Concessionary Travel Pass advice

MilesT6060842

The various concessionary bus passes issued by the nations of the UK are likely to have "easements" where there is limited additional acceptance for cross border journeys to complete the journey on one bus (the one that took you across the border, and probably actually need to cross the border to be eligible to complete for free). 

This will need specific local research and will probably only be for a few extra miles, so only of local convenience.

bery_451

Okay if this concessionary bus pass cant be used for MegaBus to travel between cities then usually generally speaking which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains because trains become unreliable now with all the strikes and stuff happening.

KeithP

bery_451 said:

Okay if this concessionary bus pass cant be used for MegaBus to travel between cities then usually generally speaking which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains because trains become unreliable now with all the strikes and stuff happening.

Megabus.        

MilesT6060842

KeithP said:

bery_451 said:

Okay if this concessionary bus pass cant be used for MegaBus to travel between cities then usually generally speaking which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains because trains become unreliable now with all the strikes and stuff happening.

Megabus.        

Or flixbus (and no, can't use concessionary or discount cards on that)

Overall summary:  to use concessionary for long distance you need to research a sequence of local bus routes that will do the job, and accept it will be very slow. 

National express has a annual discount card.

There are websites that offer car sharing in private cars for trips for share of fuel used, which may be cheaper than express bus or may not.

If you can't afford an express bus and you can't put together a succession of local buses to do your route (in a reasonable time) and don't like the idea of car sharing then you will just have to not make the trip.  No more help available.

onashoestring

bery_451 said:

… which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains …..

This is a very broad question- there are 74 cities in U.K. - which specific cities is your aunty wishing to travel between ? 

MilesT6060842

bery_451 said:

Okay if this concessionary bus pass cant be used for MegaBus to travel between cities then usually generally speaking which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains because trains become unreliable now with all the strikes and stuff happening.

There is no one "always best" answer, you have to research each trip specifically, trying various combinations of routes and modes to do the best you can without using a train.  Happy hunting.

Express buses (National Express, Megabus, Flixbux and others) will generally be the cheapest fastest reliable scheduled public transport option (that isn't a train), regardless of specific city pairs.  Occasionally, you might find flights cheaply for longer journeys (sometimes via a country outside the UK, which is a nonsense which shouldn't happen but sometimes does).   Any journey that crosses water will need a ferry as well, sometimes the express bus will include the ferry (likely to be cheaper), otherwise you need to add that yourself in the research.

Specific journeys may work best as a combination of express and local buses (using concessionary pass on the local portion), or even flight + express/local bus.

Car sharing is the only other cheap quick option.

bery_451

MilesT6060842 said:

KeithP said:

bery_451 said:

Okay if this concessionary bus pass cant be used for MegaBus to travel between cities then usually generally speaking which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains because trains become unreliable now with all the strikes and stuff happening.

Megabus.        

Or flixbus (and no, can't use concessionary or discount cards on that)

Overall summary:  to use concessionary for long distance you need to research a sequence of local bus routes that will do the job, and accept it will be very slow. 

National express has a annual discount card.

There are websites that offer car sharing in private cars for trips for share of fuel used, which may be cheaper than express bus or may not.

If you can't afford an express bus and you can't put together a succession of local buses to do your route (in a reasonable time) and don't like the idea of car sharing then you will just have to not make the trip.  No more help available.

Is megabus and flixbus the same company? If not which is better overall?

Is there a guide on this site for car sharing?

bery_451

MilesT6060842 said:

bery_451 said:

Okay if this concessionary bus pass cant be used for MegaBus to travel between cities then usually generally speaking which is the cheapest fastest most direct ways of travelling between cities without using the trains because trains become unreliable now with all the strikes and stuff happening.

There is no one "always best" answer, you have to research each trip specifically, trying various combinations of routes and modes to do the best you can without using a train.  Happy hunting.

Express buses (National Express, Megabus, Flixbux and others) will generally be the cheapest fastest reliable scheduled public transport option (that isn't a train), regardless of specific city pairs.  Occasionally, you might find flights cheaply for longer journeys (sometimes via a country outside the UK, which is a nonsense which shouldn't happen but sometimes does).   Any journey that crosses water will need a ferry as well, sometimes the express bus will include the ferry (likely to be cheaper), otherwise you need to add that yourself in the research.

Specific journeys may work best as a combination of express and local buses (using concessionary pass on the local portion), or even flight + express/local bus.

Car sharing is the only other cheap quick option.

Great do you know which car sharing apps tend to be the best overall out there cause there's so many in the app store and which app everybody is using?