Bus use with Explore West Wales Ranger (rail) ticket

I'm off to Pembroke for a few days tomorrow & have been investigating rail & bus tickets for unlimited travel in the West Wales area.

The Explore West Wales Ranger ticket (£15) is valid on trains west of Carmarthen, and also according to the TFW website all local bus services too. Is this correct? Elsewhere on their site, a map shows it valid on T1, T5, & T11 buses, but no mention of other routes.

An alternative is West Wales day rover ticket which is bus only and £9.

In short, I'll probably go for the £15 ticket if it includes all buses, but the £9 one if not. Anyone out there know?

Thanks for any help in advance.

davetheguard said:

I'm off to Pembroke for a few days tomorrow & have been investigating rail & bus tickets for unlimited travel in the West Wales area.

The Explore West Wales Ranger ticket (£15) is valid on trains west of Carmarthen, and also according to the TFW website all local bus services too. Is this correct? Elsewhere on their site, a map shows it valid on T1, T5, & T11 buses, but no mention of other routes.

An alternative is West Wales day rover ticket which is bus only and £9.

In short, I'll probably go for the £15 ticket if it includes all buses, but the £9 one if not. Anyone out there know?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Click to expand...

If I was going to be optimistic I would say that the extension to include all local buses is recent and not all the website has been updated yet.

What a shame that nobody local has experience of this to share.

I've phoned TfW customer services up, and after spending two separate periods on hold, they've told me that the ticket is indeed valid on
all local bus routes, including the Fflecsi demand responsive bus, as well as the Traws Cymru longer distance buses.

With all TfW trains west from Carmarthen part of the deal (but not GWR) as well, it is quite a bargain for £15 for a day's unlimited travel.

We'll just have to see what happens in reality when I present what is basically a railway ranger ticket to bus drivers.......
Wish me luck!

My experience with these lesser known bus rangers is there's a difference between what's valid in theory and in practice!

I'm sure it'll be fine but make sure you have a webpage/source handy in case you encounter any arguments with drivers.

Djgr said:

If I was going to be optimistic I would say that the extension to include all local buses is recent and not all the website has been updated yet.

Click to expand...

The NRE rovers page has an attached map dated 2024 in the URL that just shows the T1A/T5/T11, whereas TfW's page has a 2025 version which clearly states that the ticket is valid on all local buses. Unfortunately there is no solid evidence as to the extent of the validity, as it only shows the rail network on the map (the old version shows the bus routes the ticket was valid on), making it about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Having a list of routes or even participating operators would help in any discussions with doubting drivers.

I had trouble with an Explore Cardiff and Valleys ranger on the Stagecoach bus between Merthyr and Aberdare last year, and the driver had to phone his control, who eventually told him to give us the benefit of the doubt, which seems to be a common outcome of these types of encounters.

As a regular visitor I'd be grateful if you could please report back on your findings.

The map shows it valid on buses as far north as Aberystwyth, however I am mainly interested in acceptance on the First 349 and the Pembrokeshire Council 387/388

https://tickets.trc.cymru/storage/images/original/8f8a1992-5504-433d-9f26-06dd446112f0.png

Brum900 said:

As a regular visitor I'd be grateful if you could please report back on your findings.

The map shows it valid on buses as far north as Aberystwyth, however I am mainly interested in acceptance on the First 349 and the Pembrokeshire Council 387/388

https://tickets.trc.cymru/storage/images/original/8f8a1992-5504-433d-9f26-06dd446112f0.png

Click to expand...

That looks like the old map only showing validity on Traws Cymru.

Well I'm back from Pembrokeshire so can report.

I bought the Explore West Wales Ranger on two days - both in advance of travel: one day on train from the GWR Guard on the way to Wales which was issued on bog roll, and once from the ticket office at Cardiff Central which was issued on CCST.

Bus wise, we used the super-friendly 387 Coastal Cruiser route from & to Pembroke; and the 349 Tenby - Pembroke - Haverfordwest route several times. On each occasion I explained the ticket was a "bus and train day ticket" (note my choice of word order), and the ticket was accepted with a shrug, and no problems. I don't think in reality that anyone had seen one before. We had a mobile ready with the TfW webpage that mentions it's validity on all local bus services,
but we never needed to show it.

The ticket proved to be very good value for money.

Good to hear, many thanks for the feedback. The 387/388 is a very friendly service, on previous trips I recall the driver briefly stopping to pick some honesty box eggs and picking blackberries out of the cab window. A different world.

Brum900 said:

Good to hear, many thanks for the feedback. The 387/388 is a very friendly service, on previous trips I recall the driver briefly stopping to pick some honesty box eggs and picking blackberries out of the cab window. A different world.

Click to expand...

The same driver works the entire day's 387/388 timetable most days (well Monday - Friday at least). He told us it's the best job in the world.

An update on a recent visit, pretty much the same experience as davetheguard's although using the mobile version of the ticket rather than printed.

A driver on the Firstbus 349 asked to scan the ticket which the machine showed as Invalid. He took some persuading but accepted the ticket was valid after showing him the TFW web page stating "valid on all bus operators".

Two different drivers on later 349s seemed familiar with it and didn't ask to be scanned.

The Coastal Shuttle driver didn't recognise what it was but happily accepted it.

I relayed this to Tfw so maybe they will issue an update to drivers of this (probably not often purchased) ticket