Secret bus routes

[markymark2000]

I thought this would be an interesting thread to start.

There are a number of bus routes around the UK which no one knows about. They are not advertised on google/traveline/bustimes but they are services which are open for the public to use. I thought it would be interesting to see how many of these routes exist.

Criteria would be that the route must run regularly (at least once per month) and be open for the general public to use (Ie not staff only) without any sign up or proof of being a visitor needed.
The route can't be advertised on journey planners but can be advertised on contractors own website and bus operators website perhaps.


To start us off, the Bristol Hospital bus. Contracted by the local NHS, the bus links Bristol Temple Meads station to various medial facilities around the city. It's handy though for some journeys to link up to Temple Meads Station. https://www.uhbristol.nhs.uk/patien...hospitals/travel-information-for-staff/buses/
Another one is the Hinkley Point Community Bus: https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/nuclear-new-build-projects/hinkley-point-c/local-community#bus


How many more can you list?

 

[Fundee on Tay]

Now this is something I’ve been wondering about recently!

I recently took a holiday in Berwick-upon-Tweed. I believe Berwick Buses service WT1 doesn’t appear on anywhere except bustimes.org.uk and Northumberland County Council bus timetables. Might be wrong though.

Also must be said this was the oddest public bus service I have ever been on.

 

[Dai Corner]

We did this a couple of years ago but it will be interesting to see what's changed.

Secret/Unadvertised Public Bus Services

We've had threads on 'works' bus services open to staff only and unadvertised train services recently but how about unadvertised public bus services such as these? (Apologies for nicking CityStar's examples but I'm curious to find out if there are others) I found details on the Churchill...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[JD2168]

There are some in South Yorkshire:

C1 - C6 Tesco Shopper buses which run from Abbeydale Road Tesco in Sheffield, usually one bus does two routes a day. Run by TM Travel.

There is the Mexborough Montagu Hospital to Doncaster Royal Infirmary shuttle service run by Wilfreeda Beehive.

 

[Flange Squeal]

There is a shuttle bus service between St Peters and Ashford hospitals in Surrey. It runs roughly every 30-60 minutes on weekdays between 0600 and 2200, and a reduced frequency at weekends. Primarily provided for staff but patients and visitors are allowed to use it on weekdays between 0930 and 1530. More information can be found at https://www.ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk/hospital-hopper

 

[InOban]

There's a Dundee coach company called Fisher's Scottish Express which operates a range of day trips from the Dundee area to places from Ayr in the south to Inverness in the North. Each route generally operates once a fortnight on a Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday. They all operate as scheduled services so that holders of Scottish 'bus passes', who I assume make up almost all their customers, travel free.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Roger French detailed the 'secret' Somerset bus route from Bridgewater/Cannington to Minehead, provided by the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project, here on his blog (July 2022):
www.busandtrainuser.com/2022/07/17/the-secret-rural-bus-route-thats-completely-free/

 

[RJ]

I do a rail replacement trip three days a week which is unadvertised and set down only after the first stop.

Will also be trialling operation of a couple of service routes myself which won’t be advertised in planners.

 

[NorwichRailFan]

I do a rail replacement trip three days a week which is unadvertised and set down only after the first stop.

Will also be trialling operation of a couple of service routes myself which won’t be advertised in planners.

Can you specify where?

 

[LUYMun]

Can you specify where?

It's a secret

 

[randyrippley]

There is a network of free bus routes linking the East Lancs hospital sites
Blackburn / Burnley / Accrington / Clitheroe / Nelson

Loughborough University has a fleet linking the campus to the town centre

 

[Gloster]

There used to be a service using a plain white coach with some green and orange patches around the rear that appeared on the Isle of Wight on Sundays, but I haven’t seen it for some years. I believe that it came down via the Fishbourne ferry from the London area bringing the gangsters’ molls to see their fellahs. (Spellcheck, well done. Last time you changed it to gangsters’ moles.)

 

[VioletEclipse]

There's a Dundee coach company called Fisher's Scottish Express which operates a range of day trips from the Dundee area to places from Ayr in the south to Inverness in the North. Each route generally operates once a fortnight on a Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday. They all operate as scheduled services so that holders of Scottish 'bus passes', who I assume make up almost all their customers, travel free.

there used to be signs on a bus stop at the gyle that advertised Fisher's 373 and 374 routes, they appear no longer to serve the gyle but still operate a number of fortnightly services. never seen one and they do seem quite obscure routes.

 

[NorwichRailFan]

It's a secret

Ah, Ok. I'll have to work it out myself.

 

[markymark2000]

There is a network of free bus routes linking the East Lancs hospital sites
Blackburn / Burnley / Accrington / Clitheroe / Nelson

Loughborough University has a fleet linking the campus to the town centre

Burnley, Blackburn and Pendle Community Hospitals are still linked by a bus.

Loughborough Uni has a fleet of buses to the town? Isn't that Kinchbus Sprint?

there used to be signs on a bus stop at the gyle that advertised Fisher's 373 and 374 routes, they appear no longer to serve the gyle but still operate a number of fortnightly services. never seen one and they do seem quite obscure routes.

Fishers Express show on bustimes.org and they are officially registered routes so widely promoted on journey planners. Not very secret.

 

[Citistar]

There are the Abus services to Winterstoke Road Sainsburys in Bristol which are all free services and therefore not registered (but timetables are on the Abus website).

I believe Wiltshire still have at least one weekly shoppers bus (Bradford on Avon - Devizes, Thurs) which operates free of charge on account of complicated contract interworkings.

Until Easter 2023, there was a Friday only service from Stanton Drew to Chew Stoke Surgery operated by Filer, Stanton Wick, but the Parish Council saw the introduction of the new DRT service as an excuse to stop paying for it.

 

[43055]

EMR's rail replacement 1645 Derby-Stoke - it's a secret if it stops at the intermediate stations as some times it shows it does and other it is non-stop.

 

[randyrippley]

Loughborough Uni has a fleet of buses to the town? Isn't that Kinchbus Spirit?

It's been a couple of years since I was there, but my understanding was the dedicated fleet were owned by the University but operated by one of the bus companies (maybe Kinch, I can't remember)
Free service, untimetabled, ran according to demand

 

[Busaholic]

There used to be a service using a plain white coach with some green and orange patches around the rear that appeared on the Isle of Wight on Sundays, but I haven’t seen it for some years. I believe that it came down via the Fishbourne ferry from the London area bringing the gangsters’ molls to see their fellahs. (Spellcheck, well done. Last time you changed it to gangsters’ moles.)

Either cut-price gangsters or cut-price molls! The Kray Brothers would be turning in their graves ( not that Ronnie had any interest in the subject of course. )

 

[liamf656]

Loughborough Uni has a fleet of buses to the town? Isn't that Kinchbus Sprint?

That one is widely advertised to the public both on the kinchbus website and bustimes. However they also run a campus shuttle which is lesser-known. Kinchbus used to run a bingo shuttle once a week, it was one trip to Melton Mowbray and back in the evening and I think it was a Thursday. I believe the public was allowed to use it but if anyone knows more I’m happy to be corrected

Over in Derby, Harpurs ran a service once a day, one way, from Chellaston to Derby. I believe it was the 302? Unsure if that one is still around

Trentbarton used to run the N12, a weekend nightbus from Mansfield to Shirebrook, which ran 3 outbound journeys only. This lasted for a few months in 2019/20 before being killed by the pandemic

When NCT ran the University of Nottingham contract (with Notts & Derby drivers) back in 2015-2018, it was widely advertised however next to nobody realised that it was open to the public, so the only time you’d see the general public onboard was the occasional veg after some Dennis Trident thrash!

 

[splashoutradio]

There used to be a network of "Rural Rider" busses around Warrington. One by one they have come to an end, with the exception of 192/193 which runs three days a week around Birchwood, Culcheth and Glazebury. There are a number of communities who's only bus service is this one, but the timetable is only available as a PDF from a Rixton and Glazebrook community website, or as a photo of a crinckled printout on the Croft Parish Council website.

Edit: corrected bus numbers to read 192/193. The attached timetable erroneously uses numbers 191/192.

 

[TheManWho]

Does Lothian still run the 109? I can never find a timetable for the route, but have seen photos of vehicles on it

 

[EdinRH]

Does Lothian still run the 109? I can never find a timetable for the route, but have seen photos of vehicles on it

No, it was withdrawn in 2019.

 

[VioletEclipse]

No, it was withdrawn in 2019.

it was withdrawn on the 30th of March 2019, which I can remember because I got up early a week before on the 23rd to get a photo of the last journey coming back to Longstone.

 

[ACBest]

Rutland County Council operate two - the 9 from Oakham to Stamford, and the Oakham Hopper around the town (formerly service 146).

They’re advertised only at bus stops and on Rutland County Council’s own website, and do not appear in journey planners or the traveline national dataset.

Bus timetables and travel

Local bus timetables and the latest travel advice

www.rutland.gov.uk

 

[markymark2000]

Rutland County Council operate two - the 9 from Oakham to Stamford, and the Oakham Hopper around the town (formerly service 146).

They’re advertised only at bus stops and on Rutland County Council’s own website, and do not appear in journey planners or the traveline national dataset.

Bus timetables and travel

Local bus timetables and the latest travel advice

www.rutland.gov.uk

Very good additions. I know someone who emailed Rutland Council a few months ago about this and they showed me the email reply and it was quite funny actually. The reason that they do not promote the service is due to the fact most trips are full and so they don't want to promote it as it would lead to people being left behind. Their solution to more demand than supply is to supress demand to suit their levels rather than increase supply. The mind boggles!

 

[overthewater]

There's a Dundee coach company called Fisher's Scottish Express which operates a range of day trips from the Dundee area to places from Ayr in the south to Inverness in the North. Each route generally operates once a fortnight on a Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday. They all operate as scheduled services so that holders of Scottish 'bus passes', who I assume make up almost all their customers, travel free.

There not that hidden. The services operate each weekday, from late Feb - until Xmas. Fisher have printed a timetable booklet for the past 15 years including this year, which are sent to many locations thought Angus, Fife and Perthshire. Many journeys are well used.

 

[DunsBus]

What about the services which East Midland ran between Mansfield and Ongar during the time of the short-lived Frontrunner South East operation? They were to allow vehicles and drivers to rotate on a weekly basis, IIRC.

 

[ACBest]

Very good additions. I know someone who emailed Rutland Council a few months ago about this and they showed me the email reply and it was quite funny actually. The reason that they do not promote the service is due to the fact most trips are full and so they don't want to promote it as it would lead to people being left behind. Their solution to more demand than supply is to supress demand to suit their levels rather than increase supply. The mind boggles!

Even more bizarrely, they’re also completely free of charge!

 

[markymark2000]

Even more bizarrely, they’re also completely free of charge!

Wow, that one is news to me. Then again, probably doesn't make much difference in Rutland, mostly passes anyway.