Have free bus pass, want to travel.

donnajunkie

you just need to plan better.
why didnt you make your own sandwiches at home and take them with you?
you should always have alternative or later buses in mind incase you miss one.
if a journey is going to require alot of journey time on a number of buses then dont do it unless you fancy going there for a few days. think about how long you will have at the place.
personally i would never rely on the last bus of the day.
if a journey is quite long you may want to consider starting earlier than 10.20am.
i'm not having a go. i am just trying to give you some advice as someone who does long trips on buses a few times a year. i plan to do even more this year if it ever stops raining.

System

I could not agree more.

I've googled and found every bus operator/service in my county and made a few notes of places I can visit. Fortunately our area allows journeys before 9.30am in fact they are all day with no restrictions.

I've printed off departure times to a variety of towns which I would normally never visit. Equally I've done the reverse times. ALLOWING for any delay. That I think is the secret. Just be aware that things are never perfect, so plan just in case, ie food, drink,toilets.

System

Oh dear Kittie, not only did I think of you and your post yesterday but I talked about you to my wife, because:-

we rose early and soon after 8am we boarded our first bus for a journey of 8 miles which I think turned out to be 15. We changed buses after a 20 min wait and commenced what I can only describe as a journey of a lifetime. For 68 yrs I've lived in this county, heard and read of villages but NEVER seen them, so after all this time, following every byway known and not known to man, we experienced from the front seat upstairs a wonderful magical experience. Three of us on a double decker on a service that runs two hourly.

Our next destination was a quaint market town where coffee in a pub was delicious , so much we returned for a lunch later.

So where next, we could have taken one bus to a city or another in the opposite direction, we chose the latter. Again through totally alien countryside. A cup of tea in the next town then hop onto another bus home, and then another to our part of town.

It was a great day, a day that was only half planned. Yes we slept last night, but today we can sit and talk about the experience and laugh. Considering my wife is disabled and cannot walk without an aid, and I have angina following a heart attack we take each day as it comes, we try to enjoy and accept that sometimes hiccups occur. Will we do it again? you bet we will, even if it does take all day, Would you like to come with us?.

[Deleted User]

I am sitting here having a good laugh too, remembering the day to Swansea. We are off on another day trip by bus soon, perhaps to Abergavenny. Eating out will be factored into the experience as will leaving after 9.30 as will planning the trip via traveline cymru

Part of the laugh was the experience of listening to people just like Gavin and Stacey and the two `biddies` who sat behing us and talked the whole time without taking a breath

However, taking the free bus is not going to be our main means of transport. We will be continuing to use the car for comfort and convenience.

System

Hi, you do realise that if you wait till Saturday, you don't have the 9.30am curfew.

moonrakerz

My wife went to Southampton today for free on her new bus pass. She spent £80 in M & S - can I think about that one ?

System

On a bus load of silver haired guys & gals, we too took a trip to a neighbouring town. Once there, we alighted en mass, and to my amazement, the majority of em visited the same store "British Heart Charity Shop", so it looked very much as they were in for a cheap day, (all money savers).

jfisher20

Some long distance National Express coach routes have sections registered as local routes and so the over 60s free pass can be used.
However not sure exactly how it works due to the advance booking nature of the services
see http://www.leytr.co.uk/Registered%20Sections.pdf

malcolmwilliamson

Anyone seeking to plan a bus journey in their own locality or further afield might find this site http://www.traveline.org.uk/index.htm useful. You just click on the appropriate region and can then plan a public transport journey from A to B within that region.
If you just want to travel by bus you simply click on the other forms of transport to remove them from the planning.

For journeys within Greater London http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en is the site for journey planning. Again get rid of the ticks for other types of public transport (near the bottom of the page) if you want to go by bus.

murphydavid

jfisher20 wrote: »

Some long distance National Express coach routes have sections registered as local routes and so the over 60s free pass can be used.
However not sure exactly how it works due to the advance booking nature of the services
see http://www.leytr.co.uk/Registered%20Sections.pdf

First to say thank you I have been looking for this.

When I discovered by accident that I could travel from Woking to Heathrow for free on National Express I looked at their site for other registered routes and was unable to find this info so thank you for this. I emailed N E and they were most unhelpful although they did clarify it a bit. They said something to the effect that if I booked in advance I would be G'teed a seat and that would be half price (with a bus pass) but to get it for free I would have to turn up at the coach stop and hope there would be a spare seat. If the coach was full then pre booked seats would take priority. They then said that they do not publish a list of which routes are registered and the only way to find out was to ring and ask about each or any route I might want to use.
I have used the coach from Woking to Heathrow many times and even when I was paying full price I never booked in advance and have never seen it more than half full.