Cross Boundary Tickets

[Statto]

No, i'm not talking about cross boundary bus service provision (that's been done to death recently) i'm talking about cross boundary tickets which is being discussed in this thread, so moving on from that thread bringing in more general discussion

West Yorkshire bus franchising

Hence my earlier comment about how some counties actually get around that. It's entirely reasonable for someone in Halifax to want to travel to Rochdale but then travel to Bolton and then to Wigan? So yes, cross border acceptance to an obvious traffic objective would seem logical. This was...

www.railforums.co.uk

Quite a few Towns in the North West that are close by but in different Counties like St Helens, Widnes, Warrington & Wigan but cross boundary travel has always been an issue with lack of cross boundary ticketing, other than by the operator, which is great if that's the only operator on the route, but not so great if there is another operator, & you have to buy separate tickets.

 

[Ballyheigue]

I'm glad this topic has come up, because I've always said there should be an entire North of England and North Midlands ticket. It's not unreasonable for someone living in Barnsley to travel out to somewhere in the Peak District via Sheffield for a day out, say Barnsley to Chatsworth, Bakewell etc, you could even argue that Wakefield to Chatsworth could be an option, although that would be stretching things a bit.

The next 2 reasonable bus travel opportunities that I've personally done include suburbs in South/West Leeds close to the 254 and 229 routes to Glossop via Huddersfield and Holmfirth, although I'll admit that does mean an early start to get a good few hours in Glossop and can only be done once a week, but the next is far more reasonable and that's from the same places to Uppermill and Greenfield via Huddersfield.

Travelling from Wakefield to Uppermill/Greenfield via Huddersfield is another quite reasonable option giving people from Wakefield direct access to Saddleworth villages and countryside. For shoppers and football fans, Wetherby to York City Football Club/Monks Cross (a number of supporters do come from the Wetherby area) is a doable option, you've also got the likes of Barnsley to Bradford/Huddersfield via Wakefield by bus given the expensive walk up train fares and cancellation of trains for various reasons, Keighley to places in the Dales you can only reach by connecting bus, e.g. Malham on a weekday, Ingleton etc isn't unreasonable, nor too is Keighley to Huddersfield via Bradford or Halifax, again given the expense of walk up rail fares and disruption to rail services.

I could list thousands of travel opportunities people are willing to take but are having to fork out more for fares when one simple ticket covering the whole North of England and North Midlands would do nicely.

 

[Statto]

I'm glad this topic has come up, because I've always said there should be an entire North of England and North Midlands ticket. It's not unreasonable for someone living in Barnsley to travel out to somewhere in the Peak District via Sheffield for a day out, say Barnsley to Chatsworth, Bakewell etc, you could even argue that Wakefield to Chatsworth could be an option, although that would be stretching things a bit.

There used to be such a ticket in the South Yorkshire Peak Explorer, which was valid in the Northern part of the Peak district, not sure when that was done away with, the Derbyshire Wayfarer only allows travel to/from Sheffield

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I'm glad this topic has come up, because I've always said there should be an entire North of England and North Midlands ticket.

An entire north of England ticket from the Scottish Borders to Birmingham?

To be honest, it seems a bit odd that the SY ticket doesn't offer a cross border validity whereas the Derbyshire one does although does allow you to travel to various towns in Staffs (Burton, Leek, Uttoxeter) and to Macc and Sheffield but not to Notts? So perhaps it should be that the SY ticket is valid for any journey that begins starts in South Yorkshire?

That way, you can travel from Barnsley to Sheffield to Castleton. In reality, the average person isn't going to travelling on many more than 4 buses.

 

[mangad]

The (Greater Manchester) Wayfarer ticket has quite an availability area that covers:

• Greater Manchester,
• parts of Lancashire up to Burnley, Accrington and Chorley
• bits of West Yorkshire, all the way to Holmfirth
• Cheshire up to Warrington, Knutsford, Northwich and Congleton
• Derbyshire all the way down to Leek and Ashbourne.

It's pricy and not that easy to get hold of (you need to buy it from a TfGM Information office, or a Paypoint store) but as a multi-operator ticket (which covers bus, tram and train) it's got quite an impressive coverage area.

 

[Statto]

An entire north of England ticket from the Scottish Borders to Birmingham?

To be honest, it seems a bit odd that the SY ticket doesn't offer a cross border validity whereas the Derbyshire one does although does allow you to travel to various towns in Staffs (Burton, Leek, Uttoxeter) and to Macc and Sheffield but not to Notts? So perhaps it should be that the SY ticket is valid for any journey that begins starts in South Yorkshire?

That way, you can travel from Barnsley to Sheffield to Castleton. In reality, the average person isn't going to travelling on many more than 4 buses.

Indeed, Stagecoach do a North West Explorer that's valid on Stagecoach buses from Crewe to Scottish Border, but the average person won't know about that ticket or try that journey, which might need an overnight break.

However the average person will do something like Cheshire Oaks to Wirral but they will have to buy separate tickets if they need a connecting bus which is operated by another company like Arriva.

I was going to say Ellesmere Port but Merseytravel have Saveaway/Trio tickets & passes that allow travel to/from Ellesmere Port on the train.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Feb 2026 ==

The (Greater Manchester) Wayfarer ticket has quite an availability area that covers:

• Greater Manchester,
• parts of Lancashire up to Burnley, Accrington and Chorley
• bits of West Yorkshire, all the way to Holmfirth
• Cheshire up to Warrington, Knutsford, Northwich and Congleton
• Derbyshire all the way down to Leek and Ashbourne.

It's pricy and not that easy to get hold of (you need to buy it from a TfGM Information office, or a Paypoint store) but as a multi-operator ticket (which covers bus, tram and train) it's got quite an impressive coverage area.

That's more for tourists & those going on a day out than those who are doing a daily commute, & it's not valid on rail services until after 09.30 Monday to Friday

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Indeed, Stagecoach do a North West Explorer that's valid on Stagecoach buses from Crewe to Scottish Border, but the average person won't know about that ticket or try that journey, which might need an overnight break.

However the average person will do something like Cheshire Oaks to Wirral but they will have to buy separate tickets if they need a connecting bus which is operated by another company like Arriva.

The average person will do about 4/5 journeys - they're not into spending all day on buses.

Taking Cheshire Oaks as the example, there is a direct service from bits of the Wirral but as with other examples, arrange a deal where the Solo ticket is valid there.

 

[Mark L]

The South Downs National Park Authority sponsors a Discovery ticket that includes a number of operators across a fairly wide swathe of southern England - see https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/travelling-around/south-downs-discovery-ticket/

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The South Downs National Park Authority sponsors a Discovery ticket that includes a number of operators across a fairly wide swathe of southern England - see https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/travelling-around/south-downs-discovery-ticket/

I know That's an extreme example. The frustration is when it becomes a hard border rather than a slightly blurred one. As I've mentioned, the Wiltshire Day Rover has had the ability to travel across the border to Frome, Bath and Yate since 1991 at least.

 

[Statto]

The average person will do about 4/5 journeys - they're not into spending all day on buses.

Taking Cheshire Oaks as the example, there is a direct service from bits of the Wirral but as with other examples, arrange a deal where the Solo ticket is valid there.

Yeah, Cheshire Oaks is somewhere were an extension of the Solo ticket would be useful.

Another one where people want to travel from is, Neston, to Heswall, West Kirby, other parts of Wirral as well as Liverpool, but there is no cross boundary ticket other than on Arriva, otherwise it's just single fares.

 

[Djgr]

Yeah, Cheshire Oaks is somewhere were an extension of the Solo ticket would be useful.

Another one where people want to travel from is, Neston, to Heswall, West Kirby, other parts of Wirral as well as Liverpool, but there is no cross boundary ticket other than on Arriva, otherwise it's just single fares.

Presumably the Arriva option will disappear?

However is all this really an issue for normal people whilst there is a fare cap on individual bus journeys?

 

[Budge1980]

The MyBus Oxfordshire ticket has very good coverage.

Find out about MyBus Oxfordshire tickets

www.mybusoxfordshire.org.uk

I am a Parkrun Tourist. For a £6.50 day ticket (just gone up to £30 for a week), starting my trip in Buckinghamshire (Aylesbury is the furthest point), I can get to Cheltenham (for a 9am Saturday start) and back. For a 25 minute run, that is a pretty excessive time to spend on getting to and from the Parkrun but even so.

North to South, Daventry to Swindon is quite a distance. With Oxford having such good bus connections, often from very early till late, the options are vast.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

There are some good schemes in many counties but some bizarre anomalies...or at least, I believe so.

The Transport North East ticket is valid from Co Durham to Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool. The Tees Valley ticket (which might be a company initiative rather than a TVCA one) is rigidly only within the Tees Valley boundaries.

I think the All Cornwall ticket is again limited to the Cornish boundaries but the Devon Day Ticket does allow you to go to Saltash, Callington and Bude; NOTE: there is a Plymouth Citybus Tamar Connect ticket that does allow travel in Cornwall and Devon but only on their routes.


Perhaps one of the biggest issues is that bus companies don't generally promote multi-operator tickets (doubtless selling their own tickets and so maximising the revenue) but that local authorities are also really poor at promoting the ones that they've brokered.

 

[TheSel]

The (Greater Manchester) Wayfarer ticket has quite an availability area that covers:

• Greater Manchester,
• parts of Lancashire up to Burnley, Accrington and Chorley
• bits of West Yorkshire, all the way to Holmfirth
• Cheshire up to Warrington, Knutsford, Northwich and Congleton
• Derbyshire all the way down to Leek and Ashbourne.

It's pricy and not that easy to get hold of (you need to buy it from a TfGM Information office, or a Paypoint store) but as a multi-operator ticket (which covers bus, tram and train) it's got quite an impressive coverage area.

I'm not sure the bit I've emboldened is quite right. According to this TfGM site it's a little easier than that.

How to buy your ticket​

You can buy your ticket at a rail station, on the train if the ticket office is closed, at an Information and Ticket Office, or at a PayPoint store.

You can buy your ticket up to three days in advance.


The GB Rail Rover site (http://www.railrover.org/pages/greater-manchester-wayfarer.html) says similar.

 

[aron2smith]

The one that really stands out to me is the 1bws ticket covering all of North Wales and as far south as Aberystwyth and includes travel into Chester. Valid in 6 counties. With all of Wales being franchised in the next 4 years, hopefully they will have these rover style tickets for every part of Wales in the future.

Also long ago when it was all National Bus Company, the Wanderbus ticket existed. Essentially the All Line Rover but for buses. Sounds amazing. Even had a national bus map, sadly couldn't imagine that now. https://junction-ten.co.uk/2016/04/16/the-national-wanderbus-ticket/ It would've been awesome to go back and experience this.

And people may be sick of the cross-boundary issues being discussed on here but it will remain the elephant in the room until this country gets government structures that default to every county/ region working together and at a scale that fits today's travel patterns. Somewhat encouraged by how the Bee Network/ GM is seemingly working with its neighbours. The others need to be the same when they start franchising.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's pricy and not that easy to get hold of (you need to buy it from a TfGM Information office, or a Paypoint store)

It's not that pricey for the scale of the validity. The fact it is valid in the evening peak on trains makes it a very useful ticket.

You can also buy it at any staffed railway station ticket office; I believe it may also be available on Northern TVMs, but I've not checked. It's annoying that you can't get it on Metrolink TVMs, though.

There are some good schemes in many counties but some bizarre anomalies...or at least, I believe so.

The Transport North East ticket is valid from Co Durham to Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool. The Tees Valley ticket (which might be a company initiative rather than a TVCA one) is rigidly only within the Tees Valley boundaries.

The joy of NECA (North East Combined Authority) and TVCA (Tees Valley Combined Authority) being separate. It's not an issue for most of the north east, but the boundaries at Darlington and Hartlepool are an issue. Places like Newton Aycliffe very much point towards Darlington but, as they're in separate areas, there is no sensible cross-border multi-operator ticket.

At least there's the North East Explorer still, although as most independents no longer accept the ticket its utility isn't anywhere near as good as it once was. I was hopeful that Proctors and East Yorkshire (at least in and around Scarborough) would join the scheme when they were bought out by Go-Ahead, but sadly not.

Yeah, Cheshire Oaks is somewhere were an extension of the Solo ticket would be useful.

Another one where people want to travel from is, Neston, to Heswall, West Kirby, other parts of Wirral as well as Liverpool, but there is no cross boundary ticket other than on Arriva, otherwise it's just single fares.

Presumably the Arriva option will disappear?

I can't imagine that the Saveaways or Solo will be extended to include the buses in and around Ellesmere Port any time soon. At least with the capped fares it isn't the issue it once was, as the fare all the way from Liverpool or Birkenhead on the 1/X1 is exactly the same as if you catch it at Little Sutton or Overpool.

Neston and Heswall will probably be slightly different as the majority of services there will be included in Liverpool's franchising. GM day tickets are valid on all Bee Network buses, even those operating outside GM, and I'd fully expect the same to apply on Liverpool franchised buses. The only outlier there will be the 22 from West Kirby to Chester.

 

[TheSel]

...
Also long ago when it was all National Bus Company, the Wanderbus ticket existed. Essentially the All Line Rover but for buses. Sounds amazing. Even had a national bus map, sadly couldn't imagine that now. https://junction-ten.co.uk/2016/04/16/the-national-wanderbus-ticket/ It would've been awesome to go back and experience this.

...

(emboldened section). Not quite. They were not available north of (roughly) a line between the Mersey and the Humber - so not valid on Ribble, United, Cumberland, Yorkshire Traction etc. I don't think Southern Vectis accepted them on the Isle of Wight either - they had their own 'Island Rambler' of something like that.

But, indeed, they were excellent value. In 1980, I used a series of them taking a week to get from Liverpool to Portsmouth, staying over at Ludlow, Bristol, Weymouth and Southsea en route.

Some operators (certainly Crosville, whose services I used extensively) issued them on standard setright machines. Originally they were £2.40 - the driver issuing a string of 3 x 80p tickets. In later years the price increased to £2.97 - requiring a string of 3 x 99p tickets, and subsequently £3.30 (3 x £1.10) and £3.45 (3 x £1.15 - although I have one as a string of 3 x £1.00 and 1 x 30p). The driver was supposed to set the stage number to the last two digits of the year (e.g. '82'), but rarely did. Whisper it quietly, but by keeping the ticket neat and tidy, I once got three days use out of one, as the price hadn't increased over the years.

(Edit to add a scan of a '3x99p' (£2.97) Wanderbus ticket dated September 21st - probably 1982, but I can't be sure)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Also long ago when it was all National Bus Company, the Wanderbus ticket existed. Essentially the All Line Rover but for buses. Sounds amazing. Even had a national bus map, sadly couldn't imagine that now. https://junction-ten.co.uk/2016/04/16/the-national-wanderbus-ticket/ It would've been awesome to go back and experience this.

Before you get all misty-eyed about that, just a few things...it wasn't all the National Bus Company. It was only in the Midlands and South. And, of course, you could use it on London Country but not London Transport. In fact, the only non-NBC services that you could use it on were where there were joint ticketing/pooling agreements such as in Brighton.

When it was replaced by the Explorer ticket, which was the entire NBC, then it wasn't valid before 0900 on a weekday. There were also other vagaries so you could buy an NBC Explorer and use it on United and Northern General services but not wholly within Tyne and Wear... that was another ticket!

The joy of NECA (North East Combined Authority) and TVCA (Tees Valley Combined Authority) being separate. It's not an issue for most of the north east, but the boundaries at Darlington and Hartlepool are an issue. Places like Newton Aycliffe very much point towards Darlington but, as they're in separate areas, there is no sensible cross-border multi-operator ticket.

The thing is that you can buy an all operator TNE (or Co Durham) day ticket and that is valid from Newton Aycliffe to Darlington. However, a Tees Valley one will only take you as far as Coatham Mundeville from Darlington.

At least there's the North East Explorer still, although as most independents no longer accept the ticket its utility isn't anywhere near as good as it once was. I was hopeful that Proctors and East Yorkshire (at least in and around Scarborough) would join the scheme when they were bought out by Go-Ahead, but sadly not.

As I said above, when I first got Explorers (when the world was black, white and poppy red), you could travel anywhere on an NBC bus so I used them to get to Berwick, Whitehaven, and as far as Hull and Leeds but not before 0900 on a weekday nor wholly within Tyne & Wear; I dutifully used to record my trips out and whilst I could get to Sunderland and Newcastle, the flesh pots of South Shields and Tynemouth are absent from my travels! Also, they weren't valid on TWPTE/Busways even to Northumberland, Cleveland Transit or Hartlepool Corpy (or Darlington for that matter) nor OK, TMS or most of the other firms.

For many years, the Explorer was United, Northern and Northumbria plus Weardale, later adding the Metro and Ferry. Only when Stagey bought Busways, Transit and Hartlepool, Go Ahead bought OK, and NEB (was United, now Arriva) bought TMS and Eden did it become the comprehensive NE bus ticket it is now. I know Travelsure later joined the scheme, and there was an unadvertised rule that tendered services in Northumberland would accept them. I never established how true it was but I did travel on a Glen Valley bus with an Explorer ticket once.

Now, if having got the indies to accept the TNE tickets, they could get them to accept Explorer NE as well...

 

[Djgr]

Also long ago when it was all National Bus Company, the Wanderbus ticket existed. Essentially the All Line Rover but for buses. Sounds amazing.

Indeed. In the 1970s we used one from Birkenhead to Chepstow on local buses.

 

[BVW]

I believe that Norfolk County Council's Fusion day ticket (available on-bus for £15 adult and valid on fifteen operators around the county) permits travel along the whole line of route for stage services crossing the county border including the Excel to Peterborough, 505 to Spalding along with services to Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and other parts of Suffolk for example.

 

[Cesarcollie]

I believe that Norfolk County Council's Fusion day ticket (available on-bus for £15 adult and valid on fifteen operators around the county) permits travel along the whole line of route for stage services crossing the county border including the Excel to Peterborough, 505 to Spalding along with services to Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and other parts of Suffolk for example.

Ditto the Essex Saver in Essex.

 

[aron2smith]

@TheSel Thanks for sharing, really interesting reading your post and sounds like a great journey. I wondered why it cost £2.97 at one point. 3 tickets combined makes sense.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Feb 2026 ==

Before you get all misty-eyed about that, just a few things...it wasn't all the National Bus Company. It was only in the Midlands and South. And, of course, you could use it on London Country but not London Transport. In fact, the only non-NBC services that you could use it on were where there were joint ticketing/pooling agreements such as in Brighton.

When it was replaced by the Explorer ticket, which was the entire NBC, then it wasn't valid before 0900 on a weekday. There were also other vagaries so you could buy an NBC Explorer and use it on United and Northern General services but not wholly within Tyne and Wear... that was another ticket!

I know it wasn't valid on London Transport but that had its own red rover ticket at the time. London Country had green rovers and golden rovers.

Also sounds like Wanderbus covered enough of England in a way that stands out beyond anything existing today. I know at least Arriva and Stagecoach do regional tickets but they only cover their own services. It's not the same.

The Explorer sounds really cool too.

Only in Northern Ireland, did I see anything similar as a iLink zone 4 card covers all Translink buses and coaches (trains too). They also offer unlimited travel tickets on buses and separately on trains for £10 on Sundays. Much smaller than England but still a cool idea. Buses over there on a Sunday are pointless though.

Also if other county wide bus tickets are like Herts Intalink Connect All Zones ticket, then they can be used on a number of cross-boundary routes, but just have to check the local bus information in your area.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I know it wasn't valid on London Transport but that had its own red rover ticket at the time. London Country had green rovers and golden rovers.

Indeed - there were Golden Rovers that did allow London Country and London Transport travel...but not every NBC subsidiary so again there were distinctions. My point is that when we hark back to halcyon days, the things we complain about today existed then!

Also sounds like Wanderbus covered enough of England in a way that stands out beyond anything existing today. I know at least Arriva and Stagecoach do regional tickets but they only cover their own services. It's not the same.

Wanderbus did but didn't at the same time. Buy one on Eastern National or United Counties and travel on LT... don't think it allowed that. Buy one in the Midlands and you could travel on Midland Red and Trent, but what about West Mids PTE, Stevensons, Barton or Nottingham CT...Nope.

The Discovery ticket in SE England and the TNE DaySaver cover huge swathes of the country. Explorer NE would be great if it extended to the indies (mainly Weardale, Hodgsons and GCT) but is still pretty good.

The irony is that it's the PTE areas that have the strongest, least porous borders in terms of ticketing, and arguably have also contributed to the decline of cross border routes (but that's another story).

Whilst you mention 1BWS, Wales also has the West Wales Rover (Carm/Cere/Pem) and the SE Wales Network Rider - both tickets that allow you to travel on virtually all services over huge tracts of land. Powys has its own day rover (which allows you to travel across places like Hereford, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Abergavenny etc) - for some reason, it's only Swansea and Neath Port Talbot that don't have multi operator tickets!

 

[mchunt]

I'm not sure the bit I've emboldened is quite right. According to this TfGM site it's a little easier than that.

How to buy your ticket​

You can buy your ticket at a rail station, on the train if the ticket office is closed, at an Information and Ticket Office, or at a PayPoint store.

You can buy your ticket up to three days in advance.


The GB Rail Rover site (http://www.railrover.org/pages/greater-manchester-wayfarer.html) says similar.

I bought one from a ticket machine at Manchester Piccadilly last year.

 

[Dwarfer1979]

Also sounds like Wanderbus covered enough of England in a way that stands out beyond anything existing today. I know at least Arriva and Stagecoach do regional tickets but they only cover their own services. It's not the same.

The Explorer sounds really cool too.

Wanderbus was still only a single operator ticket, that single operator as NBC was a big one but it doesn't appear it or its replacements were valid on municipals or independents except where certain wider ticketing arrangements existed so it is no different to what Stagecoach in particular do (not sure what the wording is now but last time I looked, before the £3 fare cap came in, the widest area Day ticket option at many Stagecoach operations were useable on lots of other Stagecoach operators so it was possible to get from the South Coast to Leicester on a single ticket (in theory at least, it was a bit difficult to get from the southern ops to Oxford).

As others have said the "golden days" were little better than they are today, just in different ways, and even today some of the good practices arent' as good as they seem. London is always held up as a place with multi-operator ticketing but it isn't, tickets are just valid on TfL buses (they may contract in providers but they are all TfL branded and managed) and even the expansion onto rail has come more from increasing TfL influence. Manchester though is tackling this more like people talk up, it is becoming properly multi-modal with trains becoming more completely included, and it is multi-operator as non-Bee Network operators are included in most of the ticketing products (only the Tap & Cap appears to really be Bee Network only). The wider the area the cover, and the more organisations you include, the harder it is to actually get a useful product agreed as you will get increasingly deviating priorities and requirements arising. Some level of cross boundary agreement, or a single wide area product on top of the local product, may be possible but it won't be an immediate priority to authorities focussing on improving the local services of their residents as soon as possible.

 

[JKP]

The Wanderbus ticket was good for exploring though I did once almost come unstuck. Having reached Shrewsbury from Welshpool one Saturday afternoon on a Crosville bus, I discovered that my next bus to Whitchurch was not Midland Red or Crosville but operated by Salopia. Fortunately I managed to convince the driver that as a joint service the ticket was valid.

 

[Deerfold]

I'm glad this topic has come up, because I've always said there should be an entire North of England and North Midlands ticket. It's not unreasonable for someone living in Barnsley to travel out to somewhere in the Peak District via Sheffield for a day out, say Barnsley to Chatsworth, Bakewell etc, you could even argue that Wakefield to Chatsworth could be an option, although that would be stretching things a bit.

The next 2 reasonable bus travel opportunities that I've personally done include suburbs in South/West Leeds close to the 254 and 229 routes to Glossop via Huddersfield and Holmfirth, although I'll admit that does mean an early start to get a good few hours in Glossop and can only be done once a week, but the next is far more reasonable and that's from the same places to Uppermill and Greenfield via Huddersfield.

There was a time when you could get a ticket for the Peak District including buses from Huddersfield and Holmfirth.

Travelling from Wakefield to Uppermill/Greenfield via Huddersfield is another quite reasonable option giving people from Wakefield direct access to Saddleworth villages and countryside. For shoppers and football fans, Wetherby to York City Football Club/Monks Cross (a number of supporters do come from the Wetherby area) is a doable option, you've also got the likes of Barnsley to Bradford/Huddersfield via Wakefield by bus given the expensive walk up train fares and cancellation of trains for various reasons, Keighley to places in the Dales you can only reach by connecting bus, e.g. Malham on a weekday, Ingleton etc isn't unreasonable, nor too is Keighley to Huddersfield via Bradford or Halifax, again given the expense of walk up rail fares and disruption to rail services.

There are West Yorkshire day tickets that allow travel from Keighley to Huddersfield. There used to be an hourly bus from Keighley to Huddersfield taking about 90 minutes until the last at 2220 from Keighley (a later bus went as far as Halifax).

There were also hourly buses from Barnsley to Bradford via Wakefield and to Huddersfield. The PTEs produced a joint bus ticket combining a MetroCard and a TravelMaster called a MetroMaster which was about a third cheaper than them separately. They withdrew it after most of the cross-boundary services disappeared.
Unfortunately, Dalesbus tickets aren't available during the week.

I could list thousands of travel opportunities people are willing to take but are having to fork out more for fares when one simple ticket covering the whole North of England and North Midlands would do nicely.

I used to do Beeston, Nottingham to Manchester on a day ticket a couple of times a year, stopping off at assorted places in the Peak District, but that was just one operator. Just had to be careful on the timing of a short bit of route that only got a two-hourly bus, with more frequent services either side (at least to Stockport from where I could get a train to my final destination for 10p more than from Manchester).

 

[mangad]

As others have said the "golden days" were little better than they are today, just in different ways, and even today some of the good practices arent' as good as they seem. London is always held up as a place with multi-operator ticketing but it isn't, tickets are just valid on TfL buses (they may contract in providers but they are all TfL branded and managed) and even the expansion onto rail has come more from increasing TfL influence. Manchester though is tackling this more like people talk up, it is becoming properly multi-modal with trains becoming more completely included, and it is multi-operator as non-Bee Network operators are included in most of the ticketing products (only the Tap & Cap appears to really be Bee Network only).

One of the differences with London is that non-TfL cross boundary buses are quite focused around the boundary - or, specifically, towns at the edges of Greater London. You get buses running into Croydon and Kingston-upon-Thames (for example), but not any deeper. And with a bigger area of operations, and many high frequency services, the absence of non-TfL services isn't as noticeable. It's also where things have evolved over time.

In Greater Manchester you have a new setup where they've been able to take a step back and go "what should we be doing." And you also have several non-TfGM services that run in fairly deep. High Peak's 199 going all the way to the airport, and the 394 from Glossop to Stepping Hill both serve areas of Greater Manchester where there's currently no Bee Network services.

Arguably even if TfGM didn't stipulate the rules, the 199 would end up following TfGM fares and things anyway for much of its route because between Stockport and Hazel Grove its route is shared with the far more frequent 192. In Derbyshire High Peak runs a service between New Mills and Hazel Grove which is up against the Bee Network 358. System One passes were already accepted in that area anyway, but High Peak have ended up matching the Bee Network £2 single, no doubt because there was no real way they couldn't if they wanted to keep their passengers.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arguably even if TfGM didn't stipulate the rules, the 199 would end up following TfGM fares and things anyway for much of its route because between Stockport and Hazel Grove its route is shared with the far more frequent 192. In Derbyshire High Peak runs a service between New Mills and Hazel Grove which is up against the Bee Network 358. System One passes were already accepted in that area anyway, but High Peak have ended up matching the Bee Network £2 single, no doubt because there was no real way they couldn't if they wanted to keep their passengers.

One of the great unknowns is what happens if there is a cost differential in future, as that is one of the aspects that has screwed cross border services around London.

 

[ChrisC]

To be honest, it seems a bit odd that the SY ticket doesn't offer a cross border validity whereas the Derbyshire one does although does allow you to travel to various towns in Staffs (Burton, Leek, Uttoxeter) and to Macc and Sheffield but not to Notts? So perhaps it should be that the SY ticket is valid for any journey that begins starts in South Yorkshire?

I’ve always wondered why the Derbyshire Wayfarer has never allowed any cross border travel into Notts. It seems unfair that travel is allowed into parts of neighbouring Staffordshire, Sheffield and even into Cheshire, but it won’t even allow straying one bus stop over the border into Notts. So many towns in Notts, including Mansfield, Sutton in Ashfield, Eastwood and even Worksop are so close to the Derbyshire border. I don’t know who funds the Derbyshire Wayfarer and wonder if authorities such as Staffordshire and Sheffield contribute to its funding but Nottinghamshire doesn’t. Before I got my ENCTS pass I used to drive a few miles over the border and park in a street where I felt it was safe to leave my car for the day whenever I used a Wayfarer.

Hopefully at some point in the future the new Mayor for the combined areas of Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire, Derby City and Derbyshire may introduce a multi operator ticket in Notts and one which will allow cross border travel into Derbyshire. Within Derbyshire many of the large towns such as Ilkeston, Long Eaton, Heanor, Ripley and Alfreton are so close to the Nottinghamshire border with many people regularly doing cross border journeys. Bus travel, involving more than one bus can be so expensive in parts of Nottinghamshire when there isn’t even a ticket which includes both Stagecoach and Trent Barton buses.