Where have you been by bus?

[Statto]

The PTE areas apart from Strathclyde, London[including the Night bus network], Cheshire, North Wales, done the TP Manchester-Derby, Nottingham, some parts of Nottinghamshire, Lancashire. N ot a s a through service but i've done Liverpool-Holyhead the old X8 when it ran to Rhyl, then 12 to Llandudno, 5 to Bangor & 4 to Holyhead.

 

[TRN481V]

Define "breaking journey" - as in staying overnight?

Yup, stayed at a very nice B&B and sampled Dumfries's very hospitable watering holes. Next day, I got a Stagecoach express service to Glasgow, then the Citylink to Edinburgh. I stayed a few nights in a lovely B&B in Portobello then returned by train. Total transport costs: £26.00!

 

[Liam]

Yup, stayed at a very nice B&B and sampled Dumfries's very hospitable watering holes. Next day, I got a Stagecoach express service to Glasgow, then the Citylink to Edinburgh. I stayed a few nights in a lovely B&B in Portobello then returned by train. Total transport costs: £26.00!

Of course you could have taken a direct Stagecoach service from Dumfries to Edinburgh, or taken Stagecoach services from Glasgow via Dunfermline.

 

[Ivo]

I've had the pleasure of taking the 28 from Taunton to Minehead just recently, what a torture that one is at least an hour and a half on an Eclipse!

Never been on the 28 as it's too hard to pull off unless the intention is to come straight back. But what's wrong with an extended Eclipse run?

 

[markie73]

Never been on the 28 as it's too hard to pull off unless the intention is to come straight back. But what's wrong with an extended Eclipse run?

The rock hard seats and next to no suspension, bit like the ones we used to have here in Northampton!

 

[Welshman]

I enjoyed a little break in North Devon recently, and made a return trip on Quantock Motor Services 300 from Lynmouth to Minehead - a venture well worth doing for the views of Exmoor and the coast.

Unfortunately it wasn't the open-topper. But I still had every admiration for the way in which the driver handled the full-length single-decker through the narrow roads of Porlock. And the noise on ascending Countisbury and Porlock Hills was incredible!

Unfortunately,too, it was the wrong side of the Bristol Channel for my Welsh Bus Pass, but well-worth the £10 return fare, nonetheless.

 

[quarella]

I enjoyed a little break in North Devon recently, and made a return trip on Quantock Motor Services 300 from Lynmouth to Minehead - a venture well worth doing for the views of Exmoor and the coast.

Unfortunately it wasn't the open-topper. But I still had every admiration for the way in which the driver handled the full-length single-decker through the narrow roads of Porlock. And the noise on ascending Countisbury and Porlock Hills was incredible!

Unfortunately,too, it was the wrong side of the Bristol Channel for my Welsh Bus Pass, but well-worth the £10 return fare, nonetheless.

One of my many arguments against devolution even though I am many years off a bus pass. I have seen several people go into meltdown when informed their English council issued pass is not valid in Wales.

The 300 is a most enjoyable route even upstairs in the rain on the open-topper.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Places I've been to by bus

London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Manchester, Leicester, Coventry, Bradford, Stoke, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Southampton, Reading, Derby, Dudley (mainly as i live there!), Northampton, Portsmouth, Preston, Milton Keynes, Walsall, Bournemouth, Oxford, Blackpool, Bolton, Telford, West Bromwich, Stockport, Brighton, Gloucester, Watford

 

[radamfi]

I used to do lots of long linear trips by local bus. Notably in 1996/7 I went

Kingston-upon-Thames to Heathrow (LT bus 285)
to Oxford (when Thames Transit still ran their 390)
to Northampton (Stagecoach Express)
to Nottingham (Stagecoach Express)
to Manchester (Transpeak)
to Rochdale (First bus 17)

When I was at university at Bath I would regularly use the Wilts & Dorset Explorer or Wiltshire Day Rover. For example Bath - Salisbury (by the much missed W&D/Badgerline joint service X4) - Southampton (W&D X7) - Winchester - Portsmouth - Brighton.

Throughout the 90s/early 00s I would tend to get a train to a new region and explore the area by bus for the day using the area's day ticket. So I have almost certainly been to all the places in the original post by bus.

These days, however, I'm more interested in doing Dutch buses. It is possible to criss cross the country by local bus and it used to be dirt cheap as there was a national bus/tram/metro day ticket. That no longer exists but there is still the day ticket from Connexxion at €14 for 2 people and Connexxion covers a large swathe of the country.

The rural north east part of the country has a lot of limited stop services which connect at major road interchanges. Arriva run a very long route from Groningen to Lelystad which gets you most of the way to Amsterdam.

 

[JamesRowden]

In 2009 I did:

Reading-(72)-Aldershot-(20)-Guildford-(63)-Horsham-(17)-Brighton-(12)-Eastbourne-(99)-Hastings

 

[tamesidedepot]

from my home in south Manchester, I have travelled to the following purely on service buses:

Chester; Derby; Nottingham; Liverpool; Leeds; Bradford; Preston; Blackpool; Burnley; Halifax; Hudderfield; Southport; Blackburn; (not including local journeys such as Buxton, Macclesfield etc)

In addition, I have also travelled on local services in:
London; Birmingham; York; Edinburgh; Brighton; Portsmouth; Canterbury; Dover; Norwich;

 

[YorkshireRider]

and raise you X53, Exeter - Bournemouth, over 5 hours.

Maybe they should consider removing the 'X' out of that route number.

 

[Spaceflower]

My local bus service, the X35, is only limited stop on the last two or three miles of its approx 20 odd mile journey. It also takes 45 minutes to do what is about 8 mile as the crow flies.
On an evening and Sunday, the 'X' is dropped, it takes a more snake like route, covering for other daytime weekday services and it takes over an hour.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The one I like to whinge about the most though is the Arriva service 24. I can almost walk the 4 or 5 mile from Haswell to Peterlee faster.

 

[starrymarkb]

Maybe they should consider removing the 'X' out of that route number.

It is limited stop in places. and TBH it's about 2.5 hours in a car to do that trip (the A35 isn't great!)

Anyway I've only done local stuff on buses, York to Whitby is probably my longest Service bus run.

 

[tbone]

Nottingham, Derby and York, but I've been on sightseeing buses in London and Newcaslte too, not sure if these count?

 

[Hyphen]

Pretty much every TB service in Notts and Derbys which is doable on ZigZag/ZigZag Plus/MANGO, including many which aren't any longer (like Buxton town services). Large parts of NCT.

Large parts of Sheffield and Chesterfield, both First and Stagecoach.

Most routes around in the Swansea Bay area operated by First, the entire Gower Explorer network as operated by Pullman then Veolia (yay student pass before Veolia got arsey). Bought a First Cymru year ticket this very morning (pricey) so will be exploring more of S.Wales.

Other locations: Leicester, Edinburgh, Leeds, Bradford, Aberystwyth, York, Hull (and Grimsby), Stockport, Birmingham, Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Dublin, London, Coventry.

 

[LE Greys]

Quite a few places. Stevenage, Hitchin and Letchworth (obviously), but never Baldock, since the route from the village only runs at inconvenient times. All over Aberdeen, and routes out to Peterhead, Braemar, the Marine Lab south of the harbour and the airport. From Newcastle out to Washington once, but I generally walked there. Around much of North Norfolk, and around Cambridge a few times. Also, all over London during Christmas light season. However, generally not too far on a coach owing to them generally resulting in me turning green and disappearing under the stairs.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Manchester, Leicester, Coventry, Hull, Bradford, Stoke, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Southampton, Reading, Derby, Dudley, Newcastle, Northampton, Portsmouth, Luton, Preston (wink), Milton Keynes, Sunderland, Norwich, Walsall, Bournemouth (I believe), Southend, Swindon, Huddersfield, Poole, Oxford, Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Bolton, Ipswich, Telford, York, West Bromwich, Peterborough, Stockport, Brighton, Slough, Gloucester, Watford, Rotherham, Cambridge, Exeter

Bold-I have been to this place by bus
Italic-I have been through this place on a bus

 

[starrymarkb]

Stretching the definition of Bus

Glasgow
Berlin
Zakinthos


(Yes I mean Toulouse/Hamburg's product)

 

[Trainfan344]

Of the top 50, the only place I have been to is Norwich.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Couple of my rail circulars have had to involve buses:

Nottingham-Pwllhelli by train. Then bus to Caernarfon then another to Bangor before train home.

Nottingham-Whitby by train. Bus to Scarborough. Train home.

And anywhere not on the rail network!

Nottingham-Barnetby. Bus to Brigg (Weekday). Returning via bus to Scunthorpe.

Peterborough-Kings Lynn is the only bus I've used my through rail ticket on.

Looking forward to plenty of buses from Nottingham this summer :cry:!

 

[pjnathanail]

Looking forward to plenty of buses from Nottingham this summer :cry:!

Yes, we'll be seeing rather a lot I fear. 7 buses an hour Nottingham to East Mids Parkway!

 

[6Gman]

How many places have you used trolleybuses?

Bournemouth, Bradford, Cardiff.

 

[pjnathanail]

How many places have you used trolleybuses?

Bournemouth, Bradford, Cardiff.

I have been on a trolley bus in Wellington, New Zealand

 

[185]

Currently thousands of miles away and taking advantage of the islands quite excellent bus service. I'm sure most forumers will know where this is.

Note the missing letters on my bus for today.....

Extra ten points guess the bus station :P

 

[Zamracene749]

How many places have you used trolleybuses?

Bournemouth, Bradford, Cardiff.

Ceske Budejovice, Gdynia, Usti nad Labem, Brno, Kosice, Presov, Budapest

Sadly too young to have ridden them in the UK though, if only....

 

[LE Greys]

I probably should have mentioned I've done Geneva-Viry by diesel bus, and run over much of Geneva by tram and trolleybus (slightly lost track of exact locations, but it involved visiting the Palais de Nations on the north side and all the way round to the south). Also did a short trolleybus run in Salzburg, station to a music recital, and a few short tram journeys in Zurich, Bern and Toronto (and Boston, if you count MTBA's Green Line as a tram).

 

[Ivo]

I've never even seen a Trolleybus, never mind used one. Not including running on tarmac instead of rails, do they feel any different to trams?

 

[LE Greys]

I've never even seen a Trolleybus, never mind used one. Not including running on tarmac instead of rails, do they feel any different to trams?

Much more like buses, except for the lack of engine noise. They run very smoothly and climb hills very well. Geneva is a good location for them, although some museums in this country have them (I think Beamish runs them sometimes).

 

[Zamracene749]

Most noticeable for me also is the way the motors deliver acceleration, smooth and very powerful from all speeds. This provides a marked improvement to the ride quality compared to conventional diesel buses.
New ones are whisper silent to travel on, some of the older ones are surprisingly loud inside with tuneful drive trains, lots of clicks and whirrs and noisy cooling fans. Definitely worth making a detour to sample them if you ever get abroad near a city that is wired up