Buses used more by tourists than locals

[neilmc]

Not meaning heritage tours, special scenic routes, airport shuttles and the like but bog-standard town stage carriage routes.

Just been to Turkey and the Fethiye-Oludeniz dolmus is always full of tourists with maybe the odd local squeezed in.

In many other countries tourists don't trust the local buses, nobody knows where and how often they run or the signage isn't in English, but in Turkey everyone uses the dolmus.

Is this rare?

 

[Deerfold]

Isn't that largely because Oludeniz is very much a tourist destination rather than just another local destination.

I know a lot of people seem to find it odd that I make a lot of use of local buses on holidays (they're usually happy with metro systems and sometimes trains).

Ease of use of systems varies a lot. I tend to find Italian systems farily easy to use.

 

[northwichcat]

When I went to Gibraltar and used buses from La Linea bus station (just across the border) I was surprised at how few English speaking people used the buses given there are no public transport services between Gibraltar and Spain. A few people who have used the buses have gone on to Trip Advisor to moan about information not being available in English and drivers not being able to speak English.

 

[WestCoast]

When I went to Gibraltar and used buses from La Linea bus station (just across the border) I was surprised at how few English speaking people used the buses given there are no public transport services between Gibraltar and Spain. A few people who have used the buses have gone on to Trip Advisor to moan about information not being available in English and drivers not being able to speak English.

Gibraltar's residents usually have a very good command of Spanish as well as English (they casually converse in a mixture of the two!) and since La Linea is firmly in Spain, I wouldn't really expect any different (they aren't going to bend over backwards to assist visitors to Gibraltar!).

In Tenerife, some of the local bus routes around the Southern resorts are heavily patronised by tourists.

Bit closer to home, Blackpool Transport's Summer Only Service 20 (Marton Mere - Stanley Park - Zoo - Tower - Pleasure Beach) is very much dominated by tourists and day trippers. It serves a large holiday camp at one end and the attractions at the other. Used to be operated by City Sightseeing branded open-top vehicles, but has now reverted to standard double deckers and, strangely imo, Optare Solos. It used to pass near my old house and I'd usually be the only local using it! Also in that area, you could add the southern half of Classic Bus's service 12, Blackpool Transport's service 1 and the tramway, all "standard stage-carriage services" but heavily dominated by non-locals.

 

[northwichcat]

Gibraltar's residents usually have a very good command of Spanish as well as English (they casually converse in a mixture of the two!) and since La Linea is firmly in Spain, I wouldn't really expect any different (they aren't going to bend over backwards to assist visitors to Gibraltar!).

Well yes La Linea is anti-British even though many residents benefit from Gibraltar not being Spanish and going across the border for cheap alcohol and cigarettes.

You can usually tell who is a tourist and who is a Gibraltar resident from the way they talk with the exception of British people who've recently moved to Gibraltar.

 

[34D]

Depending how you define tourists/daytrippers, routes like 843 Leeds-Scarborough?

 

[jamesontheroad]

The Norfolk Green Coasthopper is probably a contender. It's frequent enough to be used practicably by locals, but since you still can't really survive without a car in Norfolk Norfolk, most locals end up ditching the bus once they're old enough to drive.

 

[ValleyLines142]

The 23 in London has to be a contender here, with it serving St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street and Oxford Street as well as Liverpool Street, Charing Cross and Paddington.

 

[34D]

The Norfolk Green Coasthopper is probably a contender. It's frequent enough to be used practicably by locals, but since you still can't really survive without a car in Norfolk Norfolk, most locals end up ditching the bus once they're old enough to drive.

And then regaining it when they become 62.....?

 

[Ivo]

It's unusual but not exactly rare - most tourist destinations will have one route that is heavily patronised by visitors, and invariably in some of those cases they will dominate the loadings.

A few routes that probably meet the criteria (in the summer at least)...

50 Bournemouth to Swanage
1 and 100 Weston-super-Mare to Sand Bay (1 being withdrawn next month)
300 Penzance to St Ives
16 Portsmouth to Hayling Ferry (Sundays only)
9 and 15 in London (even without the H variants)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Just returned tonight from the Isle of Wight where all the buses seem to be well used by holidaymakers of all ages, despite the pricing structure employed by Southern Vectis.

 

[radamfi]

I would guess a lot of tourists use buses on the Isle of Wight because of the high cost of taking a car on the ferry, especially for non-islanders, whereas the passenger ferry is fast, frequent and is available on a turn up and ride basis.

 

[90019]

I'd say Lothian's 36 is mostly used by tourists.

You get locals commuting on a couple of the journeys in the peaks, but for the majority of the day, especially in the summer, it's almost entirely tourists.

 

[scotsman]

I'd say Lothian's 36 is mostly used by tourists.

You get locals commuting on a couple of the journeys in the peaks, but for the majority of the day, especially in the summer, it's almost entirely tourists.

I spend most of my time in Edinburgh and hadn't come across the 36 - not surprised it's mainly tourists. Is it one of the EBT operated turns?

 

[90019]

I spend most of my time in Edinburgh and hadn't come across the 36 - not surprised it's mainly tourists. Is it one of the EBT operated turns?

Normal service bus (and one I drive) - it runs between Ocean Terminal and Holyrood, but it's basically a reverse S shape, going along to the Shore, up past Powderhall, through Stockbridge, over the Dean Bridge, along George Street (though it'll be Princes Street when the West End is open), over Waverley Bridge and round over the High Street to Holyrood road and all the way along and round to the front of the Parliament, where it has an idiotic terminus on the corner of a fairly busy road. :roll:

It's roughly 45 minutes from end to end and is almost exclusively run by Pointers branded into the green 'Get there greener' livery branded for the route (53-58, though there's also 59 which doesn't have the route branding). Other buses do occasionally turn up on it, usually on the rush bus for the evening peak, but particularly at the moment as 58 is down at Seafield having the front end rebuilt after a crash a couple of weeks ago. There's also a hybrid out in the morning that does one run from Ocean Terminal to the West End.


You'll probably have seen 59, as it's often out on the 12 or 24 these days.

 

[Darren R]

You can usually tell who is a tourist and who is a Gibraltar resident from the way they talk with the exception of British people who've recently moved to Gibraltar.

Anyone who lives in an area that gets any day-trippers/tourists will tell you that you don't need to hear them speaking a foreign language to know they are tourists - it's not unique to Gibraltar! Residents can spot a tripper at a hundred paces!

In my experience there is nothing unusual about buses being full of tourists and trippers - you see them all the time everywhere they go, both here in the UK and abroad. From my own personal experience (having lived in a few tourist hot-spots) I would say that it's just us Brits who are retiscent about using the buses when in areas beyond our 'comfort zone' - whether that be in the UK or beyond.

Of course much of that retisence whilst abroad is down to the language difference. Only we (and the Americans) would be so arrogant as to go abroad and expect everything to be in English for us. If we don't know how to ask for directions or help (and I count myself in that category I'm ashamed to admit) then we are far less likely to risk it.

But of course that doesn't apply here in the UK, and yet you are far more likley to see a service bus full of foreign visitors than you are to see a bus full of British visitors from elsewhere in the UK - the specific tourist routes and services notwithstanding. One can only speculate as to why that is.

And before anyone says 'but how can you tell they are tourists if they are British' let me just repeat - you can spot 'em a mile off! You can tell by what they are wearing and carrying, their behaviour, how they walk and what they look at. Admittedly not all British trippers on a Jolly Boy's readily identify themselves in this way, but most do!

 

[Ivo]

Look for the people who don't know where they're going, stop to take pictures at regular and/or inconvenient intervals, and may have different accents/languages to the locals.

Unless you're on the seaside, in which case it's harder to tell - especially down south.

 

[Darren R]

Look for the people who don't know where they're going, stop to take pictures at regular and/or inconvenient intervals, and may have different accents/languages to the locals.

Unless you're on the seaside, in which case it's harder to tell - especially down south.

I have very fond memories of living in Sarfend - it was even easier to spot the trippers there (especially once they opened their mouths!)

 

[Ivo]

Well, yes, that's very true But to a non-local Estuary and Cockney aren't that different, such is the influence and power of the latter, especially with a New Town [Basildon] so close.

 

[northwichcat]

Of course much of that retisence whilst abroad is down to the language difference. Only we (and the Americans) would be so arrogant as to go abroad and expect everything to be in English for us. If we don't know how to ask for directions or help (and I count myself in that category I'm ashamed to admit) then we are far less likely to risk it.

One thing to note related to that is some tourists can speak a foreign language but not the one for the country they are in but the foreign language that they can speak becomes useful. When I was in Berlin I encountered two Polish people confused about which tram to catch who couldn't speak German but could speak English. While in Pisa two German people communicated with a waiter in English rather than in Italian.

And before anyone says 'but how can you tell they are tourists if they are British' let me just repeat - you can spot 'em a mile off! You can tell by what they are wearing and carrying, their behaviour, how they walk and what they look at. Admittedly not all British trippers on a Jolly Boy's readily identify themselves in this way, but most do!

And if you don't make yourself easily identifiable as a tourist and are in an area popular by tourists you can get mistaken for a local person and get approached by other tourists who think you'll know the directions, opening times etc., and if you're well organised then you might well.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

One particular service to the central Far North coast of Scotland that only runs from May to September from Inverness, seven days a week, with just one journey a day is another "tourist" contender.....I give you the D & E Coaches service 804 from Inverness bus station to Leirinmore and Smoo Cave, that gives the tourist over an hour to examine the marine area, before the bus sets back off on its return journey.