Bus services that enter private property (except shopping centres/supermarkets/works only)

[EYFanatic]

a goat drawn bus? That's rare

Not a goat driven/drawn bus but I do recall a few years ago being told of a bus driver in the States who had a goat as his service animal which he was entitled to have under the federal law and to get around the city ordinances regarding certain animals not permitted on what we'd call a PSV, the bus company decide to badge the animal as a conductor

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Just a thought here, but can we include any and all services that stop/start at Green Line in London as that is privately owned by the Duke of Westminster and TFL just rent it for use?

 

[Joshua_Harman]

Go South Coast’s Unlink buses go into N.O.C.S inside Southampton docks, barriers security checkpoint etc, normally the bus gets waved through but they do check sometimes the driver and people on board etc.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Point of order, Mr Speaker...

Officially the M3 and M6 finish at the stop on the main road which is a public highway - although they de facto use the car park to turn around in, its not an official thing

(edited to clarify)

I believe the same is the true of the new open top Go North East 300 service between Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. It turns around in the holiday park grounds but I think technically that's after the final outbound stop and before the first inbound one (though both times I've used it, many passengers have remained on board to do the return back into Whitley Bay town centre or Tynemouth).

 

[W-on-Sea]

Numerous routes in the Didcot area (I think all Thames Travel or Oxford Bus Co) run via private roads at Harwell Campus; some routes do similarly at the Milton Park business park nearby

 

[High Dyke]

During my time driving we had various services that ventured into military camps, passing through the security checkpoints on the way.

 

[TheSel]

Stagecoach East Midlands 17 runs into the Haven 'Cleethorpes Beach' Holiday Park at the south end of its route.

Also, local service 9 does the same thing Monday - Saturday evenings and all day Sunday.

My pics below of Volvo / Wright Eclipse 16965 passing through the barriers last month on the 17 and ADL / Enviro 400MMC 10909 at the terminus (a good half mile or more into the park) working an evening '9' (despite branding for 'the eleven' which relates to its former home in Ayrshire!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

During my time driving we had various services that ventured into military camps, passing through the security checkpoints on the way.

mentioned in post #16

 

[JGurney]

There are also plenty that serve holiday camps and holiday and residential caravan parks.

For example Carlone Buses service 593 Staines - Lynne serves two residential caravan parks. It passes through one mobile home park on route, including serving a stop inside the site, and terminates inside another.

Whether passengers who had no business being in either site were technically trespassing if they alighted at the stops inside each site, or remained on board riding into the site where the route terminates, is an interesting question. Clearly by allowing the bus to enter their property when it will obviously be carrying passengers travelling further, the owners of the site passed through have by implication given those passengers permission to enter their property as bus passengers, but not necessarily to get off within it. (In practice when I rode on the 593 into the caravan site where it terminates, no-one questioned my presence as I walked from the internal bus stop back to the main entrance and left the site).

 

[EYFanatic]

Just a thought and, perhaps, more London based people will correct me, but before the withdrawal of the Routemasters from service from Westbourne Park garage, anybody sitting on the top deck of the Routemasters departing from the stands just inside the garage limits would travel 29.8 feet on private land

Assuming that counts

 

[43010]

Buses from Exeter to the Airport & Sidmouth serve the Met Office estate (with lifting entrance and exit barriers). A government agency, to be pedantic however.

I don't think that happens anymore - the buses now just stop on Honiton Road.

 

[YorkRailFan]

East Yorkshire 747 enters HMP Full Sutton on certain journeys.

Arriva Northumbria X18 enters HMPS Northumberland.

East Yorkshire 81/X81 and Moorsbus M8 stop in the car park at Castle Howard, just outside the Garden Centre.

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I believe the same is the true of the new open top Go North East 300 service between Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. It turns around in the holiday park grounds but I think technically that's after the final outbound stop and before the first inbound one (though both times I've used it, many passengers have remained on board to do the return back into Whitley Bay town centre or Tynemouth).

Similar thing with DalesBus 875/876. They technically drop off on the main road outside the Wensleydale Creamery in Gayle, but turn around in the Creamery car park and usually pick up in the car park for the return journey back towards York/Leeds.

The National Park owned Car Park in Buckden is the terminus for North Yorkshire Council 72A, Upper Wharfedale Venturer 72B and DalesBus 874.

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East Yorkshire's Coaster 13 serves a lot of holiday villages along its route, some are served from the main road but a handful are served directly by the bus entering the holiday village and having its own turning circle.

 

[Hyebone]

Unsure if it meets the criteria, but Worksop route CP1 enters Clumber Park, a National Trust site. It's funded by the National Trust however.

 

[Wolfie]

Regional Transport T1 enters Attingham Park on its return journey to Ironbridge, and infact the driver has to open a goat to get into the stop once in the car park.
It is a sightseeing bus service however so not sure if it would count for this list.

As a fellow Salopian - born Broseley, lived Ironbridge then Madeley, who is now down South - l absolutely love the predictive text/typo "open a goat" lol.....

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In the more distant past now, but Birch Brothers and later United Counties had services that went into Chicksands USAF base. From my (not always reliable) memory, there were armed guards at the entrance, but, once inside, it was exactly how you thought a small town in the U.S. would look.

Knowing what is now at Chicksands l would be incredibly surprised if that was still the case.

 

[dgl]

A few First Wessex services do,
11 Weymouth to Portland Bill stops at the National Trust car park at Portland Bill
12 Weymouth to Littlesea Holiday Park stops within the park
X54 Weymouth to Wool/Wareham/Swanage stops in the Lulworth Cove car park which is owned by the Lulworth estate, and two services go in to the grounds of Purbeck school
55 Lulworth to Monkey World and The Tank Museum stops within the grounds of both attractions and Lulworth Cove car park
A couple of X51 journeys stop within Colfox school

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

East Yorkshire 747 enters HMP Full Sutton on certain journeys.

Arriva Northumbria X18 enters HMPS Northumberland.

The 402 also serves HMP Dovegate between Uttoxeter and Burton

 

[steamybrian]

Dungeness is legally private property owned by EDF Energy (according to Wikipedia)
When I have travelled by car to Dungeness I have seen roadside signs stating it is a private property but the public are welcome..!

There are several bus routes that serve the area. Experts on here can research that.

 

[Mark L]

Airports are all private property and access to them is subject to their published bye-laws.

 

[richard13]

a goat drawn bus? That's rare

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jul 2026 ==

Does the Porlock Hill toll road still have any buses or do they now use the normal road?

The Porlock Hill toll road now has a 7.5T weight limit and is signed as a Woodland scenic drive - hardly anyone goes that way now. Modern vehicles should cope with 1:4, but towed caravans and HGVs are recommended to go around.

 

[duncombec]

Dungeness is legally private property owned by EDF Energy (according to Wikipedia)
When I have travelled by car to Dungeness I have seen roadside signs stating it is a private property but the public are welcome..!

There are several bus routes that serve the area. Experts on here can research that.

I don't believe this is the case: all bus routes that serve "Dungeness" stay on the main road, before curving around to Lydd-on-Sea (the bus stop labelled as Dungeness Power Station is really part way between Lydd and Lydd-on-Sea).

The only bus service to regularly serve the private estate part (i.e. south of the Pilot Inn) is the annual 132 service for the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway bus rally.

 

[The exile]

Local Authority Land is the private property of the authority - it is not public highway or public open space. It can be gated and closed as many P&R sites are at night.

Fair enough - in which case add quite a few modern housing and other mixed-use developments.

 

[Mark L]

The various busways (Leigh, Cambridgeshire, Kent Fastrack etc) probably fall into the category of “private property” as well.

 

[Martin1988]

Service 620 (Bath to Old Sodbury) has a journey in each direction that stops inside Chipping Sodbury School.

I've definitely been on journeys out of Chippenham in the past which have gone into the grounds of Sheldon School and I think there might be buses that go into the grounds of KLB School and Writhlington School.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Service 620 (Bath to Old Sodbury) has a journey in each direction that stops inside Chipping Sodbury School.

I've definitely been on journeys out of Chippenham in the past which have gone into the grounds of Sheldon School and I think there might be buses that go into the grounds of KLB School and Writhlington School.

If you're going to include schools, we will have hundreds of examples...

 

[EYFanatic]

East Yorkshire 747 enters HMP Full Sutton on certain journeys.

Most of them going to York and only one to Pocklington - maybe catering for release times?

 

[Haywain]

The Luton and Dunstable busway and the Cambridge busway?

 

[YorkRailFan]

Most of them going to York and only one to Pocklington - maybe catering for release times?

On Saturdays only there's a journey from Pocklington that terminates at the Prison. Perhaps its catering for staff change over times at start/end of shifts?

 

[DunsBus]

Stagecoach Hants & Surrey service 1 from Aldershot to Camberley, Old Dean. The section of route between Aldershot and Farnborough, via Princes Avenue, runs through MOD land.

 

[PeterC]

Google shows severalbus stops within the university estate at Aberystwyth although only one seems to be in use during the Long Vacation. Even so an improvement on my misspent days there a lifetime ago.

 

[341o2]

Morebus 86, 112, 119, & 120 use the main road through Ampress Industrial Estate to reach Lymington hospital, 191 serves Glendene Caravan Park New Milton, in that it turns around at the main entrance

New Forest Green Tour serves Lymington Adventure Golf, New Forest Wildlife Park, Beaulieu Motor Museum (as does one journey on the 112), and Exbury Gardens.

New Forest Tour Blue serves Hoburne Bashley holiday park as does Breezer 70 Hoburne Naish

Do station approaches such as Brockenhurst and New Milton count?

 

[noddingdonkey]

The 398/399 used to go into Storthes Hall Park when it was student accommodation for Huddersfield.