Trivia: Towns or notable settlements requiring more than one bus to access the railway

I've often thought of this, such places often seem like the pole of inaccessibility to me: Which towns Britain require more than one bus/other means of local public transport to access the railway?

Obviously we'll have to come up with some definitions: A town is a place either with a town council (this should be easy - any parish council can declare itself a town - and the official definition) or a market cross, an historical definition of what made a town prior to the self-identification system being introduced. I list of the latter is available on Wikipedia, which as we all know is always true

A bus service, to count, must not be seasonal or a market day only service (if anything this enhances the possibilities available_. Combinations of services providing a consistent service to a given settlement are however permissible. Sunday only services also don't count. The railway is the National Rail network and must be served by a TOC or OAO (must not be closed to regular passengers basically), but I'll allow light rail to sort-of-count for the purposes of debate, alternatively, it could count as a bus-equivalent. To serve the railway, a bus or bus-equivalent must stop within about a 20 minute walk of the relevant station, otherwise another bus will be considered required, increasing the score. Heritage railways don't count as they don't tend to provide a reliable service and almost always don't operate year round, at least not all year including weekdays.

So Masham, I think, is an example: It has a market cross so is a town (a market town) - even if the council is called the parish council. It needs two buses to access, as there is no service to a town with a mainline railway station, the choices generally being Richmond (no station - need to get a bus to Darlington or Northallerton), Bedale (need to get a bus to Northallerton) or Ripon (need to get a bus to Harrogate, Leeds, York or Thirsk). I think I got that right! I'm expecting there to be a good number in the North of Scotland but I'm not sure there'll be all that many in England. We shall see!

mikeg said:

I'm expecting there to be a good number in the North of Scotland

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I think you are in for a disappointment. There may be communities in the South-west which are off the main trunk bus route from Dumfries to Stranraer, but whether any are 'towns' is another question. Maybe Wigtown.

mikeg said:

So Masham, I think, is an example: It has a market cross so is a town (a market town) - even if the council is called the parish council. It needs two buses to access, as there is no service to a town with a mainline railway station, the choices generally being Richmond (no station - need to get a bus to Darlington or Northallerton), Bedale (need to get a bus to Northallerton) or Ripon (need to get a bus to Harrogate, Leeds, York or Thirsk). I think I got that right! I'm expecting there to be a good number in the North of Scotland but I'm not sure there'll be all that many in England. We shall see!

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The only slight wrinkle might be that on Sundays there is a direct service to York (but I would agree to you on a normal service day).

mikeg said:

So Masham, I think, is an example: It has a market cross so is a town (a market town) - even if the council is called the parish council.

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Masham isn't a big place though. If 1200 people live there I would be surprised. The market also is not great these days.

The was a through bus from Northallerton ( I used in many times in them olden days when a friend ran a pub up that way) and am surprised to see it has been cut back to Bedale. It is not one of those timetable things were the same bus changes number is it?

You can, of course, access the "Railway" at Bedale or Leyburn by bus from Masham

NorthOxonian said:

The only slight wrinkle might be that on Sundays there is a direct service to York (but I would agree to you on a normal service day).

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Is that a "Dales Bus" service?

Leek might be worth considering. For a town of 20,000 the links to train stations are pretty tenuous. This is largely because to trunk route to ‘Stoke’ actually terminates at Hanley Bus Station with a further bus to Stoke-on-Trent train station generally recommended.

Yes there is a low frequency bus service between (Ashbourne-) Leek and Buxton but it terminates at Buxton Market Place. This may only be an 11-minute walk from the train station (as alleged by Google Maps) but you really need to be familiar with Buxton to appreciate it. (Buxton is always hilly, up and down and commonly cold/ wet/ windy/ snowy.) It will be necessary to cross two busy roads. Not to be recommended for those with walking difficulties or luggage. Yes, there are ‘second leg’ buses but obviously fails the principal criterion.

Welcome to the Peak District as the saying goes.

mikeg said:

I'm expecting there to be a good number in the North of Scotland but I'm not sure there'll be all that many in England. We shall see!

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Probably not as many as you'd think.

The Far North Line is actually reasonably well-connected until Helmsdale (Culrain being a notable exception, unless your 20 minute walk can be expanded to include swimming )

The Kyle line is fine from Inverness until Achnashellach.

Tulloch/Corrour/Rannoch on the West Highland Line.

The above aren't connected by bus at all, but I also don't think any of them would meet the definition of a 'town'!

Scotland is actually reasonably well-connected public transport wise, until you get into the tiny settlements in the Highlands. I spent a couple of years living in a village of less than a thousand people, and we had bus services arriving and leaving gone midnight. Pricey though.

styles said:

Probably not as many as you'd think.

The Far North Line is actually reasonably well-connected until Helmsdale (Culrain being a notable exception, unless your 20 minute walk can be expanded to include swimming )

The Kyle line is fine from Inverness until Achnashellach.

Tulloch/Corrour/Rannoch on the West Highland Line.

The above aren't connected by bus at all, but I also don't think any of them would meet the definition of a 'town'!

Scotland is actually reasonably well-connected public transport wise, until you get into the tiny settlements in the Highlands. I spent a couple of years living in a village of less than a thousand people, and we had bus services arriving and leaving gone midnight. Pricey though.

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I was wondering about anything else classed as a town on Lewis / Harris as, if flying is out, you’d need a bus to Stornoway then another one on from Ullapool.

oldman said:

Maybe Wigtown.

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Wigtown in South West Scotland has buses to/from Stranraer.

Dr Hoo said:

Leek might be worth considering.

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Leek has buses to/from Macclesfield as well as to/from Buxton.

I seem to recall in about 2015 when I was walking that part of the SW coast path that virtually all buses from Salcombe terminated at Kingsbridge - it was necessary to get a connecting bus to Totnes. However, it seems to run (quite sensibly) as a through service now.

Camelford seems to have one daily service each way to Okehampton and one daily service to St Austell, both of which appear intended for school traffic, allowing one Okehampton - Camelford and one Camelford - St Austell return journey in that direction only. So it effectively requires two buses for any meaningful use. There appear to be slightly more buses to Bodmin - but since there are no safe walking routes to Bodmin Parkway that I can see, you'd still need another bus to access the railway.

I can't see anywhere else out west which seems to qualify.

Freshwater, Isle of Wight. Two buses to reach Islandline or one and a ferry to reach Lymington. (Unless you are going to include the limited, summer only Island Coaster.)

Mcr Warrior said:

Leek has buses to/from Macclesfield as well as to/from Buxton.

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Fair enough, albeit irregular, infrequent and strictly ‘working day /school day’.

@Dr Hoo. Six buses each way (between Leek and Macclesfield or vice-versa) during the week and four each way on Saturdays. Better service provision between these towns than a lot of places.

Mcr Warrior said:

@Dr Hoo. Six buses each way (between Leek and Macclesfield or vice-versa) during the week and four each way on Saturdays. Better service provision between these towns than a lot of places.

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Yes, I know what the timetable is like. This is where this type of ‘arbitrary’ thread falls down, especially when we’re talking about a town of 20,000 with a college and so on in comparison with some of the other suggestions.

The simple fact is that if you want to arrive or depart on a train at Leek the ‘best’ option is often the ‘two bus’ option via Hanley and Stoke. Even Leek <> Macclesfield is often most expeditious that way unless you are completely flexible about desired departure/ arrival time.

DarloRich said:

The was a through bus from Northallerton ( I used in many times in them olden days when a friend ran a pub up that way) and am surprised to see it has been cut back to Bedale. It is not one of those timetable things were the same bus changes number is it?

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Bedale - Masham is I think three a day whereas Bedale - Northallerton is roughly hourly from breakfast time till early evening. Definitely not the same vehicles - the one from Northallerton does a loop round the town to avoid having to turn round and then heads straight back

The exile said:

I was wondering about anything else classed as a town on Lewis / Harris as, if flying is out, you’d need a bus to Stornoway then another one on from Ullapool.

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Although Stornoway is the only town on Lewis /Harris.

Well Borrowdale has a parish council, not sure they would ever consider declaring themselves a town, but clearly 2 buses needed to get from Borrowdale to railway station. Borrowdale to Keswick then Keswick to, well take your pick, Carlisle, Penrith, Workington....

Baltasound in Shetland It requires multiple busses and ferries to get to Lerwick, then a ferry to Aberdeen, then walking to the station. I am aware that Baltasound is not a town.

Cumbria as others have mentioned has awful public transport but most buses end up in a town with a station.

Arnside?

philthetube said:

Arnside?

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Has its own railway station, so no need for a bus at all.

Doh, sorry.