Using buses on holiday in cornwall.

[AM9]

Can anybody please give a definitive answers to the following questions about bus ticketing in Cornwall:

a) can non-Cornwall ENCTS passes be used for travel on named bus services such as the Lands End Coaster, Tin Coaster and Atlantic Coaster?​

b) do all of the day passes, (Ride Cornwall, £5 Cornwall bus day ticket) allow travel on the Coaster services.​

Am I correct in presuming that Go Cornwall is not the same company as First Kernow?

TIA

 

[Roger1973]

I'm not expert in Cornwall, but

First Kernow is First Group, Go Cornwall is Go Ahead Group, so not the same company.

This (First Bus site) says ENCTS is valid on Lands End Coaster, and has links to the other ones you mention.

Not sure about the (paid for) day tickets - in some areas, each operator will do their own which is valid only (or sometimes with a very few exceptions only) on their own buses, and there is also a multi-operator ticket (which usually costs a bit more) - I'll have to let someone else answer that bit.

 

[On the Buses]

Can anybody please give a definitive answers to the following questions about bus ticketing in Cornwall:

a) can non-Cornwall ENCTS passes be used for travel on named bus services such as the Lands End Coaster, Tin Coaster and Atlantic Coaster?​

b) do all of the day passes, (Ride Cornwall, £5 Cornwall bus day ticket) allow travel on the Coaster services.​

Am I correct in presuming that Go Cornwall is not the same company as First Kernow?

TIA

I can answer correctly!

GoCornwall Bus amd Kernow by Cornwall (was First Kernow) are separate but all Cornwall bus tickets can be used on both operators’ routes including all leisure routes. So can English ENCTS passes.

 

[AM9]

I can answer correctly!

GoCornwall Bus amd Kernow by Cornwall (was First Kernow) are separate but all Cornwall bus tickets can be used on both operators’ routes including all leisure routes. So can English ENCTS passes.

Great, - I'm looking forward to exploring some places not served by rail. We've had Ride Cornwall passes before (2015) and when we wanted to get a bus from Bodmin General station to the centre of town, ENCTS was OK on the (then) local red buses, but my wife had to pay despite the Ride Cornwall pass being good for all First Kernow and most of the small minibus services (including from Polperro to Polraun).
Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[Busaholic]

I can answer correctly!

GoCornwall Bus amd Kernow by Cornwall (was First Kernow) are separate but all Cornwall bus tickets can be used on both operators’ routes including all leisure routes. So can English ENCTS passes.

And ENCTS passes are available from first bus to last bus, seven days a week.

 

[AM9]

And ENCTS passes are available from first bus to last bus, seven days a week.

Even better, -my Hertfordshire pass is 24/7 here. I've read about this bus initiative in Cornwall with lowered fares as well, and it sounds like sensible thinking somewhere in the UK at last. Is there any co-ordination of bus and train times in the county?

 

[richw]

Even better, -my Hertfordshire pass is 24/7 here. I've read about this bus initiative in Cornwall with lowered fares as well, and it sounds like sensible thinking somewhere in the UK at last. Is there any co-ordination of bus and train times in the county?

In most places trains and buses connect well. As long as you get the right train. There’s two trains per hour in each direction most of the day. One normally connects with the bus at each station where it’s an hourly bus service

 

[Busaholic]

Even better, -my Hertfordshire pass is 24/7 here. I've read about this bus initiative in Cornwall with lowered fares as well, and it sounds like sensible thinking somewhere in the UK at last. Is there any co-ordination of bus and train times in the county?

Well, Cornwall's are also 24/7, only problem being there are no night services! Re your last point, I'm afraid very little, any more than almost anywhere you care to mention in the country. Bodmin Parkway station is particularly notorious in this regard. To be fair, it's late-running trains on GWR that cause most of the problems, and bus drivers may not even be aware of when they are expected to arrive in reality.

 

[ChrisC]

Well, Cornwall's are also 24/7, only problem being there are no night services! Re your last point, I'm afraid very little, any more than almost anywhere you care to mention in the country. Bodmin Parkway station is particularly notorious in this regard. To be fair, it's late-running trains on GWR that cause most of the problems, and bus drivers may not even be aware of when they are expected to arrive in reality.

I saw this happen a couple of weeks ago at Bodmin Parkway. I was waiting on the opposite platform for a train to Plymouth and the train from Paddington was running a few minutes late. The Padstow bus left just as the train was arriving. Not good on a Sunday afternoon when the next bus is not for another 2 hours. I can understand the bus not waiting if the train was very delayed but this would not have delayed the departure of the bus by more than 5 minutes.

On a more positive note the £5 Cornwall bus ticket was fantastic and buses to most places were fairly frequent. Good to be able to buy the mobile ticket on the Go Cornwall App and for it to scan on the ticket machines of all buses with no questions or problems. My mobile ticket even scanned on the infrequent Travel Cornwall mini bus from St Austell to Goran Haven and Hopleys Coaches to Porthtowan and St Agnes. A little bit of a taste of things to come for when I get my ENCTS pass in October.

 

[AndrewE]

I can answer correctly!

GoCornwall Bus amd Kernow by Cornwall (was First Kernow) are separate but all Cornwall bus tickets can be used on both operators’ routes including all leisure routes. So can English ENCTS passes.

Are there any other operators who can refuse to accept ENCTS passes?

And ENCTS passes are available from first bus to last bus, seven days a week.

Good luck.
Before lockdown we had a holiday based on Falmouth and St Austell. We planned to use a bus to get to the start of a walk (or home afterwards)... to be told by the driver he wouldn't accept it. "Pay or get off." A letter of complaint was ignored too.
Not a good advert!

 

[Busaholic]

Are there any other operators who can refuse to accept ENCTS passes?

Good luck.
Before lockdown we had a holiday based on Falmouth and St Austell. We planned to use a bus to get to the start of a walk (or home afterwards)... to be told by the driver he wouldn't accept it. "Pay or get off." A letter of complaint was ignored too.
Not a good advert!

I think the clue there may be in 'before lockdown.' The extra availability came round about the start of the pandemic iirc.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jun 2022 ==

I saw this happen a couple of weeks ago at Bodmin Parkway. I was waiting on the opposite platform for a train to Plymouth and the train from Paddington was running a few minutes late. The Padstow bus left just as the train was arriving. Not good on a Sunday afternoon when the next bus is not for another 2 hours. I can understand the bus not waiting if the train was very delayed but this would not have delayed the departure of the bus by more than 5 minutes.

On a more positive note the £5 Cornwall bus ticket was fantastic and buses to most places were fairly frequent. Good to be able to buy the mobile ticket on the Go Cornwall App and for it to scan on the ticket machines of all buses with no questions or problems. My mobile ticket even scanned on the infrequent Travel Cornwall mini bus from St Austell to Goran Haven and Hopleys Coaches to Porthtowan and St Agnes. A little bit of a taste of things to come for when I get my ENCTS pass in October.

Those two companies are sub-contractors to Go-Ahead Cornwall and it's a requirement that the relevant ticket machines are fitted. Hopleys Coaches at least have all their buses in TfC red livery now, I believe. Can't comment on Travel Cornwall livery from personal experience.