Journeys between train stations which can be made quicker by bus

[crispy1978]

Not sure if this has been covered before.

Basically, the idea is to name journeys between two existing railway stations where the trip can be made quicker by bus than it can by rail.

I suspect there will be a lot!

The one in my neck of the woods which comes to mind is Scarborough to Whitby. You can catch a bus in an hour, but the train (via York, Darlington and Middlesbrough) takes 3 hours 55 minutes. Even a bus to Pickering, and then the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Whitby would be quicker!

I suspect a lot of termini stations will fall in to this category.

 

[CockneySparrow]

Not sure if this has been covered before.

Basically, the idea is to name journeys between two existing railway stations where the trip can be made quicker by bus than it can by rail.

I suspect there will be a lot!

The one in my neck of the woods which comes to mind is Scarborough to Whitby. You can catch a bus in an hour, but the train (via York, Darlington and Middlesbrough) takes 3 hours 55 minutes. Even a bus to Pickering, and then the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Whitby would be quicker!

I suspect a lot of termini stations will fall in to this category.

Ely to Newmarket, 50 minutes on bus nearly 2 hours on the train, 15 miles

 

[Welshman]

You're right - as you will know, you could get from Scarborough to Whitby by train [and an excellent run it was too], until the closure of many railway lines in the 1950s-70s.

My favourite example of the very many is Bangor [although not a terminus] to Pwllheli. There used to be a rail service via Caernarfon and Afon Wen. Now, it's about 75-90 minutes by bus, depending on your connections in Caernarfon. If the Welsh Highland Railway or Ffestiniog were open you could enjoy a lovely journey via Beddgelert/Blaenau and Porthmadog. If not, don't even think about going by Network Rail via Llandudno Junc, Chester, Shrewsbury & Machynlleth unless you've a day to spare!

 

[trickyvegas]

Stalybridge to Hadfield. One hour 12 by train or 20-25 minutes by bus.

 

[Widnes Planner]

Stockport to Manchester Airport - 15mins by direct bus, 35mins by "direct" train. And yet people still complain when their rail link is disrupted...

 

[pinguini]

Coventry - Solihull. It's over an hour by train, about 45 minutes bus

 

[306024]

Ely to Newmarket, 50 minutes on bus nearly 2 hours on the train, 15 miles

2 hours? I guess it depends on the time of day - the standard pattern takes around 1hr 10 mins from Ely to Newmarket, still slower than the bus time quoted, but most of the time is waiting for the connection at Cambridge.

I'll suggest Fort William to Inverness, but can't be bothered to work out the difference.

 

[cuccir]

Not that there's anything inherently wrong in repeating threads, but we did this just a few months ago!

 

[crispy1978]

You're right - as you will know, you could get from Scarborough to Whitby by train [and an excellent run it was too], until the closure of many railway lines in the 1950s-70s.

My favourite example of the very many is Bangor [although not a terminus] to Pwllheli. There used to be a rail service via Caernarfon and Afon Wen. Now, it's about 75-90 minutes by bus, depending on your connections in Caernarfon. If the Welsh Highland Railway or Ffestiniog were open you could enjoy a lovely journey via Beddgelert/Blaenau and Porthmadog. If not, don't even think about going by Network Rail via Llandudno Junc, Chester, Shrewsbury & Machynlleth unless you've a day to spare!

I'm doing Scarborough-London (stop overnight) and then London-Penychain (near enough to Pwllheli!) - that's a long enough journey in itself! But the scenery is delightful!!

 

[SS4]

Coventry - Solihull. It's over an hour by train, about 45 minutes bus

I'd also hazard that Birmingham International - Solihull is the same deal being about 20 minutes on the 966

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

Fort William to Inverness

How about Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh? Even with a boat over to Skye and then the bus, it would be rather quicker than the train!

 

[adamcoppard]

Yeovil Pen Mill - Yeovil Junction!

2.4mi by road - with bus service. Would take a while by train (unless you count a non-stopping sleeper service which does occasionally use the curve between the two stations, but is the only thing I know of that does).

 

[telstarbox]

Staplehurst or Headcorn to Maidstone, although Paddock Wood (on the same line) is quicker by train.

 

[pjnathanail]

Buxton to Matlock
51 minutes by bus (Transpeak)
3 hours, 55 minutes by train (Buxton-Stockport-Stoke on Trent-Derby-Matlock)

 

[JoeH]

High Wycombe to Bourne End

Buses do it in about thirty minutes but it would probably take a couple of hours on a train (via London). Buses also run more frequently.

 

[Statto]

St Helens Central-St Helens Junction, bus at most takes 15 minutes, train involves changing at Huyton with fast trains St Helens Central-Huyton along taking 10 minutes.

 

[JGR]

You could just about do Ipswich to Derby Road faster by bus if the traffic was light.

 

[D365]

Huntingdon-Cambridge...

 

[crosscity]

Bradford Interchange to Bradford Forster Square. 5 minutes by bus, min 55 minutes by train (via Shipley).

Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Victoria. 12-13 minutes by bus, minimum 23 minutes by train (via Salford Crescent). Interestingly there is apparently no direct bus between these two stations. Transport Direct advise you to walk to Piccadilly Gardens and catch a bus from there. The free City Centre buses serve both stations, but you have to change as they are on different routes. I suppose it's done that way to force you on to the tram - or walk!

 

[Ze Random One]

I'd like to contend Thornaby to Heworth.
Thornaby Station is 3 minutes walk to one of the bus stops on Durham Uni's Teesdale campus (Harvard Avenue / Kirkdale) and the X10 bus from there takes 54 minutes.
The direct, fastest, Northern Rail service, running a similar route, takes 1h03m
In fact the Middlesbrough - Newcastle service is very competitive (1h20m each), especially considering the bus stations at either end are much more conveniently located than the rail stations for the shopping districts.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Stourbridge Town to Lye

9 minutes on the number 9 bus
15 minutes by LM including a change at Stourbridge Junction

Birmingham New Street to Birmingham Moor Street
2 minutes by route 99 bus
A change at Smethwick Galton Bridge by train

 

[CockneySparrow]

Kings Lynn to Norwich, Kings Lynn to Spalding and Peterborough to Bedford and Northampton

 

[CockneySparrow]

2 hours? I guess it depends on the time of day - the standard pattern takes around 1hr 10 mins from Ely to Newmarket, still slower than the bus time quoted, but most of the time is waiting for the connection at Cambridge.

I'll suggest Fort William to Inverness, but can't be bothered to work out the difference.

Seems to have got better over the years, noticed that its down to 57 minutes coming back, I wonder how long it would have took if the short section of track at Chippenham Junction was still in use for direct service from Ely

 

[LE Greys]

Stevenage-Luton just for starters. 3bph and a coach in 30-50 minutes, very busy route as opposed to the slow-and-cheaper way via Peterborough and Leicester (two hours, two changes) or the quicker-but-pricey way via London (an hour, one change). There are plenty of other missing links as well. I've brought up Kyle of Lochalsh-Mallaig before, but there's Scarborough-Whitby, King's Lynn-Peterborough, Reading-Heathrow, Woking-Heathrow, Berwick-Carlisle, Penrith-Workington and that's just the ones I could find on the NRT map.

 

[Bedpan]

St Albans to Hatfield, 1hr 24 mins by train according to NRE, 18 mins on the 724 bus.

St Albans to St Albans Abbey, 1 hr 45 mins by train, I don't know about the bus but you can walk it in about 20 mins.

There must be loads of buses connecting stations on different radial routes out of London

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Denby Dale to Wakefield (Westgate or Kirkgate):

The 435/436 bus takes 30-50mins depending on time of day (due to route variations) but still far quicker than taking the train and changing at Huddersfield or Barnsley.

 

[Amy Worrall]

Buxton to Matlock
51 minutes by bus (Transpeak)
3 hours, 55 minutes by train (Buxton-Stockport-Stoke on Trent-Derby-Matlock)

That line is really high on my list of ones I'd like to see reopened!

 

[DeeGee]

I suspect Barton Upon Humber <-> Hull Paragon would be quicker on foot than by train. Certainly at the moment.

About 9 miles on foot, that's an hour and a quarter running, or three hours walking.

26 minutes by bus.

By train, even before the landslip, it required three changes of train.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I'd also hazard that Birmingham International - Solihull is the same deal being about 20 minutes on the 966

The bus is definitely quicker, but you could do Birmingham International - Solihull in half an hour if you hit the right connections. BHI - BHM is 10-15 minutes depending on where the train stops. BHM - BMO is a ten minute walk from platform to platform. BMO - SOL is 6-10 minutes depending on where the train stops.