Saving money on bus tickets by using a Plus Bus ticket without using the train.

[stadler]

Brighton & Hove bus company (Go Ahead) currently charges £918.00 for an annual City Saver ticket or £999.00 for an annual network saver ticket.

If you purchase an annual season ticket for the train from Newhaven Harbour to Newhaven Town which costs £208.00 you can then buy a Brighton Plus Bus annual season ticket which costs £459.00 so your total cost is £667.00 total.

This saves you £251.00 compared to an annual City Saver ticket and £332.00 compared to an annual Network Saver ticket so this is a massive saving.

This annual Brighton Plus Bus ticket gives unlimited travel on buses within the City Saver area plus it is valid within the Network Saver area out to Peacehaven and Newhaven and Seaford and Steyning too. So the only place you can not go is North of Falmer on the 28/29 buses and East of Seaford on the 12/13 buses.

Normally you can not get a Plus Bus ticket for a rail ticket between two stations in the same Plus Bus zone. But there is a special exemption for Brighton which allows you to get a Plus Bus ticket for a rail ticket entirely within the Plus Bus zone due to how large the area is. As a result this is possible.

So even if you do not use the train you can still save a massive amount of money buy purchasing an annual train ticket (which you will not use) and an annual plus bus ticket instead of buying an annual bus ticket.

Are there any other examples of this? Can anyone think of anywhere else in the UK where you can save money on the bus by buying a Plus Bus ticket even if you do not use the train?

 

[GusB]

Brighton & Hove bus company (Go Ahead) currently charges £918.00 for an annual City Saver ticket or £999.00 for an annual network saver ticket.

If you purchase an annual season ticket for the train from Newhaven Harbour to Newhaven Town which costs £208.00 you can then buy a Brighton Plus Bus annual season ticket which costs £459.00 so your total cost is £667.00 total.

This saves you £251.00 compared to an annual City Saver ticket and £332.00 compared to an annual Network Saver ticket so this is a massive saving.

Is it possible to do this?

I assume that the annual City/Network Saver ticket prices are the adult fares, as shown here:

The Key

www.buses.co.uk

	1 day	7 day	28 day	Pay Monthly	90 day	Annual
Online	In person	Online	In person	Online Only	In person	Online	Online	In person	Online	In person
citySAVER	Adult	£5.00	£5.00	£25.00	£25.00	£96.20	£99.05	£104.80	£254.80	£262.85	£890.00	£918.00
Child	£2.85	£3.00	£12.90	£13.95	-	-	£45.30	£120.65	£122.70	£445.00	£459.00
Student	£4.00	£4.25	£19.20	£20.40	-	-	-	£178.35	£183.05	£599.00	£612.00
networkSAVER	Adult	£6.25	£6.60	£28.85	£30.60	£105.05	£107.90	£114.40	£286.00	£294.05	£979.00	£999.00
Child	£3.10	£3.30	£14.45	£15.30	-	-	£47.60	£139.55	£143.50	£479.00	£493.00
Student	£4.35	£4.65	£20.00	£20.80	-	-	-	£193.45	£199.70	£619.00	£635.00

The Newhaven PlusBus adult prices are here:

PlusBus Newhaven & Seaford PlusBus

With a Newhaven & Seaford PlusBus ticket, you can enjoy unlimited bus travel across the local area on all participating operators' services

www.plusbus.info

7-days	£17.40	£3.48
Month	£63.60	£3.18
Quarter	£137.00	£2.28
Annual	£459.00	£1.91

The PlusBus site also clarifies the area that the ticket can be used in:

A Newhaven or Seaford PlusBus ticket gives you unlimited bus travel on participating operators’ services, around the whole urban area of Newhaven and Seaford and also around the Brighton & Hove city, as shown by the travel maps (below).

Where are you getting the figure of £208 for the Newhaven Harbour to Newhaven Town season from? Having a look at BRFares.com, there doesn't seem to be an annual season available.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks. Full details of all British rail fares shown, with built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

 

[stadler]

Is it possible to do this?

I assume that the annual City/Network Saver ticket prices are the adult fares, as shown here:

The Key

www.buses.co.uk

The Newhaven PlusBus adult prices are here:

PlusBus Newhaven & Seaford PlusBus

With a Newhaven & Seaford PlusBus ticket, you can enjoy unlimited bus travel across the local area on all participating operators' services

www.plusbus.info

The PlusBus site also clarifies the area that the ticket can be used in:


Where are you getting the figure of £208 for the Newhaven Harbour to Newhaven Town season from? Having a look at BRFares.com, there doesn't seem to be an annual season available.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks. Full details of all British rail fares shown, with built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

It is certainly possible to do this. I only became aware of this from speaking to somebody who has been doing this every year for the last couple years to save money on the bus even though they do not use the train normally. In order to view the price of an annual season ticket on BR Fares you have to click on the 7 Day and then scroll down and change it to 12 Months and it will display the price. If you do this then BR fares shows the £208.00 price. Also if you look on the Southern website it also shows the £208.00 price.

 

[GusB]

It is certainly possible to do this. I only became aware of this from speaking to somebody who has been doing this every year for the last couple years to save money on the bus even though they do not use the train normally. In order to view the price of an annual season ticket on BR Fares you have to click on the 7 Day and then scroll down and change it to 12 Months and it will display the price. If you do this then BR fares shows the £208.00 price. Also if you look on the Southern website it also shows the £208.00 price.

Fair enough, but it's one of those loopholes that should perhaps have been kept quiet! Don't be surprised if the Newhaven PlusBus scheme has its boundaries limited in future, or worse still, bus operators pull out of the scheme completely.

While there's nothing legally wrong with buying such a ticket combination, it does represent a significant loss in revenue for participating operators.

 

[Haywain]

But there is a special exemption for Brighton which allows you to get a Plus Bus ticket for a rail ticket entirely within the Plus Bus zone due to how large the area is.

Whatever the reason for the exemption, it isn't due to the size of the area. If that were the case it would be expected to also apply to West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Midlands etc.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jul 2024 ==

Fair enough, but it's one of those loopholes that should perhaps have been kept quiet! Don't be surprised if the Newhaven PlusBus scheme has its boundaries limited in future, or worse still, bus operators pull out of the scheme completely.

In this case it's no secret, and applies to any station pair within the area. If there is any outcome from revealing this it is more likely to be an increase in the rail season ticket price for that journey, which would be of no help to the bus companies.