Underrated Bus Routes: Your Recommendations

[class387]

This thread can be used to share any particular bus routes in your area that you like but aren't mentioned often or with low ridership. Obviously there are many that fit this.

To start off, today I rode Centrebus 88 from Hitchin to Luton. Wasn't expecting much (the Arriva 100/101 between these is quite dreary), but this turned out to be a lovely rural route through narrow country lanes and small villages. My new favourite Hertfordshire bus route.

Other routes in my area that I recommend for much the same reason:
378/379 Stevenage - Hertford
44 Luton - Stevenage
304 Hitchin - St Albans

 

[PeterC]

I would vote for Carousel route 40 between High Wycombe and Thame which has some nice views of the Chilterns

Plus a surprise nomination of COMS route 400. Sit at a nice table upstairs with a coffee from the stall in the Park and Ride for a view of the Headington Shark

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I would vote for Carousel route 40 between High Wycombe and Thame which has some nice views of the Chilterns

Plus a surprise nomination of COMS route 400. Sit at a nice table upstairs with a coffee from the stall in the Park and Ride for a view of the Headington Shark

Headington Shark!! Well, you live and learn

 

[Statto]

11 Chester-Holywell,
11G/11M Holywell-Rhyl
11/11G/11M are through routes & change numbers at Holywell, but have good views on a nice day across the River Dee, only problem is they take 2 hours 15 end to end.

12 Rhyl-Llandudno, goes down the old road Rhyl-Colwyn Bay then goes through Rhos On Sea & Penrhyn Bay, you have a great view of Llandudno on the Colwyn Road as you go the other side of Penrhyn Bay past Little Orme

I did enjoy the X4, part of 4 group Bangor-Holyhead which i caught last week, good views parts of Anglesey to the mainland & Mountains of Snowdonia National Park, 4 group stop on the main road that goes the other side of Holyhead Station

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

My selections:

Stagecoach 60 from Gloucester to Thornbury - great run along the Severn plain before climbing through the hills from Dursley to Wotton providing superb views over to the Severn bridges

Arriva 7 from Darlington to Durham - great bomb along the old A1 with various diversions through 1950s new towns and former colliery villages and then into Durham city

Stagecoach 172 Porthcawl to Aberdare- on a good day, from the seaside through the lowlands at Bridgend then into the Rhondda, climbing up and over the valley tops and up from Maerdy before descending via hairpin bends into Aberdare.

South West Coaches X11 Yeovil to Dorchester - leaving from Yeovil, a quick blast along the A30 to Sherborne and then a run through chocolate box villages and past the Cerne Abbas Giant and into Dorchester, a lovely market town.

 

[gnolife]

My favourites in my neck of the woods are
CC5A Altrincham - Partington - Lymm - Warrington
TA02 Bury - Bromley Cross - Darwen
61 Glossop - Hayfield - New Mills - Buxton
358 Stockport - Marple - New Mills - Hayfield
375 Stockport - Stepping Hill - Marple - Shiloh Road
394 Stepping Hill - High Lane - Marple - Glossop
481 Bury - Rawtenstall - Haslington - Blackburn
487 Bury - Nangreaves, if you get a double decker show for it
635 Wigan - Standish Lower Ground - Shevington Moor (M-Sa)/Wrightington Hosp (Su)

And slightly further afield, theres
80 Lancaster - Hornby - Bentham - Ingleton
181 York - Castle Howard - Malton
51/X51 Rhyl - Denbigh - Wrexham
1B Helensburgh - Dumbarton - Glasgow

 

[duncanp]

Metrobus 21 from Crawley to Epsom - serves the top of Box Hill.

Metrobus 22 from Crawley to Holmbury St Mary, and Compass Travel 32 from Redhill to Guildford, both of which serve some of the villages in the Surrey Hills between Dorking and Guildford.

 

[TheWalrus]

39 Exeter to Newton Abbot
9/9A Exeter to Lyme/Honiton (lovely route)
155 Exeter to Barnstaple (nice scenery could be considered low ridership)
80 Swindon to Ludgershall (nice route low ridership)
49 Swindon to Trowbridge (nice route but overrated!)
X38 Exeter to Plymouth (low ridership at times)
46 Exeter to Torquay and X64 Exeter to Dartmouth, very nice routes, ridership not as good.

 

[TheWalrus]

39 Exeter to Newton Abbot
9/9A Exeter to Lyme/Honiton (lovely route)
155 Exeter to Barnstaple (nice scenery could be considered low ridership)
80 Swindon to Ludgershall (nice route low ridership)
49 Swindon to Trowbridge (nice route but overrated!)
X38 Exeter to Plymouth (low ridership at times)
46 Exeter to Torquay and X64 Exeter to Dartmouth, very nice routes, ridership not as good.

 

[Busaholic]

39 Exeter to Newton Abbot
9/9A Exeter to Lyme/Honiton (lovely route)
155 Exeter to Barnstaple (nice scenery could be considered low ridership)
80 Swindon to Ludgershall (nice route low ridership)
49 Swindon to Trowbridge (nice route but overrated!)
X38 Exeter to Plymouth (low ridership at times)
46 Exeter to Torquay and X64 Exeter to Dartmouth, very nice routes, ridership not as good.

Like New York, so good you named them twice.

 

[TheWalrus]

Like New York, so good you named them twice.

Soory what did I name twice?

 

[class387]

Soory what did I name twice?

You posted your recommendations twice.

 

[James H]

297 Tunbridge Wells to Tenterden is a good rural ride with a few nice views and several very picturesque villages.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I have a bit of a soft spot for the Stagecoach Transit 1 from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough. The fast run from Seaton Carew to the Transporter Bridge and then round into Boro is very...apocalyptic. It's really scenic in it's own way, looking at the chemical works and the cobalt North Sea behind them.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I have a bit of a soft spot for the Stagecoach Transit 1 from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough. The fast run from Seaton Carew to the Transporter Bridge and then round into Boro is very...apocalyptic. It's really scenic in it's own way, looking at the chemical works and the cobalt North Sea behind them.

I agree you on that one. There’s a hint of Blade Runner about it!

 

[Esker-pades]

Night Bus Routes (or day routes done late):
100 (Edinburgh)
370 (London)
N3 (Edinburgh)
N8 (London)
N21 (London)
N31 (Edinburgh)
N37 (Edinburgh)
N68 (London)
N86 (London)
N89 (London)
N113 (London)
N155 (London)
N199 (London)
N551 (London)

 

[plcd1]

I did a Kent and Sussex day ride last year. I enjoyed these services

402 Bromley - T Wells (sadly broken into bits now) (Arriva)
29 T Wells - Brighton (Brighton and Hove)
700 Brighton - Worthing (was during a storm that blew in off the sea so not as scenic as it could be. However I'd not seen the coastline there with its mix of businesses / residential etc) (Stagecoach South)
23 Worthing - Crawley (Metrobus)
405 Redhill - W Croydon (Go Ahead London)

I took the 100 from Crawley to Redhill but it's not very notable unless you like short length Omnicities and airport industrial estates

I don't often get to ride longer bus routes outside London so the above was a nice, but long, day out.

I'd also chuck in the "E" routes run by Stagecoach North East between Sunderland and South Shields. Sadly no longer the domain of Bristol REs but I've always enjoyed that coastal ride.
The old Arriva 420 from Ashington to Alnwick was also pleasant when I rode it a few years back. Don't think it exists in the same form these days (checks - it's the X20 now)

 

[northwichcat]

247 between Altrincham and Partington goes through some very narrow lanes.

Some old people like 88 Wilmslow to Knutsford which goes through some rural villages.

 

[gnolife]

247 between Altrincham and Partington goes through some very narrow lanes.

Some old people like 88 Wilmslow to Knutsford which goes through some rural villages.

That section of narrow lanes is why I suggested the Cc5A above, with the added bonus of not having to crawl through the industrial area at Carrington