Trivia: Special work site bus routes?

[175mph]

In Hull there are a couple
255/256 - North Bransholme to Wren Kitchens
7M (Previously 241) - North Bransholme to Heron Foods and I now believe Amazon in Melton

The 7M provides a pretty decent link between Bransholme, Boothferry Estate and Hessle as a public service.

 

[IanMac]

A similar example is TfGM route 313, which is a half-hourly public route but turns off the main road to terminate in the grounds of the World Freight Terminal at Manchester Airport.

TfGM route 38 terminates at "Logistics North" - I have no idea where this is, I've just seen it on the front of buses, but I assume it's a another large warehouse facility served by the bus for its employees.

The 38 is quite a frequent route, basically a short working of the 37 Manchester to Bolton but terminating in Walkden where presumably Logistics North is a convenient point to do so. Interestingly the 37 is a Go NorthWest route but the 38 is Metroline.

 

[darloscott]

When I was back in the UK I was involved in running services to the AngloAmerican site near Whitby. They had a network of services for staff to access the site as there was no parking on site, involving both Coatham Coaches (who I worked for) and Esk Valley with around 5 routes.
Ours ran to our depot (near Guisborough) where we had a Park & Ride car park, Esk had routes to Whitby P&R, Scarborough & various hotels and oddball services to Pickering and other places.

One plus point for having services closed door is - given they’re aimed at staff - you can change the timetable (or route!) with zero notice.
Every Amazon site usually has a network of services - quite often contracted through a third party like Zeelo.

 

[izvor]

Asda used to run an extensive number of free buses for shoppers quite a few years ago.

...as did Tesco and Sainsbury and no doubt others.

Amazon Dartford also had a coach from East Croydon and (I think, never found out where it went!) Redhill recently, maybe still running.

The Stagecoach one to Bakkavor Eythorne is odd in that it appears as a timetable on bustimes.org, but as not available to the public.

 

[tram21]

Alton Towers operate employee buses to nearby towns (E1,E2,E3)

 

[Dwarfer1979]

I forgot there are some closed door ones too only for employees. Those are much harder to find out about. No public information anywhere. I think all of the ones on my initial list are open door ones that can be used by the public too.

What is the logic behind running some as registered public routes and some as staff only routes? I presume the unregistered ones require staff to pre purchas bus passes but on the public ones they buy a ticket onboard like a normal bus?

In a number of cases they are free to use by the staff but restricted to staff only. If it is being provided commercially by the bus operator it has to be registered, if you wish to charge variable fares to the users on the bus (i.e the fare varies depending one where you are boarding/alighting) then it has to be registered but if it is free or charges a flat free, closed door and run under contract (to the organisation who organises the passengers) then it doesn't need to be registered. It used to be the reason to register was to be able to claim BSOG but it has to be open to the general public so in many cases there is no reason to do so as the people contracting the service want it closed door. It is less the cost of registration itself (£60 per registration/variation) but the general factor of the registration system which delays changes and increases paperwork - many of our works contracts are altered, including starting & finishing, at a week or twos notice which is difficult to do through the registration system to meet the needs of the company you are providing it for.

None of our works services are registered, and none have been in the past, and our last new one started at little more than a weeks notice and would have been less if not for scheduling agreements on notice periods for changing the rota.

 

[renegademaster]

Redwing operate a late night coach from East Croydon to a Amazon warehouse not sure where.
Their's another late night bus using a Mercedes Citaro that goes down Brighton road to a Amazon warehouse and has Amazon on the front. It usually lives at the bus stand near Ann Summers during the day. I think but not sure run by Transport UK (Abellio)


All though I've not seen it in a while, their is occasionally a East Croydon - Biggin Hill minibus for Formula 1 staff

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In a number of cases they are free to use by the staff but restricted to staff only. If it is being provided commercially by the bus operator it has to be registered, if you wish to charge variable fares to the users on the bus (i.e the fare varies depending one where you are boarding/alighting) then it has to be registered but if it is free or charges a flat free, closed door and run under contract (to the organisation who organises the passengers) then it doesn't need to be registered. It used to be the reason to register was to be able to claim BSOG but it has to be open to the general public so in many cases there is no reason to do so as the people contracting the service want it closed door. It is less the cost of registration itself (£60 per registration/variation) but the general factor of the registration system which delays changes and increases paperwork - many of our works contracts are altered, including starting & finishing, at a week or twos notice which is difficult to do through the registration system to meet the needs of the company you are providing it for.

None of our works services are registered, and none have been in the past, and our last new one started at little more than a weeks notice and would have been less if not for scheduling agreements on notice periods for changing the rota.

These are some of the reasons that were provided to @markymark2000 when he bemoaned the fact that they aren't open to the public.

If you register them, then they have to run. So if you are looking to vary working patterns etc, it becomes a pain. In the case of certain manufacturing locations, they may actually have a full factory shutdown across Christmas so that's an added complication.

Also, if you're a business that is laying on one of these services for its employees, they are your priority and you probably aren't bothered by opening them up to the general public, even if you might get a bit of a financial benefit.

 

[The exile]

First operate a shuttle for Wessex Water in Bath

This one is also available to residents in the immediate locality of the Wessex Water HQ - though its route is pretty circuitous.

 

[RUK]

I have seen some “BM” plus number routes run for the turkey farmers Bernard Matthews/2Sisters running through Norwich and Norfolk, run by First Eastern Counties using their standard buses, but I don’t know the details of them. There seems to be reference to BM11 and BM12 routes on-line, and I seem to remember seeing a BM14 before, but I may be mistaken. There’s a photo of a bus on a “BM1” route, here:

Waveney Line… in the dark

Today, after a rotten night’s sleep, I decided to delay my fishing trip at Whitlingham for yet ANOTHER day and go for a bus trip instead…

transbusgirlandproud.medium.com

If you search for them on-line, you will see records of union disputes regarding how much workers are charged to use them.

Apart from Hinkley Point C, First Bus’ Specialist Passenger Solutions also operates similar white-liveried bus services to the Sizewell C nuclear power plant building site, but with some of them powered by hydrogen: https://www.spsbus.co.uk/sizewell-c-hydrogen-event/

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I have seen some “BM” plus number routes presumably run for the turkey farmers Bernard Matthews/2Sisters running through Norwich, run by First Eastern Counties, but I don’t know the details of them. There seems to be reference to BM11 and BM12 routes on-line, and I seem to remember seeing a BM14 before, but I may be mistaken. There’s a photo of a bus on a “BM1” route, here:

I remember seeing a couple of them running through Beccles years ago - some rather peachy ALXs IIRC

There is a service for Stonegate Farms (egg producer) between Chippenham and Melksham that runs from Swindon. I think it's a contract that works around schools so quite a well utilised vehicle or two.

 

[Devon Sunset]

I have seen some “BM” plus number routes presumably run for the turkey farmers Bernard Matthews/2Sisters running through Norwich, run by First Eastern Counties using their standard buses, but I don’t know the details of them. There seems to be reference to BM11 and BM12 routes on-line, and I seem to remember seeing a BM14 before, but I may be mistaken. There’s a photo of a bus on a “BM1” route, here:

Waveney Line… in the dark

Today, after a rotten night’s sleep, I decided to delay my fishing trip at Whitlingham for yet ANOTHER day and go for a bus trip instead…

transbusgirlandproud.medium.com

These also run from Great Yarmouth. I remember seeing a couple of different routes picking workers up when I was there 2 years ago.

 

[mm333]

Can hospital shuttle buses be included in this list? Some are staff only and some are staff and public.

 

[YorkRailFan]

East Yorkshire operates the 900 service for Tesco workers in Goole. They also operate the 909 service for McCain's workers in Scarborough. I believe both are closed door services only open to workers at the respective companies.

 

[edwin_m]

"I have seen some “BM” plus number routes presumably run for the turkey farmers Bernard Matthews"

I remember seeing a couple of them running through Beccles years ago - some rather peachy ALXs IIRC

One might even say they were "bootiful".

 

[WibbleWobble]

The 38 is quite a frequent route, basically a short working of the 37 Manchester to Bolton but terminating in Walkden where presumably Logistics North is a convenient point to do so. Interestingly the 37 is a Go NorthWest route but the 38 is Metroline.

I wouldn't say the 38 is a short working of the 37 - it is nearly 4 miles from the centre of Walkden (where the 37 turns off the A6) up to Logistics North.

The 38 originally ran to Farnworth via Little Hulton but was truncated to the latter before being extended to Logistics North when it was up and running.

 

[Jimmi]

East Yorkshire operates the 900 service for Tesco workers in Goole. They also operate the 909 service for McCain's workers in Scarborough. I believe both are closed door services only open to workers at the respective companies.

Believe East Yorkshire have recently gotten the contract service for WHS Plastics in Pickering running to/from Scarborough, previously operated by Viscount Travel.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

I remember seeing a couple of them running through Beccles years ago - some rather peachy ALXs IIRC

There is a service for Stonegate Farms (egg producer) between Chippenham and Melksham that runs from Swindon. I think it's a contract that works around schools so quite a well utilised vehicle or two.

The Stonegate Farms contract also runs at weekends. Have passed it several times north of Chippenham / eastbound on M4 on a Sunday evening.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

I photographed an ex-London Volvo B7Tl at Stafford railway station in June which is apparently owned by a farm and runs a daily service for farm workers. It's shown at the bottom of this post- Wright Gemini bodied LX53 BAO at Stafford station on 20th June 2025.

Believe East Yorkshire have recently gotten the contract service for WHS Plastics in Pickering running to/from Scarborough, previously operated by Viscount Travel.

EY and Jim Bell (Acklams) used to run works services to the bacon factory in Malton from the Driffield area; however I've been unable to discover if the services still operate.

 

[High Dyke]

A C Williams covers a works contract from Grantham to the Magnavale cold storage warehouse site at Easton near Colsterworth. This used to be a shared contract with the adjacent McCain food processing site until that closed. The site was also served by long gone operator Smith's of Corby Glen.

 

[markymark2000]

@markymark2000 has a thread on this some years ago and had/still has a list of them on a spreadsheet. The thread is probably still findable with some judicious searching.

I still have the spreadsheet but I've locked it down as it was becoming burdensome to maintain it and it didn't seem like it was being useful for others (unlike some of my other things).

This was the thread though https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/employee-work-shuttles.221174/

These are some of the reasons that were provided to @markymark2000 when he bemoaned the fact that they aren't open to the public.

If you register them, then they have to run. So if you are looking to vary working patterns etc, it becomes a pain. In the case of certain manufacturing locations, they may actually have a full factory shutdown across Christmas so that's an added complication.

If all of the issues you raise are that big of an issue, how do you explain the many 'open' routes? Sometimes it doesn't work at all, I agree. However many more of these worker routes could be open to the public (or merged somehow into an existing local bus service), and I stand by that.

 

[Ballyheigue]

I still have the spreadsheet but I've locked it down as it was becoming burdensome to maintain it and it didn't seem like it was being useful for others (unlike some of my other things).

This was the thread though https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/employee-work-shuttles.221174/



If all of the issues you raise are that big of an issue, how do you explain the many 'open' routes? Sometimes it doesn't work at all, I agree. However many more of these worker routes could be open to the public (or merged somehow into an existing local bus service), and I stand by that.

Could simply be that the contractor doesn't want the public to be slowing down the route risking workers being late. There are other issues as well such as workers freely talking about the company in any way they like, on a closed contract route this is obviously not an issue but clearly there is a risk if it's done on a route open to the public. There's also the added attraction for employees that a private contracted bus is right where they want it to be after work, there, ready and waiting to get them out of there, unlike a public route which could be delayed and in reality, some workers do not want to share their journey with members of the public, hence why many drive so a private bus has that advantage as well.

 

[Paul AC]

A similar example is TfGM route 313, which is a half-hourly public route but turns off the main road to terminate in the grounds of the World Freight Terminal at Manchester Airport.

TfGM route 288, Altrincham to Manchester Airport, also runs through the World Freight Terminal. Live departures: https://tfgm.com/travel-updates/live-departures/bus/1800SB11981

 

[Dwarfer1979]

If all of the issues you raise are that big of an issue, how do you explain the many 'open' routes? Sometimes it doesn't work at all, I agree. However many more of these worker routes could be open to the public (or merged somehow into an existing local bus service), and I stand by that.

It is up to whoever is paying for the service what they want and most don't want a public bus service. They want the flexibility to alter the times to suit their needs at short notice, they don't want the hassle of having to make arrangements to identify their staff in more formal measures for free or discounted travel to seperate them from the general public, they want to minimise the time their staff spend on the bus so they want the least stops and the most direct route between pick up points (which means they are even less useful as public services) and they want the vehicle they are paying for to have space for their own staff and not risk overloading issues if you open it up, or paying for a bigger bus than they need to ensure the space (if it is going anywhere it could provide a useful service to others then capacity becomes an issue otherwise there is no gain from making it public). Almost none of our works type services run to locations that would provide a useful or meaningful addition to the general network and most trips are not at times when anyone but the staff using it would want to travel.

The only reason to make them public is if you think there would be a significant additional passenger flow of the general public created by doing such to help defray the cost of the service, in most cases that is unlikely and for the businesses paying for these services the impact is insignificant to their site budget to provide a compromised resource, and you can't merge a flow into an existing service that doesn't exist (and in any case that would tie you to a single supplier who may not be willing to have the flexibility to meet your needs and in most likelihood will not be the cheapest operator so you may be paying more for something that doesn't provide exactly what you want).

As I have said previously there are certain things that would mean a service legally has to be registered where making it open to the public actually then brings an advantage is BSOG income, certain things that mean that they don't need to be, shouldn't or even if the most extreme examples can't be registered where it just brings cost and restrictions that may never be justified by any advantage from general public usage.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It is up to whoever is paying for the service what they want and most don't want a public bus service. They want the flexibility to alter the times to suit their needs at short notice, they don't want the hassle of having to make arrangements to identify their staff in more formal measures for free or discounted travel to seperate them from the general public, they want to minimise the time their staff spend on the bus so they want the least stops and the most direct route between pick up points (which means they are even less useful as public services) and they want the vehicle they are paying for to have space for their own staff and not risk overloading issues if you open it up, or paying for a bigger bus than they need to ensure the space (if it is going anywhere it could provide a useful service to others then capacity becomes an issue otherwise there is no gain from making it public). Almost none of our works type services run to locations that would provide a useful or meaningful addition to the general network and most trips are not at times when anyone but the staff using it would want to travel.

The only reason to make them public is if you think there would be a significant additional passenger flow of the general public created by doing such to help defray the cost of the service, in most cases that is unlikely and for the businesses paying for these services the impact is insignificant to their site budget to provide a compromised resource, and you can't merge a flow into an existing service that doesn't exist (and in any case that would tie you to a single supplier who may not be willing to have the flexibility to meet your needs and in most likelihood will not be the cheapest operator so you may be paying more for something that doesn't provide exactly what you want).

As I have said previously there are certain things that would mean a service legally has to be registered where making it open to the public actually then brings an advantage is BSOG income, certain things that mean that they don't need to be, shouldn't or even if the most extreme examples can't be registered where it just brings cost and restrictions that may never be justified by any advantage from general public usage.

Exactly this.

It is the customer's choice - their money, their rules. I would also add that it is also very dependant on the type of customer. Even where it's a logistics warehouse, some are much more volatile in terms of operating hours etc, let alone a manufacturing location.

 

[James101]

Alton Towers operate employee buses to nearby towns (E1,E2,E3)

The equivalent to these services were operated directly by Alton Towers Transport until around 10 years ago. Now operated by D&G who also provide the public services to the park (Stoke & Stafford) and monorail replacement for the Christmas events.

Works buses directly operated by the employers must be very rare today?

 

[markymark2000]

It is up to whoever is paying for the service what they want and most don't want a public bus service. They want the flexibility to alter the times to suit their needs at short notice, they don't want the hassle of having to make arrangements to identify their staff in more formal measures for free or discounted travel to seperate them from the general public, they want to minimise the time their staff spend on the bus so they want the least stops and the most direct route between pick up points (which means they are even less useful as public services) and they want the vehicle they are paying for to have space for their own staff and not risk overloading issues if you open it up, or paying for a bigger bus than they need to ensure the space (if it is going anywhere it could provide a useful service to others then capacity becomes an issue otherwise there is no gain from making it public).

I largely agree with you. It's down to who is paying for the service. Is the original business being given the choice and offered the chance to make the route open? Increasingly operators are just throwing a price on a contract and running as per the original script and don't even try to say 'have you considered doing things this way'. An interesting connection that I have picked up on too is that where Amazon seem to deal direct with the bus operators, that routes are open to the public, but as soon as it goes through a 'travel solutions' company/broker, then it becomes closed door. This strongly suggests to me that Amazon don't mind the services being open, and that it's just because of the middlemen why the services become closed door. How many businesses, if they were given the choice and the pros/cons (to make an informed decision. Ie the route can claim BSOG, but you will lose some of the flexibility), would instead choose open door? I know Zeelo and First Travel Solutions etc just point blank won't offer these options to businesses.

Almost none of our works type services run to locations that would provide a useful or meaningful addition to the general network and most trips are not at times when anyone but the staff using it would want to travel.

Of course without specifics (which I appreciate you are unlikely to share), it would be hard for my to confirm your thoughts. There can often be strange flows that pop up though on these sorts of routes. Speaking to other commercial management/staff, they have been surprised that similar workers routes have ended up with some very dedicated, regular passengers who aren't/weren't using the services for the purpose of travelling to the main workplace for which the service was intended. The upset with Ensign & Hornsby too when their routes went closed door, similarly says that there was demand for trips despite them being strange routes.
It's easy to just say 'the service would be useless', doesn't mean it's always right though.

 

[WM Bus]

Stagecoach operates an electric shuttle bus service for National Grid, running between Leamington town centre, the station, and their office in Warwick. It runs in NG corporate livery.

There’s that N1/N2 service Diamond Redditch run in Stratford too. They took the service when they acquired Johnsons.

Looks to run for an insurance company -NFU Mutual.

 

[edwin_m]

Works buses directly operated by the employers must be very rare today?

I don't recall the details but there was a rule that came in about 10 years ago that put some onerous responsibilities on anyone who operated a vehicle in a manner vaguely resembling a bus. This probably resulted in any employers still running one washing their hands of it and contracting it to someone who was set up to do so (or abandoning it completely).

 

[Simon75]

I don't recall the details but there was a rule that came in about 10 years ago that put some onerous responsibilities on anyone who operated a vehicle in a manner vaguely resembling a bus. This probably resulted in any employers still running one washing their hands of it and contracting it to someone who was set up to do so (or abandoning it completely).

When Alton Towers ran the employee services in house, they were still registered with the TC and Alton Towers as an operating centre