Unnecessarily long bus routes in the UK

[Bletchleyite]

Although the X5 is (in part) about serving the end-to-end market. Plenty of people do, particularly at weekends. It's more like a National Express route, but acting as a local bus in futs and starts along the way.

It's a European-style regional express bus route - there are a lot of them in Germany, Austria, Switzerland etc, we just have very few of them.

The end to end market is minimal - it's about serving a load of overlapping local journeys primarily. So it isn't unnecessarily long because split routes wouldn't overlap in the same way. That said, there is a fairly significant passenger changeover at Bedford so it wouldn't annoy that many people to split it there.

As for unnecessarily long bus routes - most cross city ones which are for operational convenience only (pairings are not usually logical for passengers), plenty in MK.

 

[route101]

I think the longest I've ever been on a bus was to visit family when my great grandparents stayed in Leven. That bus took 2 hours 15mins on a good day from Buchanan Bus Station but it went through a lot of small Fife towns between Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy that added to the journey. There's never really been a direct Fife to Glasgow/Edinburgh service that doesn't have a longer journey that I can remember. The X55 which is Dunfermline to Edinburgh isn't too bad I guess but the rest are 2 hours plus.

Used to be ones longer than that , used to continue from Leven around to Ansruther then St Andrews .Edinburgh x60 i think still does . x26 does Glasgow to Dundee, and i used to come back from Dundee as i had a dayrider .

Other long ones ive used is the Dunfirmline to Leven 7 .

Longest ive ever was the crazy 4 hours one way Frankston to Melbourne airport bus

 

[route101]

Glasgow and the outskirts are full of long bus routes that are just a bit too long and I would love to know if there are any stupidly long routes in your area. Can be any company.

Glasgow has the 2,3,6,8,21,46,57,60,65,90 and Lanarkshire has the 201 which is also extremely long.

Personally I feel like the full route for a bus should be 90mins max. What do you guys think?

The 6 i think has done well not to have been split like its other EK counterparts .

 

[Typhoon]

The service 195 (Pocklington to York) that EYMS used to run was like that, because it went all round villages it took over 1.5 hours to cover the route.

I don't know the service but was it a question of either one route to call at all intermediate villages or no route at all? ie the only way the route was viable was if it can make numerous detours on route. There is a current route 195 which operates to Pocklington calling at a numerous villages. If it is a successor, then I'm guessing that passengers are grateful that it runs at all since it appears to be a subsidised, one day a week route.

 

[PaulMc7]

The 6 i think has done well not to have been split like its other EK counterparts .

Yeah it's horrifically unreliable because of that too. I think if there were enough buses spare for it at Scotstoun and a good place to start it from in the city centre it would be split eventually

 

[PaulMc7]

Used to be ones longer than that , used to continue from Leven around to Ansruther then St Andrews .Edinburgh x60 i think still does . x26 does Glasgow to Dundee, and i used to come back from Dundee as i had a dayrider .

Other long ones ive used is the Dunfirmline to Leven 7 .

Longest ive ever was the crazy 4 hours one way Frankston to Melbourne airport bus

Yeah the 7 is really long. Yeah the X59 and X60 are both St Andrews to Edinburgh now and the X58 is Dundee to Edinburgh

 

[route101]

Yeah it's horrifically unreliable because of that too. I think if there were enough buses spare for it at Scotstoun and a good place to start it from in the city centre it would be split eventually

Yes , many a time ive waited at Union st for it . Takes a long route around the City Centre . Though part of its appeal is a direct bus from EK/southside to the top of town , and west end

 

[PaulMc7]

Yes , many a time ive waited at Union st for it . Takes a long route around the City Centre . Though part of its appeal is a direct bus from EK/southside to the top of town , and west end

The 18 isn't too bad for covering town but yeah the 6 covering the West end is massive for the route

 

[F262YTJ]

One overlooked so far is the 375 and 385 from southport to Wigan via Ormskirk, Skelmersdale and Upholland which take around 2 hours end to end.

 

[richw]

How about:

First Kernow A1/A3 Penzance to St Ives (via Lands End) : 2h 32min
First Kernow A17 Penzance to St Ives (direct) : 31min

The former isn't stupid, just the long way round if you fancy it.

Truro- Bude 95 2hr 47

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The service 195 (Pocklington to York) that EYMS used to run was like that, because it went all round villages it took over 1.5 hours to cover the route.

Yours truly accidentally took the 195 from York to Pocklington c.1987 - a laborious wander through Elvington and Melbourne on a Highbridge VR. Not repeated it

 

[Bus Lightyear]

Used that route today , bit of no lands north of Glasgow , with sparse service , i used the Balfron to ABerfoyle service , only 3 x daily .

Could you tell me, other than First, who runs buses in the Balfron/Drymen/Aberfoyle areas?

 

[PaulMc7]

Could you tell me, other than First, who runs buses in the Balfron/Drymen/Aberfoyle areas?

Only bus I can think of is a 309 which Garelochhead coaches run to Balmaha from Alexandria or Bonhill through Drymen. Can't think of any others

 

[Hophead]

Apologies for the fact that I can't actually remember the route number (I'd greatly appreciate it if somebody more knowledgeable than myself could fill me in on this), but quite some time ago, I had to travel from Brighton Marina to the city centre, and I caught the first bus that turned up heading towards Brighton, which happened to be a Scania double decker thing (sorry, I don't know my bus names too well).

I was surprised at how long it actually took to get back, as to my ignorance, I had no clue that this bus would in fact take a ridiculously long, though I must admit it was very enjoyable and the views were spectacular, detour through almost every residential street we passed, to the top of a hill which practically bordered the countryside, before travelling along the top of this ridge and returning back down the hill not very far from the street the bus came up on, heading down into Brighton via every lamp post known to man.

The journey must've taken at least 40 minutes, which is quite long compared to the shorter, more direct journey on the route 7. Though, I suppose this bus route wasn't designed for people like myself, with the intention of travelling all the way from Brighton Marina to the city centre!

That'll have been the 21 or 21A, and it certainly does loop up through Whitehawk before heading into the centre of Brighton. These days, the 21 omits Whitehawk saving around 10 minutes, but still rather longer than the 7 as you say.

Just as with many of the other routes identified here, it's intended to provide local links rather than a through service.

 

[Darklord8899]

Could you tell me, other than First, who runs buses in the Balfron/Drymen/Aberfoyle areas?

Only one I can think of at the moment is Garelochhead Coaches, their 309 service serves Drymen........

Edit...... beaten to it by @PaulMc7

 

[Bus Lightyear]

Only bus I can think of is a 309 which Garelochhead coaches run to Balmaha from Alexandria or Bonhill through Drymen. Can't think of any others

There used to be 1 or 2 small operators who ran subsidised services in that area.

I still thought McGills ran the 309. I need to get with the times!

 

[Bus Lightyear]

PaulMc7 and Darklord8899, thanks for your responses

 

[extendedpaul]

I enjoy bus journeys that follow what might appear to be an unnecessarily long route. Recently I took the 126 from Weston Super Mare to Wells via Cheddar, then the 173 from Wells to Bath via Midsomer Norton and finally the 37 from Bath to Bristol. In every case the bus serves villages and goes through countryside a car journey between the towns/cities wouldn't include.

 

[Statto]

One overlooked so far is the 375 and 385 from southport to Wigan via Ormskirk, Skelmersdale and Upholland which take around 2 hours end to end.

Lol, yep, i've been on that route a few times end to end, that route is mostly connecting Southport,Ormskirk, Skelmersdale & Ormskirk & Skelmersdale with Wigan & villages in between were the rail takes a long indirect route, not many will go end to end when you have said direct rail at 2 trains an hour taking a quarter of the time the bus does

 

[daodao]

DG 88 Altrincham-Wilmslow-Knutsford-Macclesfield.

In theory I could use it to travel home from work, as the bus stops only yards from my office in Macclesfield, but even then it would take well over 2 hours door-to-door; it would be quicker to take the direct 130 to Wilmslow and change there. To get to work, I would have to change in Wilmslow to the direct 130 to Macclesfield, but with a 30 minute wait there it wouldn't be much quicker. Cheshire's skeletal bus services are of minimal usefulness to me.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

That'll have been the 21 or 21A, and it certainly does loop up through Whitehawk before heading into the centre of Brighton. These days, the 21 omits Whitehawk saving around 10 minutes, but still rather longer than the 7 as you say.

Just as with many of the other routes identified here, it's intended to provide local links rather than a through service.

Thank you for the clarification. Now that you mention it, "21" does indeed (pardon the pun) ring a bell.

 

[Eyersey468]

Yours truly accidentally took the 195 from York to Pocklington c.1987 - a laborious wander through Elvington and Melbourne on a Highbridge VR. Not repeated it

It no longer runs in its original form after ERYC withdrew the funding, though there is a version of it that still runs twice a week.

 

[Eyersey468]

I don't know the service but was it a question of either one route to call at all intermediate villages or no route at all? ie the only way the route was viable was if it can make numerous detours on route. There is a current route 195 which operates to Pocklington calling at a numerous villages. If it is a successor, then I'm guessing that passengers are grateful that it runs at all since it appears to be a subsidised, one day a week route.

It was a case of serving as many villages as possible. When I drove them it ran every day but depended which day it was as to what time it ran. Owing to council cuts the route changed so no longer goes to York and doesn't run as often.

 

[PaulMc7]

It was a case of serving as many villages as possible. When I drove them it ran every day but depended which day it was as to what time it ran. Owing to council cuts the route changed so no longer goes to York and doesn't run as often.

The 8 First Glasgow run is a lot like that. Serves the majority of the North and East of Glasgow as well as running to the West end so the full route is 2 hours 15 mins. Feels like it goes through everywhere

 

[Busaholic]

The A1/A3 isn’t unnecessarily long. The whole point of it is the scenery which is stunning, from the decent into Sennen across the wild area near Gurnards Head and Zennor as well as the tourist attractions at Geevor and Lands End. Stunning route!

A classic case of intrinsic rather than derived demand for those transport academics out there!

A shame many of them have no experience at the sharp end: I suspect there'd be some changes of tune if they had.

 

[AM9]

The Arriva routes 300/301 are about 30 miles each running from Hemel Hempstead to Stevenage. They are normal local fare stage buses and the journeys take between 120 and 130 minutes.
The limited-stop Greenline service from Heathrow to Harlow, takes just over 3 hours to cover 57 miles. The service is supposed to be Mercedes Citaro buses but sometimes more mundane Arrivas types are substituted.

 

[Typhoon]

It was a case of serving as many villages as possible. When I drove them it ran every day but depended which day it was as to what time it ran. Owing to council cuts the route changed so no longer goes to York and doesn't run as often.

Thank you for this. I guess its just hanging on now - any further need for cuts to council spending or sizeable reduction in passenger numbers could bin it completely. There will be those passengers who look back on the days when you drove it with fond memory.

 

[route101]

The 8 First Glasgow run is a lot like that. Serves the majority of the North and East of Glasgow as well as running to the West end so the full route is 2 hours 15 mins. Feels like it goes through everywhere

Took the 8 a few times . I thought of it as a outer circle to the 90

 

[route101]

Could you tell me, other than First, who runs buses in the Balfron/Drymen/Aberfoyle areas?

Used to be a Aberfoyle to Glasgow bus . Suprised theres no bus from Aberfoyle up to Callender .

 

[Darklord8899]

There used to be 1 or 2 small operators who ran subsidised services in that area.

I still thought McGills ran the 309. I need to get with the times!

There are Demand Response Services certainly run by Stirling council, but few operators running "normal" commercial/tendered services

Used to be a Aberfoyle to Glasgow bus . Suprised theres no bus from Aberfoyle up to Callender .

First East Scotland (Midland Bluebird) still run the B10 from Glasgow - Balfron - Aberfoyle, however there are no through journies.
Journeys run Glasgow to Balfron or Balfron to Aberfoyle. Also having looked at the timetables, you can have a wait between journies
The 3 journies from Aberfoyle arrive at Balfron, Buchanan st.
12:40, 14:56, 18:56
Departures from Balfron to Glasgow are at:
12:46, 15:38, 19:30 (so wait time of 6mins, 44mins, 34mins)

As for bus between Aberfoyle and Callander.... seems only option is C11 from Aberfoyle to Blairdrummond then change to the 59
(Both First East Scotland services, C11 Stirling council Tender)