Where can an OAP bus pass be used?

LimeLight

I go all over the place on my pass.

Got from Carlisle to Liverpool by bus one day

Liverpool to Birmingham

Liverpool to Manchester, all manner of ways to do that. Via St Helens - Wigan - Manchester or Preston - Bolton - Manchester or Liverpool - Warrington - Manchester

dzug1

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

That's now got me wondering. I've got my Welsh bus pass and know I can use it on any bus in Wales.

The thought hadn't even crossed my mind as to whether I might not be allowed to use it on buses before 9.30am in the morning.

Does anyone know the position on this? I am in a pretty rural-ish area of Wales and there just ARENT many buses and I therefore assume that time restrictions wouldn't apply here, even if they would in somewhere as urban as Cardiff for instance (if only because of all the restrictions we have anyway, due to the limited number of buses).

Hence, in somewhere like Cardiff (with enough buses) I'd expect there might be some time restrictions, but in an area like this (where it's all you can do to find a bus going at the time you have decided to use one anyway) then they wouldn't apply iyswim.

EDIT: That just prompted a quick google and I've answered my own question. I found a Welsh Government website that said "can travel free at any time of day". Whew! Relief. Commonsense about that lack of buses has prevailed and we can use any of them.

If you drill down into the finer detail it can get very complicated. In my area the County Council has a list of services that run before 0930 on which passes are valid (in some cases only local passes) - in principle infrequent services which would have a long wait for the next departure. Needless to say there are a few anomalies - I wouldn't expect otherwise


Some authorities have no time limit on use of passes - whether this extends to other authority passes varies and can be quite difficult to find out.

Willowpop

LimeLight wrote: »

I go all over the place on my pass.

Got from Carlisle to Liverpool by bus one day

Liverpool to Birmingham

Liverpool to Manchester, all manner of ways to do that. Via St Helens - Wigan - Manchester or Preston - Bolton - Manchester or Liverpool - Warrington - Manchester

Oh that's interesting..so just 'hopping' from one 'local' bus to another.
Will have to mention this to Dad as he is in Manchester. Seems he could have quite the day trip!

LimeLight

Willowpop wrote: »

Oh that's interesting..so just 'hopping' from one 'local' bus to another.
Will have to mention this to Dad as he is in Manchester. Seems he could have quite the day trip!

That's why I mentioned Manchester for a few routes

Willowpop

LimeLight wrote: »

That's why I mentioned Manchester for a few routes

:beer::T .

System

ISTR that somebody managed to go the whole length of England on a bus pass about a year or so ago. It just takes a bit of planning

ETA
Linkie

dzug1

Someone did Lands End to John O'Groats - though they had to make special arrangements in Scotland as their pass wasn't valid. I think they were given a free one for the publicity generated


It's more difficult now than then - there are gaps on the direct route that have to be gone round.

martindow

I think the minimum offered has to be free travel between 09.30 and 23.00 Monday to Friday and all day at weekends. As has been mentioned different local authorities choose to be more generous, with London in the lead offering free bus travel 24/24

Mids_Costcutter

dzug1 wrote: »

Someone did Lands End to John O'Groats - though they had to make special arrangements in Scotland as their pass wasn't valid. I think they were given a free one for the publicity generated


It's more difficult now than then - there are gaps on the direct route that have to be gone round.

Yes, someone did it back in 2008 taking 1 week and 6 hours:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584546/From-Lands-End-to-John-oGroats-by-bus-pass.html

I suppose by gaps you mean services cut since 2010?

dzug1

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Yes, someone did it back in 2008 taking 1 week and 6 hours:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584546/From-Lands-End-to-John-oGroats-by-bus-pass.html

I suppose by gaps you mean services cut since 2010?

Yes . Or frequencies drastically cut