Supermarket free bus routes.

[stadler]

How many of those Supermarket Free Bus routes still exist nowadays?

I remember throughout the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s there was hundreds and hundreds of these bus services. Almost every large supermarket branch had one. But they started withdrawing so many in the 2000s and 2010s and now in the 2020s there are hardly any left.

Asda and Tesco both used to have hundreds of these routes but gradually withdrew them and i believe both supermarkets cancelled all of their final contracts around 2021 at some point. Coop and Waitrose used to have a few too but i believe those are all gone now. The final Coop one (Hove) was withdrawn in 2024 and the final Waitrose one (Newark) was withdrawn i think around 2022 a few years back. Marks & Spencer and Morrisons also used to have a few but they appear to have none left that i can find. Sainsburys may be the only one left to still have free bus routes.

I believe the following all still exist:

• Sainsburys - Bognor Regis - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Chichester - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Crawley - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Harrogate - (Connexions Buses)
• Sainsburys - Lancaster - (Stagecoach)
• Sainsburys - Littlehampton - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Newport - (Newport Bus)
• Sainsburys - Staplehurst - (Hams Travel)
• Sainsburys - Team Valley - (Go Ahead North East)
• Sainsburys - Watchmoor Park - (Stagecoach)

There is also the Crawley Asda (Go Ahead Metrobus) and Poole Asda (Go Ahead Morebus) which were previously free buses and have now been taken over as commercial services.

I am surprised that almost all the supermarkets have withdrawn them as these routes always seemed busy whenever i used them. When i was a bus driver i used to drive some of these now withdrawn supermarket free bus contract routes and we had quite a few passengers. There was lots of regulars and you could easily get twenty passengers on some buses.

Does anyone know of any other Supermarket Free Bus routes that still exist? Either for Sainsburys or any other supermarket? I have a feeling there might at least be some other Sainsburys ones still running that i have missed off my list?

 

[SeveerYeliab]

Sainsburys Bybrook in Ashford still has the bus running, run by AMB travel. There’s no mention of it online but I have seen it a few times in recent months. IIRC it runs Monday-Saturday every 30-60 mins between Ashford Town Centre and Sainsburys Bybrook.

 

[stadler]

Sainsburys Bybrook in Ashford still has the bus running, run by AMB travel. There’s no mention of it online but I have seen it a few times in recent months. IIRC it runs Monday-Saturday every 30-60 mins between Ashford Town Centre and Sainsburys Bybrook.

Interesting thank you. I never knew that bus route existed. These are so poorly publicised. It is amazing how many of these supermarket free bus routes have zero publicity anywhere. Out of interest what type of vehicle have you seen used? Is it a coach or do AMB Travel have an actual low floor bus now?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

On the Handforth Dean shopping complex in the Cheshire East area of Handforth, on which very large Marks & Spencer and Tesco stores are adjacent to each other, the bus shelter there still displays details and timetables of the free bus services that serve the various surrounding areas from there and that shopping complex is also served by the "Bee Network" service 42C that runs from there to Manchester Piccadilly bus station.

 

[Lynford1976]

The Crawley Asda service is now operated by Compass Travel.

 

[kez19]

In Dundee Moffat and Williamson operate the 88 service for Sainsbury’s it operates from Whitfield to Broughty Ferry (it’s free to Sainsbury’s but have to pay a fare to Broughty Ferry, I’m not 100% if it’s similar if coming from the opposite direction)

In short it’s free from Whitfield to Sainsbury’s and free from Broughty Ferry to Sainsbury’s

This service began with Travel Dundee (Xplore Dundee), then moved to Stagecoach then as mentioned above and minor route change

 

[daodao]

On the Handforth Dean shopping complex in the Cheshire East area of Handforth, on which very large Marks & Spencer and Tesco stores are adjacent to each other, the bus shelter there still displays details and timetables of the free bus services that serve the various surrounding areas from there and that shopping complex is also served by the "Bee Network" service 42C that runs from there to Manchester Piccadilly bus station.

The free bus services formerly operated by D&G Buses to/from the Handforth Dean shopping complex have been withdrawn in the last few years, but the complex is now also served by D&G route 312 from Wilmslow on Mon-Sat and High Peak route 130 from Macclesfield and Wilmslow on Sundays.

 

[robertclark125]

One issue with supermarket free buses was, they could have abstracted custom from normal bus services. In some ways, a different route or different stopping arrangements solved that issue.

It last ran in 2002, but what's now Morrisons in Cowdenbeath had a free bus service to it, from Cardenden. The bus launched in 1987, and was run by Rennies, when it was still independent. Run to what was then Fine Fare, then Somerfield, the bus avoided competing with fife Scottish route 25 and 34, by taking a different route in Lochgelly, going along roads not served by buses, and once out of Lochgelly, operating non stop to Fine fare in Cowdenbeath.

One of the last times I saw it, a Mercedes minibus was on the service, and it was empty. By contrast, as a kid, when we used it, a Leyland leopard coach was used.

One reason it likely ended was, the opening of the fife central retail park, in northern kirkcaldy, with plenty car parking. Demand simply moved to that.

 

[Ken X]

Rumour has it the Horsham to Tesco free service stopped as the traffic from Tesco (and it's surrounding housing) to Horsham Town centre was as large as the traffic from Horsham to Tesco and providing free travel for the locals was not part of the remit.

 

[duncombec]

There is an older thread here, from 2018 but last updated in 2022, that might provide a place to start from (and/or be merged with): https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/supermarket-free-bus-services.165334/

Interesting thank you. I never knew that bus route existed. These are so poorly publicised. It is amazing how many of these supermarket free bus routes have zero publicity anywhere. Out of interest what type of vehicle have you seen used? Is it a coach or do AMB Travel have an actual low floor bus now?

AMb [sic] use a 29-seat-ish-minicoach on the service, or did last time I saw it.

I think the lack of publicity is deliberate, especially where town centre runs are concerned - it seems they are designed to cater for a specific group of people, rather than necessarily be a free-for-all. Almost all are also unregistered, allowing for easy changes to fit demand. The Staplehurst service, for example, was a Sec. 106 funding arrangement, and is primarily intended for the villagers and immediate rural area as a quid pro quo for the development.

 

[ALEMASTER]

TM Travel still operate various shoppers buses to the Millhouses branch of Tesco in Sheffield, however they don't seem to be advertised anywhere. If you look on bustimes.org there are no timetables but the buses do track on the map when running!

 

[ricoblade]

There was a "Tesco bus" from our village in North Notts to Gainsborough but I only know of it in that it was advertised in the village newsletter so I've no idea of who ran it, what route etc.

Hasn't been mentioned for years though, certainly in COVID/post-COVID times.

 

[CN12 AWU]

I'm sure Lancaster one is any bus that passes Tesco not a dedicated one

Years ago I remember on Merseyside a T1 Tesco Bidston to New Brighton and a T1 Tesco Heswall to I think Irby and Pensby both were operated by First Bus Birkenhead but don't recall Stagecoach operating them after that

I also remember ACE Travel or HTL Buses doing one to ASDA Hunts across but no idea where it went presume Speke

 

[Hassocks5489]

I randomly found an interesting PDF saved on my PC: "Metrobus Route and Fleet History" (correct at November 2016). The big Tesco stores at Three Bridges and Hookwood (a.k.a. Gatwick Tesco) had various buses:

*901 Crawley Bus Station – Three Bridges Tesco (2004–2016; then to Compass Travel)
*902 Ifield West – Three Bridges Tesco (2004–2008)
*903 Gossops Green – Three Bridges Tesco (2004–2008)
*904 Pound Hill/Crabbet Park – Three Bridges Tesco (2004–2008)
*905 Southgate – Three Bridges Tesco (2004–2008)
*906 Handcross – Three Bridges Tesco (2004–2006); Crawley Bus Station – Three Bridges Tesco (2006–2008)

Other than the 906, which came from the outlying village of Handcross, each of the above served various Crawley New Town neighbourhoods en route.

*911 Merstham – Redhill – Salfords – Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV)
*912 Batts Hill – Reigate – Woodhatch – Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV)
*913 Dorking, Goodwyns Estate – Dorking town centre – Brockham – Leigh – Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV)
*914 Dorking, Goodwyns Estate – Capel – Newdigate – Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV)
*915 Godstone – Lingfield – Smallfield – Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV)
*916 Crawley Down – Copthorne – Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV)
*917 Copthorne – East Grinstead – Lingfield Hookwood Tesco (2004–2016; then to Southdown PSV) (oddly circuitous route!)
*918 East Grinstead – Felbridge – Crawley Down – Copthorne – Hookwood Tesco (2006–2008)

An impressive array of routes covering some quite rural bits of Surrey there! Edit to say: I don't know the subsequent history of those routes which passed to other operators, such as when they were withdrawn.

There was also a 921 between Horsham and Broadbridge Heath Tesco between 2004 and 2016, when it passed to Compass Travel. This is the service referred to by Ken X above.

 

[WibbleWobble]

Sainsbury's Ferndown has five routes run by Damory.

(sorry mods, no quote as that would be impossible from the pdf of the timetable!)

 

[Trainman40083]

All the ones in Derby ceased around COVID time. There were services to Asda at Spondon and Tesco at Mickleover. There was no mention of them on the relevant bus company website, and when I asked the supermarket, they said "we don't run bus services, so we can't tell you". No mention on any bus stops, so not surprisingly, no-one, or very very few people used them.. When I delved deeper it was said the contracts were let by a marketing company in Hampshire (can't recall who now). So they stopped running because no-one used them, cos no-one knew when they ran.

 

[Simon75]

On the Handforth Dean shopping complex in the Cheshire East area of Handforth, on which very large Marks & Spencer and Tesco stores are adjacent to each other, the bus shelter there still displays details and timetables of the free bus services that serve the various surrounding areas from there and that shopping complex is also served by the "Bee Network" service 42C that runs from there to Manchester Piccadilly bus station.

The Free services were withdrawn 2024

 

[WibbleWobble]

When I delved deeper it was said the contracts were let by a marketing company in Hampshire (can't recall who now).

PB Marketing - the PB standing for Phil Blair, whose son Gareth owns Xelabus. I believe they manage the contracts for Sainsbury's as well, contracting out to other operators nationally.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The Free services were withdrawn 2024

Yes, I am aware of that, but what I stated was that the information was still displayed in the bus shelter. People have suggested that the Bee Network staff could remove them, but Handforth Dean being situated in Hanforth, a part of Cheshire East, is exterior to the Greater Manchester Coun ty, so notification was sent to the Macclesfield council offices to ask for the removal.

 

[JD2168]

TM Travel still operate various shoppers buses to the Millhouses branch of Tesco in Sheffield, however they don't seem to be advertised anywhere. If you look on bustimes.org there are no timetables but the buses do track on the map when running!

The C1-C6. There was once a printable timetable available to pick up but this ended when they finished. Now you have to look at Bustimes.org & look at buses on 218 to see which was used on them.

 

[Trainman40083]

PB Marketing - the PB standing for Phil Blair, whose son Gareth owns Xelabus. I believe they manage the contracts for Sainsbury's as well, contracting out to other operators nationally.

Thanks for that. Correct, it has all come back to me. Makes you think "providing shopper buses" was a tick box exercise, to be environmentally aware and be seen to give an alternative to the car. Nowadays, very few out of town retail parks actually have a bus link. It now brings back a memory of Arriva Derby bus service, that used two white Dennis Darts that linked housing to Pride Park, the Wyvern, then ended up outside Morrisons at the Meteor Centre. But how many potential users, never knew it ran?

 

[Sleepy]

Asda stores in Chelmer Village (Chelmsford) and South Woodham Ferrers used to have extensive routes operated by Eastern National from places such as Braintree and Burnham on Crouch in 1980's and 90s !

 

[-Colly405-]

ABus still seem to run the 160-165 to Winterstoke Rd Sainsbury's in Bristol. Not sure whether they are free now though...

 

[renegademaster]

Did PSVAR effect this? More expensive now that they can't use a off the shelf transit/sprinter minibus

 

[Newport Lad]

one of the best advertised services has to be that of Newport Bus. It’s got a proper service number, is on the website, you can track it etc

 

[Man of Kent]

Did PSVAR effect this? More expensive now that they can't use a off the shelf transit/sprinter minibus

The PSV Accessible Regulations, and the newer PSV Accessible Info Regs. do not apply to buses with fewer than 23 passenger seats.

 

[michael Bell]

How many of those Supermarket Free Bus routes still exist nowadays?

I remember throughout the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s there was hundreds and hundreds of these bus services. Almost every large supermarket branch had one. But they started withdrawing so many in the 2000s and 2010s and now in the 2020s there are hardly any left.

Asda and Tesco both used to have hundreds of these routes but gradually withdrew them and i believe both supermarkets cancelled all of their final contracts around 2021 at some point. Coop and Waitrose used to have a few too but i believe those are all gone now. The final Coop one (Hove) was withdrawn in 2024 and the final Waitrose one (Newark) was withdrawn i think around 2022 a few years back. Marks & Spencer and Morrisons also used to have a few but they appear to have none left that i can find. Sainsburys may be the only one left to still have free bus routes.

I believe the following all still exist:

• Sainsburys - Bognor Regis - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Chichester - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Crawley - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Harrogate - (Connexions Buses)
• Sainsburys - Lancaster - (Stagecoach)
• Sainsburys - Littlehampton - (Compass Bus)
• Sainsburys - Newport - (Newport Bus)
• Sainsburys - Staplehurst - (Hams Travel)
• Sainsburys - Team Valley - (Go Ahead North East)
• Sainsburys - Watchmoor Park - (Stagecoach)

There is also the Crawley Asda (Go Ahead Metrobus) and Poole Asda (Go Ahead Morebus) which were previously free buses and have now been taken over as commercial services.

I am surprised that almost all the supermarkets have withdrawn them as these routes always seemed busy whenever i used them. When i was a bus driver i used to drive some of these now withdrawn supermarket free bus contract routes and we had quite a few passengers. There was lots of regulars and you could easily get twenty passengers on some buses.

Does anyone know of any other Supermarket Free Bus routes that still exist? Either for Sainsburys or any other supermarket? I have a feeling there might at least be some other Sainsburys ones still running that i have missed off my list?

 

[renegademaster]

The PSV Accessible Regulations, and the newer PSV Accessible Info Regs. do not apply to buses with fewer than 23 passenger seats.

You still can't run a scheduled service with them no ? I've seen minibus run service bus routes but they all have had some kind of lift or ramp since normal buses had them fitted

 

[michael Bell]

I understand that the Lancaster run from the Uni is provided by the Student union It seems rather a waste of money as there are at least 12 buses an hour from the Uni to the bus station that is just across the road from the bus station. The 6A goes through Asda,s car park in both directions.

 

[MrJeeves]

Not free, but The Sussex Bus used to operate multiple Tesco bus services between the Burgess Hill superstore and surrounding villages of Ditchling, Keymer and Cuckfield as well as services into Haywards Heath/Lindfield and some villages near there, too.

The Sussex Bus: TS1 to TS4 - Tesco Shopping Services

The Sussex Bus company provides bus services throughout Sussex including Albourne, Brighton, Bolnore, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Crawley, Cuckfield, Ditchling, Eastbourne, Hassocks, Haywards Heath, Heathfield, Henfield, Horsham, Houghton, Hurstpierpoint, Patcham, Plumpton, Pyecombe...

web.archive.org

They would be asking up to £2.70 for an Adult Single in 2015!



I'd say a fair few consider Compass's Route 100 which, for some bizarre reason, operates between Burgess Hill and Horsham, via Pulborough and Washington (not D.C.) as a shopper service. I often see people waiting at the Tesco Burgess Hill bus stop for it, and getting off of it.



I keep intending to do the whole journey, but I haven't mustered up the courage for it yet. I do wonder why this route exists in its current form. The services almost act like trains by displaying "false destinations" to discourage people using it for travel between Burgess Hill and Horsham itself.

Similarly, the 33 service operated by Compass Bus, ex-Sussex Bus, ex-Countryliner between Hurstpierpoint and Haywards Heath acts as a shopper service to the Haywards Heath Sainsbury's. You could probably argue the 40/40X were also similar shopper services but for Brighton.

There was also a 921 between Horsham and Broadbridge Heath Tesco between 2004 and 2016, when it passed to Compass Travel. This is the service referred to by Ken X above.

Back in the day, there was also a 922, 923, 924, 925 and 926!