buxton. Bowers Bus: 442 Buxton via Sheen to Hartington. Clowes Bus: Hartington via Ecton & Swainsley(only time these hamlets have ever had a bus service to my knowledge) to Leek. Beresfords/Shearings? Bus: 201 Leek to Derby. Derby City bus: to Station and back by train to Nottingham.
Derbyshire Wayfarer mileage was 33 miles by train & c88 miles by bus. Cost in October 1986 for that ticket was £2.50 - so around that. I had free rail travel and the elderly person I was travelling with got a half train return Nottingham to Long Eaton.

 

[Typhoon]

I did Dover to Bournemouth back in early 2012 on the old Explorer ticket for just £4.80 total. .. This ticket has since been replaced by the Discovery and has far less validity these days. So this journey is no longer possible as First Hampshire and Go Ahead South Coast no longer issue and accept the Discovery ticket (also a lot of the late evening buses have been withdrawn so i don't think it would still be possible anyway). So that is the furthest i have personally done on one ticket.

I have tried to replicate this on paper. You are quite right, once you hit First Hampshire territory, you hit a problem. I have managed to work out a journey that gets as far as Winchester (at 19:30) then the demise of evening journeys kicks in. I might have been able to progress a few miles further but I am unfamiliar with Winchester locals. Some of the connections were very tight (eg 3 minutes) so, in real life, you will probably be someway short of this if you were brave enough to undertake the journey in real life. The break up of some routes (700, 100/1/2 for example) has not helped.

The Explorer ticket was issued and accepted by over 50 bus operators across the South East but interestingly they were all allowed to charge whatever they wanted.

I once heard a passenger ask an Arriva driver what the fare was (from Tenterden) to Maidstone; it would have been cheaper to get an Explorer on a Stagecoach bus, travel one stop then use the Explorer on the Arriva service to Maidstone.

 

[swt class 450]

Yes unfortunately there have been so many bus cuts all across the country. So many of the evening services seem to have been withdrawn. Also as you say the 700 has been broken up in to three routes instead of one through service and the 100/101/102 has been broken up in to two routes instead of one through service so that definitely makes it a lot slower.

It is still easy to get from Dover to Southampton on the same day and the connections are not too tight as long as you leave very early but that is about as far as you can get. Also you would need to pay for a ticket between Portsmouth and Southampton as the Discovery ticket is no longer valid. You can longer get any further such as to Lymington or Bournemouth any more.

It is also still possible to travel from Dover to Salisbury on the same day and entirely on the Discovery ticket but there are lots of very tight three minute connections. So basically you would rely on a lot of luck to be successful. The problem is that the Stagecoach journeys on the ACTIV8 finish very early while all the late evening journeys on the ACTIV8 are operated by Go Ahead Salisbury Reds who don't accept the Discovery ticket.

On another note i see that Xelabus have unfortunately recently stopped issuing and accepting the Discovery ticket. They always used to until recently. When i contacted them they said it was because they lost money from it as they don't receive any payment when someone uses a Discover ticket that was bought on another operator on their buses. So that means a bit less validity in the Hampshire area unfortunately.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Seeing the mentions of the East Dayrider Gold further upthread, looking at the area of validity map for the ticket, the longest journey that can be done with this ticket is from Kings Lynn to Swindon, using the following services:

505 Kings Lynn to Spalding
37 Spalding to Peterborough
B Peterborough to Cambridge
X5 Cambridge to Oxford
S6 Oxford to Swindon

Departing Kings Lynn at 0640 and arriving into Swindon at 1902

Or alternatively:

505 Kings Lynn to Spalding
37 Spalding to Peterborough
X4 Peterborough to Northampton
X6/X7 Northampton to Milton Keynes
X5 Milton Keynes to Oxford
S6 Oxford to Swindon

Departing Kings Lynn at 0640 and arriving into Swindon at 1802

 

[atraindriver]

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[185143]

I once did Warrington-Glan Conwy-Chester on an Arriva M ticket which was on offer for 90p!

Also done Warrington-Chester-Prestatyn, got the train to Llandudno, bus Junction-Conwy-Junction, train back to Prestatyn then bus Prestatyn-Chester-Scouseland-Warrington. My arse did NOT thank me for that!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

If you head up that way again, you could also have a look at the OneTicket, which in its "Travelarea 5" variant covers everywhere from Berwick-on-Tweed to Perth/Dundee, all operators.
The bus-only "Travelarea 5" day ticket is currently £15.80 on their app, which isn't bad at all for a multi-operator ticket covering the area it does.

Caveat: I've never actually used one as each time I've intended to head that way and try it out, something else has distracted me!

I've also heard that ticket is even valid on Citylink between Edinburgh and Stirling/Perth, is that correct?

 

[atraindriver]

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[317 forever]

With a North East Explorer you can travel from Scarborough to Carlisle, neither of which are in the North East (really Yorkshire and Cumbria, North West respectively).

 

[Ayman Ilham]

With a North East Explorer you can travel from Scarborough to Carlisle, neither of which are in the North East (really Yorkshire and Cumbria, North West respectively).

I've heard of that £10.50 Network One Explorer, definitely wanna try it sometime to really explore the North East! Basically, you get an Arriva X93 to Middlesbrough, GNE X9 X10 to Newcastle and then Stagecoach 685 to Carlisle! However, I think it might be a longer distance going to Berwick-upon-Tweed instead, which can be achieved with an Arriva North East day ticket which is about £2 cheaper! Great value either way, don't think there's a cheaper way to get from Scarborough to Carlisle, and all on good buses too!

 

[atraindriver]

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[TheGrandWazoo]

If you want to explore rather than amass miles, then go for quality rather than distance.

So, for example, if you base out of Newcastle, head over to Consett and pick up the lunchtime GNE 689 across to Hexham, then hop the ANE/SNWC 685 to Haltwhistle for the afternoon "rail replacement" GNE 681 to Alston (for which you're likely to be the only passenger for most of the trip). Stay on at Alston as it becomes the GNE X81 back across to Hexham, then make your way back to Newcastle (685/GNE 10).
The 689/681/X81 are only Solos, but they're proper country bus routes (on which you'll see the Solo being taxed by the roads) and on the 681 particularly you might be able to get the driver to stop for you to take photos as it's a photogenic bit of the world - it's a very tightly timed run, though, and the driver's coming to the end of a long shift, so don't overdo it!

If you (or anyone else) feels like doing it, don't leave it too long. I did it a couple of years ago and the driver (Hexham's leading driver) spoke of his concern that now Cumbria no longer subsidise buses, Northumbria were unlikely to be willing to pay the full cost of the 681 contract once it came up for renewal. So, do it sooner rather than later!

View attachment 58693
One of the former Alston branch viaducts, seen from the 681 in April 2017. A lot of the railway alignment is visible from the bus.

I do agree with you. I know it's all personal and not decrying anyone, but bashing as many buses in a day (with journeys for a matter of minutes) or trying to amass miles doesn't appeal to me. There are some fantastic places to explore in the North East. The Northumberland Coast, across Co Durham, and even some of the Teesside routes are quite interesting.

I've not done the 681/X81 and confess that sounds absolutely superb. A few years ago, me and a mate had a great day in the area, heading across and having a run up to Bellingham and to Allenheads (both there and back journeys) to enjoy the scenery and then getting the 74 long route via Ponteland back to Newcastle from Hexham. The scenery is stunning. I've done the Hexham to Consett a few times too - really great route.

Shame that Weardale dropped out of the scheme a few years ago and that Arriva NE pulled back from Upper Teesdale, Richmondshire and Hambleton in the main but then again, Stagecoach's operations never used to be covered.

 

[gnolife]

Here's a variation on a theme..... These are all theoretical (?) so what is the longest journey that people have actually done with one ticket?

I've done Parrs Wood to Bangor, changing at Macclesfield, Crewe, Chester, Prestatyn, and Llandudno Junction. I don't know if your inclined to count it, but I then carried on for free on the T2 to Machynlleth.

I've also done as a round trip Manchester - Leeds - York - Harrogate (via Ripon) - Keighley - Burnley - Accrington - Manchester.

 

[Dai Corner]

How many laps of Birmingham could you do on the 11 using one ticket?

 

[carlberry]

I've done Parrs Wood to Bangor, changing at Macclesfield, Crewe, Chester, Prestatyn, and Llandudno Junction. I don't know if your inclined to count it, but I then carried on for free on the T2 to Machynlleth.

I've also done as a round trip Manchester - Leeds - York - Harrogate (via Ripon) - Keighley - Burnley - Accrington - Manchester.

I'm not sure it's within the spirit of the original question however (as qnolife has pointed out) the whole of the Traws Cymru network is free at weekends. You do 'purchase' separate tickets however, you just don't have to pay for them.

 

[extendedpaul]

Back in the day when Travelodge sold some rooms in their regular sales for £9 I had some excellent day trips by bus with cheap overnight accommodation but the priority for me both then and now was to follow an itinerary which avoided tight connections and also gave me the opportunity to explore some of the places I visited. Sometimes I made one direction journeys between Travelodges ( Leeds to Newcastle via the coast was a good one followed by Newcastle to Edinburgh the next day, two overnight £9 Travelodge rooms, and then home by train), other times I followed a circular route.

While several of the suggestions on this thread are appealing and potentially inexpensive there are drawbacks starting somewhere like King's Lynn and ending up in Swindon mid evening, or travelling by bus from Dover to Salisbury. The cost of a train journey back to starting point, even if possible, is a significant cost and an overnight hotel even more so.

Any more suggestions for CIRCULAR bus journeys say with 100 miles or more travel like gnolife's Manchester round trip via Leeds, Harrogate and Burnley ?

 

[gnolife]

Back in the day when Travelodge sold some rooms in their regular sales for £9 I had some excellent day trips by bus with cheap overnight accommodation but the priority for me both then and now was to follow an itinerary which avoided tight connections and also gave me the opportunity to explore some of the places I visited. Sometimes I made one direction journeys between Travelodges ( Leeds to Newcastle via the coast was a good one followed by Newcastle to Edinburgh the next day, two overnight £9 Travelodge rooms, and then home by train), other times I followed a circular route.

While several of the suggestions on this thread are appealing and potentially inexpensive there are drawbacks starting somewhere like King's Lynn and ending up in Swindon mid evening, or travelling by bus from Dover to Salisbury. The cost of a train journey back to starting point, even if possible, is a significant cost and an overnight hotel even more so.

Any more suggestions for CIRCULAR bus journeys say with 100 miles or more travel like gnolife's Manchester round trip via Leeds, Harrogate and Burnley ?

I've got plans for a trip Glasgow Buchanan - Ayr - Stranraer - Dumfries - Glasgow, and a rough figure 8 going Glasgow - Dunfermline - Edinburgh - Perth - Dundee - Glasgow

 

[Slower Travel]

Any more suggestions for CIRCULAR bus journeys say with 100 miles or more travel like gnolife's Manchester round trip via Leeds, Harrogate and Burnley ?

How's about this one using a Wayfarer ticket (about £13 from memory, but also valid on trains across much of the North West and Peak District):

192: Manchester to Stockport
Skyline 199: Stockport to Buxton
TP: Buxton to Matlock
110: Matlock to Ashbourne (about 90 minutes here for a wander)
108: Ashbourne to Leek
109: Leek to Macclesfield (tight 7 minute connection, but I suspect it's the same bus)
392: Macclesfield to Stockport (a much nicer route than the 130 to Parrs Wood which leaves at the same time)

There are a few options back to Manchester from Stockport, but as it'll be 7pm, I'd recommend a visit to The Magnet

Not sure of the total mileage, but as it's about 45 miles to Matlock from Manchester, I reckon it must be well over 100.

 

[atraindriver]

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[Ayman Ilham]

I do agree with you. I know it's all personal and not decrying anyone, but bashing as many buses in a day (with journeys for a matter of minutes) or trying to amass miles doesn't appeal to me. There are some fantastic places to explore in the North East. The Northumberland Coast, across Co Durham, and even some of the Teesside routes are quite interesting.

I've not done the 681/X81 and confess that sounds absolutely superb. A few years ago, me and a mate had a great day in the area, heading across and having a run up to Bellingham and to Allenheads (both there and back journeys) to enjoy the scenery and then getting the 74 long route via Ponteland back to Newcastle from Hexham. The scenery is stunning. I've done the Hexham to Consett a few times too - really great route.

Shame that Weardale dropped out of the scheme a few years ago and that Arriva NE pulled back from Upper Teesdale, Richmondshire and Hambleton in the main but then again, Stagecoach's operations never used to be covered.

Exactly, when I actually use tickets, I'm aimed at exploring new places This discussion is mostly theoretical but in practice, I prefer to have a fun relaxing day out! The great thing is that on a lot of these tickets, you can have a nice day out AND amass a good number of miles!

 

[route101]

Yeah , you do get people who bash the buses or into a very specific thing about , i know a guy who went to London just to see 55 plate Stagecoach Tridents !
For me its the route , is it interesting ?
Every so often i will pick an interesting route . Last one i did was Skipton to Preston!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Yeah , you do get people who bash the buses or into a very specific thing about , i know a guy who went to London just to see 55 plate Stagecoach Tridents !
For me its the route , is it interesting ?
Every so often i will pick an interesting route . Last one i did was Skipton to Preston!

I think I might know who you're talking about there if I wanna bash a particular bus, I look for luxury / hi-spec as is the case with the 36, which even allowed me to get a step closer to visiting every city in the UK (Ripon has a lovely market square) not a specific number plate or fleet number!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Yeah , you do get people who bash the buses or into a very specific thing about , i know a guy who went to London just to see 55 plate Stagecoach Tridents !
For me its the route , is it interesting ?
Every so often i will pick an interesting route . Last one i did was Skipton to Preston!

My late father was a driver and recounted the story of some guy who travelled down from Edinburgh to Darlington by train to bash one specific Bristol RE. This guy then discovered it was unfortunately allocated to a duty that meant it wouldn’t be back so this guy had to return unsatisfied!

For me, it’s about just having an explore and seeing interesting places, whether sweeping rural vistas or even inner cities. The bus itself means relatively little though if I’m undecided where to explore next, I might go for the more interesting option.

As an example, I did Dinnington to Rotherham in December (as part of a big day out) and rather than wait and get the e400 on the main service, I got the TM Solo that took a much more rural route.

 

[Samuel88]

The furthest I've ever been on one bus ticket in the UK is Dumfries to Manchester on the Stagecoach Northwest Explorer. This was nearly 15 years ago and two of the routes I used, the X61 between Preston and Manchester and a bus between Penrith and Kendal (I think the 108?) don't run anymore.

The absolute furthest I've been on a bus ticket (not sure if this counts?) is between Boston and San Francisco with a Greyhound Discovery ticket!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The furthest I've ever been on one bus ticket in the UK is Dumfries to Manchester on the Stagecoach Northwest Explorer. This was nearly 15 years ago and two of the routes I used, the X61 between Preston and Manchester and a bus between Penrith and Kendal (I think the 108?) don't run anymore.

That would have been the 106 via Shap - again, a wonderful run out on the top of the Pennines!! It did get withdrawn but now survives only on certain days of the week.

Think the 108 was the Penrith to Patterdale (Ullswater) service but it's now the 508 to fit in with the other Lakes services