Trivia: What is the longest distance bus route in the world?

[GRALISTAIR]

In the USA, it'd be New York City to Los Angeles. Route #1351 is direct and takes 68h 5m.

Yikes- that would be too much for me - I would have to break up my journey.

 

[Starmill]

That is a breadvan which i think could be considered a different category.

Personally i see three different categories:

• buses
• coaches
• breadvans

Anything like a Mercedes Benz Sprinter or Mellor Strata or Ford Transit or Volkswagen Crafter is a breadvan.

Coaches are vehicles which are normally step entrance and have luggage space underneath or behind and have seatbelts. Although there are some low floor examples but they are still coaches.

I would consider a 7.1m Optare Solo SE M710SE to still be a proper bus. Although it is probably the smallest proper bus out there.

Although it does seem like the difference between a bus and a coach is much more blurred in other countries which i had not quite realised until now.

It doesn't seem to me to make much sense that a bus can be called a bus (although even the maker sometimes refers to it as a minibus) but a so-called breadvan may actually be larger. In the same way that some Optare Solos have seatbelts with high back seats and some coaches don't.

To put it another way it's an artificial distinction which exists mainly in the mind of the particular person making the point, and almost everyone in the Anglophone world would understand that a 'breadvan', 'coach', or 'minibus' are all examples of the umbrella term 'bus'. Further evidence that this is the common use of the term comes from what you call it. Do you call it a road service, or a bus service? And can it no longer be known as a bus service if, on certain days, the same service is operated by a 'coach' , or a 'breadvan'?

Is a fairground rubber-tyred 'road train' a bus? Is it still a bus if it is articulated? What about if passengers ride in a trailer as well as the vehicle with the motive power? What about a trolleybus that runs on a public highway?

I would consider a 7.1m Optare Solo SE M710SE to still be a proper bus. Although it is probably the smallest proper bus out there.

Here's a picture from 2015 of a Solo SE with tlc, at Hebden Bridge railway station:

TLC Travel Optare Solo SE 90816 (YD63 VEF)

At Hebden Bridge Rail Station

www.flickr.com

 

[stuu]

It doesn't seem to me to make much sense that a bus can be called a bus (although even the maker sometimes refers to it as a minibus) but a so-called breadvan may actually be larger. In the same way that some Optare Solos have seatbelts with high back seats and some coaches don't.

To put it another way it's an artificial distinction which exists mainly in the mind of the particular person making the point, and almost everyone in the Anglophone world would understand that a 'breadvan', 'coach', or 'minibus' are all examples of the umbrella term 'bus'.

I'm 45 and have been interested in public transport, not buses particularly, for as long as I can remember, but I have never, ever come across this term for a bus

 

[johncrossley]

I'm 45 and have been interested in public transport, not buses particularly, for as long as I can remember, but I have never, ever come across this term for a bus

I'm 46 and I used to hear it a fair bit in the 80s/90s, mostly as a derogatory term for van derived minibuses, especially the smallest 16 seat ones like Sherpas and Transits.

 

[DanielB]

The longest local bus route in the Netherlands is probably the 350 from Alkmaar to Leeuwarden, but I think this would be classed as a coach by most British people:

Bestand:Arriva 7517, Leeuwarden busstation (9733095104).jpg - OV in Nederland Wiki

wiki.ovinnederland.nl

Definetely the longest one in The Netherlands indeed, 110 km one way. We've had a longer route in the past (the 315 from Groningen to Lelystad was 127 km long, but has now been split into two parts).

Maybe a bit more bus than coach is route 19 from Hulst to Breda, but only 90 km. And actually covering most of that distance in Belgium.
Bestand:Iveco Crossway Pro Breda.jpg - OV in Nederland Wiki

 

[Starmill]

I'm 45 and have been interested in public transport, not buses particularly, for as long as I can remember, but I have never, ever come across this term for a bus

Apologies. Poor phrasing on my part! It's definitely not a particularly common term. But what I should have said was that nobody else would have heard the term, but thought of it as something that isn't included in the category of 'bus'.

I'm 46 and I used to hear it a fair bit in the 80s/90s, mostly as a derogatory term for van derived minibuses, especially the smallest 16 seat ones like Sherpas and Transits.

I think it has been used as a negative term in some cases yes.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Re: bus verus coach, my employer has a full subscription to the digital edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. This is what the gatekeepers of the English language have to say about the noun bus:

a. A large public vehicle carrying passengers by road, running on a fixed route and typically requiring the payment of a fare; = omnibus n. 1. Also: this as a form of transport.

Unfortunately, the definition of coach will not resolve the disagreement on this thread:

a. A large kind of carriage: in 16th and 17th centuries, usually a state carriage of royalty or people of quality (still occasionally used, as e.g. the Lord Mayor's coach); now, usually, a large close carriage with four wheels, with seats inside, and several outside, used for public conveyance of passengers (see stagecoach n.). Hence to take coach (obsolete).
b. With qualifications, as curtain n.1, glass n.1, hackney n. and adj., mail v.2, mourning n.1, stagecoach n.: see these; also slow-coach n., figurative. by-coach, a supplementary or extra coach, besides the usual service (cf. German Beiwagen); long coach, a coach running long stages: cf. short-stage adj. at short adj., n., and adv. Compounds 6a.
c. Sometimes used for the passengers by a coach.
d. A railway carriage: in U.S. used esp. of one that is not a sleeping car (see quots.).
e. A single-decker bus.
f. Economy or tourist class, on a passenger aircraft. Frequently attributive and as adv. U.S.

 

[TRAX]

What's this vehicle?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/12707...PGikh-2iKiFbS-2hTBFZN-2gfXiSh-2geuaEM-2gbVBqX

Is it a bus or a van? I would argue it's closer to a van in physical characteristics than it is to, for example, an E200, which is commonly accepted to be a 'bus'. Is it a minibus? Well maybe, but bespoke minibuses rather than adapted from vans look pretty different generally. Is a minibus also not a bus? Or is a bus a superset of a minibus? In which case...

Officially it’s a minibus. A bus this size but not based on a van platform is called a midibus.

 

[pdeaves]

Does the bus/coach distinction really lie in what type of service it is used for? If it stops 'everywhere' it's a bus, if it does long(er) non-stop runs between towns it's a coach.

No doubt that will raise tons of other grey areas!

 

[Dai Corner]

Does the bus/coach distinction really lie in what type of service it is used for? If it stops 'everywhere' it's a bus, if it does long(er) non-stop runs between towns it's a coach.

No doubt that will raise tons of other grey areas!

Consider the Stagecoach South Wales X4 which stops everywhere between Abergavenny and Merthyr Tydfil and then only Pontypridd and Cardiff. The vehicles are definitely buses.

I'm sure somebody can come up with similar routes operated by coaches.

 

[stuu]

Apologies. Poor phrasing on my part! It's definitely not a particularly common term. But what I should have said was that nobody else would have heard the term, but thought of it as something that isn't included in the category of 'bus'.

Oh I see... yes if shown a picture of something like that no one would argue it isn't a bus

Re coach/bus: another distinction is that buses cater for standing passengers, coaches are designed for sitting passengers only. But they are still a special kind of bus, rather than a distinct category

 

[The exile]

Oh I see... yes if shown a picture of something like that no one would argue it isn't a bus

Re coach/bus: another distinction is that buses cater for standing passengers, coaches are designed for sitting passengers only. But they are still a special kind of bus, rather than a distinct category

Ticketing arrangements also tend to be different - you can pre-book coach tickets ( which, I think, will tend to be for a specific service), but not bus tickets ( which don’t!)

 

[Starmill]

Officially it’s a minibus. A bus this size but not based on a van platform is called a midibus.

How interesting. I don't think I've heard the term midibus before.

 

[TRAX]

How interesting. I don't think I've heard the term midibus before.

The Enviro200 is in fact a midibus as it’s shorter than 12 metres. It’s not a very widely used term in the UK because there’s so many <12m buses running they’re actually the norm.

 

[dutchflyer]

Except that I just came back from FR and the regional buses-few and sparse in general, now all organised by either the departement or what it should be the new regions are always labelled autocar-whereas they defin.. are bus in the british way.
In dutch we have bus and touringcar-but that is only used for prebooked outings, excursions not generally for regular routes etc. The long-distance new style of FLIX and the like is also called bus in normal language use. The long 350 for a few years was even extended further to Drachten. However, many of the very long buslines have been cut up as they often cross into other traffic-regions that subsiidise them.
In THailand-my favourite destination, there are on very long lines out of Bangkok-to all provincial capitals- buses/coaches in 3-and on imprtt lines even 4-grades, all legally organised. 3d cl. is what you would call a bus-no WC, no AC (in TH one of the most important distinctions, also for price)n and roving conductor-no assigned seats. Though these are slowly phased out-they still do run to the poorer regions and the lines may be well over 500 Km//10 hrs long. The general tourist though would be quite challenged to find them or use them.
Ditto on some Indonesian islands.
On the old style US-Greyhound I remember that many of those ´thru way´ buses were not that real-you still had to leave them every 4-5 hrs for refuelling/washing or whatever a bus needs. In the USA it is and was always called a bus.
If some senior from the UK tells the distinction is importt-I guess thats mostly for the free or not travel.
OTOH hand-I just named France, but also many east-EUR countries the distinction between citybus and countrybus is even more important-for travel privilege, pricing/fares etc.

 

[Pit_buzzer]

How interesting. I don't think I've heard the term midibus before.

back in 1973 doncaster corporation took delivery of 3 seddon pennine IVs with 25 seat pennine bodies and were at the time described as midi buses. They were boxy little things but very much a purpose built small bus and not a van conversion. Their most distinctive feature was their incredibly rough sounding engine, they sounded just like a Ford D series truck which was used as the basis for the breadvans used by mother's pride etc for deliverys to local shops allover the country. The seddons were immediately nicknamed breadvans by the drivers.
Years later when van derived minibuses became widespread the term breadvans reappeared although there didn't seem to be such a strong basis for the name as compared to the original Ford D series comparison

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Here in Italy - the Italian word for bus is "autobus", whilst the Italian word for coach is "Pullman". So yeah, distinctions between buses and coaches do exist in Italy too.

Not to mention in the past, the buses would normally be in orange livery, whilst the coaches would normally be in blue livery.

 

[Deerfold]

Ticketing arrangements also tend to be different - you can pre-book coach tickets ( which, I think, will tend to be for a specific service), but not bus tickets ( which don’t!)

When the rural 900 bus between Hebden Bridge and Huddersfield first started with 3 or 4 trips a day, you could ring the driver and reserve a seat. I was once denied boarding because a seat was reserved for a passenger who had not yet boarded.

 

[Dai Corner]

When the rural 900 bus between Hebden Bridge and Huddersfield first started with 3 or 4 trips a day, you could ring the driver and reserve a seat. I was once denied boarding because a seat was reserved for a passenger who had not yet boarded.

There are lots of demand-responsive bus services, both urban and rural, where you have to pre-book.

In the 1970s we had 'dual purpose' (DP) spec vehicles which had some coach-type features such as high-backed seats but were otherwise based on a bus body and chassis. They might be used for both National Express and local stage-carriage work.

 

[Bristol LHS]

Agree it’s a blurry line. I took the Citylink 926 from Glasgow to Campbeltown a couple of years ago - a (beautiful) 4hr 16m ride. It’s a coach vehicle, with toilet (thankfully) but once you’re on Kintyre, it’s effectively a local bus - stops at every stop, people don’t book ahead and pay as they board, often for relatively short distances.

Arriva X18 Newcastle to Berwick via the coast is 3hr50m, so must count as one of the longest in England, I’d thought First‘s Excel Peterborough to Norwich might run it close - seems to be about 3hr 25, perhaps it might have if it still continued beyond Norwich to the coast. Both those are double decker bus routes.