Best value unsubsidised day (bus) tickets

[philthetube]

I am not talking about tickets offered by a PTE or London transport, a am talking about purely commercial tickets, I wondered what is the best value.

I think the best I have come across is the Kday offered by Transdev, £5.00 for all day or £4.50 if starting after 9.30am.

this covers all Transdev services in and around Leeds, Bradford, Hebden Bridge, Haworth , Oakworth, Colne, (though only the Keighley service), Barnoldswick, (only in the Skipton direction),Skipton, Grassington, Ilkley, Otley and many other places worth a visit, I think this takes some beating, though I would be interested to know of any more exceptional value ones.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Honestly, First Glasgow's £4.60 city all day must be up there. It can be bought at any time in the day and is valid till 1am.

 

[Tetchytyke]

No chance of beating Stagecoach's North West Explorer. £12. Valid from Newcastle or Dumfries to Carlisle, and then through Cumbria, the Lakes, Lancashire (not Greater Manchester East of Wigan/Bolton), Merseyside and Cheshire. Newcastle to Chester for twelve quid.

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

The Transdev day tripper is very good value for £10. Leeds, Keighley, Burnley, Blackburn, Manchester, Harrogate, Skipton.

It used to be even better when you could use it to York.

 

[philthetube]

Honestly first glasgows £4.60 city all day must be up there can be bought at any time in the day and is valid till 1am

But Glasgow is a subsidised operation and thus outside the criteria.

 

[SCH117X]

The Transdev day tripper is very good value for £10. Leeds, Keighley, Burnley, Blackburn, Manchester, Harrogate, Skipton.

It used to be even better when you could use it to York.

Strictly you can from Ripon

 

[johncrossley]

But Glasgow is a subsidised operation and thus outside the criteria.

How is that subsidised? They have deregulation in Glasgow. The ticket mentioned is a single company ticket. It doesn't even include other operators in the city.

 

[Megafuss]

The Orbit ticket by Arriva is outstanding value. Or it certainly was when I last used it a couple of years ago. Covering Reading and Oxford all the way to Stevenage and Welwyn

 

[NorthOxonian]

The Stagecoach West Explorer is a pretty decent shout. £7.30 on the app or £7.50 on bus, and now covers a huge swathe of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and into some neighbouring counties. In much of this area Stagecoach are the only operator or are very dominant.

Until recently it wasn't valid in Oxfordshire (except for on the S6 and possibly Oxford city services) nor on the direct route between Oxford and Cheltenham - even then it wasn't a bad deal, but now it's excellent.

Another very good value ticket in a similar area is Arriva's Orbit day ticket - £6.70 and includes their services in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and the Luton area, as well as their routes to Oxford and Reading.

 

[Jordan Adam]

No chance of beating Stagecoach's North West Explorer. £12. Valid from Newcastle or Dumfries to Carlisle, and then through Cumbria, the Lakes, Lancashire (not Greater Manchester East of Wigan/Bolton), Merseyside and Cheshire. Newcastle to Chester for twelve quid.

The Stagecoach East Scotland DayRider is £9 and covers the entire East Scotland network from Aberdeen all the way down to Edinburgh and Glasgow, it also includes the Stagecoach Bluebird Service 727 to Aberdeen Airport.

 

[philthetube]

How is that subsidised? They have deregulation in Glasgow. The ticket mentioned is a single company ticket. It doesn't even include other operators in the city.

apologies, I assumed it would be a PTE or similar.

 

[Stan Drews]

But Glasgow is a subsidised operation and thus outside the criteria.

Yes, First Glasgow run some subsidised services, so do Transdev in the example you used, but I’m not sure what is relevant about that?
If I’m missing the point, perhaps you could explain what criteria makes First Glasgow a ‘subsidised operation’, but Transdev in Keighley not?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

No chance of beating Stagecoach's North West Explorer. £12. Valid from Newcastle or Dumfries to Carlisle, and then through Cumbria, the Lakes, Lancashire (not Greater Manchester East of Wigan/Bolton), Merseyside and Cheshire. Newcastle to Chester for twelve quid.

It is very good but here's a couple.

Arriva's North West ticket allows you to travel from Caernarfon or Anglesey across North Wales and across into Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester which is a fair sweep of territory and it's only £6.10.

I'd also nominate Explorer North East though it may admittedly be a grey area. ENE is managed by Network One Travel Tickets which is an amalgam of Go NE, Arriva and Stagecoach plus Nexus and Metro. Admittedly, it may seem a grey area but it technically isn't a PTE product; it's a commercial product and is offered alongside single operator tickets. It stretches from Scarborough and Richmond north to Berwick, and across to Carlisle, being valid on Stagecoach's city routes there. It's valid on the Metro and Shields Ferry and is £10.90.

 

[The Albion]

National Express WM day ticket, whatever it is called. £4 for all the way between Stourbridge/ Codsall and Leamington Spa. Not even any a.m. peak hour restriction any more !

 

[TUC]

North East Expolrer is excellent value. £10.90 for an adult and covers Stagecoach, Go North East, Arriva North East, Tyne and Wear Metro and the Shields Ferry, across the 150 miles from the Scottish Border to Scarborough, together with across to Carlisle. https://networkonetickets.co.uk/tickets/explorer/

 

[Tetchytyke]

Arriva's North West ticket allows you to travel from Caernarfon or Anglesey across North Wales and across into Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester which is a fair sweep of territory and it's only £6.10.

That is good tbf. Although the down side is spending that long on Arriva buses

Must confess I discounted the Explorer North East, a ticket I've spent much too much time using over the years, as it is managed by Network One ticketing.

 

[L401CJF]

It is very good but here's a couple.

Arriva's North West ticket allows you to travel from Caernarfon or Anglesey across North Wales and across into Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester which is a fair sweep of territory and it's only £6.10.

Not as good as it used to be depending on where you live, you used to be able to go from Liverpool/Birkenhead to Chester then into Wales. Since they pulled off the route and let stagecoach have it, Wirral and North Liverpool residents would have to travel via Runcorn, and now theyve pulled off the X1 from Liverpool to Runcorn thats a right pain!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

That is good tbf. Although the down side is spending that long on Arriva buses

Must confess I discounted the Explorer North East, a ticket I've spent much too much time using over the years, as it is managed by Network One ticketing.

It is a grey area but Network One is just a group of operators rather than a public body and it isn't subsidised.

TBH, the Arriva operations in North West are some of the better ones (but it's a low bar)

 

[Typhoon]

I'm not claiming it as the 'best value' ticket (since it depends where you want to go and why you are travelling) but the Discovery Ticket in the South East (£9 adult, £17.50 family) covers almost all operators in the South East (Kent, East & West Sussex, Surrey, East Hampshire, Brighton and Medway) is pretty good value given that some of the operators covered are not renowned for offering low fares.

 

[johncrossley]

Except London and Cornwall, is any bus only ticket in England, Scotland or Wales subsidised? Even if tickets are organised, advertised or promoted by the relevant transport authority, I didn't think any of them actually get public money.

 

[TUC]

That is good tbf. Although the down side is spending that long on Arriva buses

Must confess I discounted the Explorer North East, a ticket I've spent much too much time using over the years, as it is managed by Network One ticketing.

Explorer North East has existed a lot longer than Network One ticketing. It was introduced in the early 1980s amd is a commercial product between the operators. Network One just happen to currently co-ordinate it.

 

[Deerfold]

I am not talking about tickets offered by a PTE or London transport, a am talking about purely commercial tickets, I wondered what is the best value.

I think the best I have come across is the Kday offered by Transdev, £5.00 for all day or £4.50 if starting after 9.30am.

this covers all Transdev services in and around Leeds, Bradford, Hebden Bridge, Haworth , Oakworth, Colne, (though only the Keighley service), Barnoldswick, (only in the Skipton direction),Skipton, Grassington, Ilkley, Otley and many other places worth a visit, I think this takes some beating, though I would be interested to know of any more exceptional value ones.

I'm not sure why you're excluding PTE tickets. West Yorkshire don't subsidise their tickets (the prices are set by the companies involved) but do promote them. A West Yorkshire ticket is £5.50 or £5 on the app if you buy in 10s.

That gets you Wetherby, Pontefract, Wakefield, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Bradford, Keighley and Leeds.

The K-day can be bought in the app at 10 for £39 - particularly good value for use at peak time (and valid to Halifax, now too - just on the 502).

I use both regularly. If staying locally or crossing the country boundary I'm more likely to use the K-day as it's valid on 6 of 7 buses past my house and cheaper.

Keighley's Zone Day is very good value for local journeys - it's only valid around 1.5 miles around Keighley but is just £26 for 10 - a single into town from the boundary is £2.30.

 

[Statto]

Is the new 1bws ticket subsidised?

1 bws ticket is £5.70 adult, & not valid on tourist routes & more bizarrely 28 Mold - Flint, but valid throughout North Wales on other routes including Trawscymru ( T12 between Wrexham & Chirk only ) & Snowdon Sherpa network, as far as Aberystwyth, Chester, & Ellesmere Port, as long as you board or alight in Wales.

 

[miklcct]

Large area: Salisbury Reds Explorer ticket, £9.50, valid all day across Salisbury Reds, morebus, Bluestar & Unilink services covering as far as Swanage, Weymouth, Dorchester, Blandford, Swindon, Southampton, Lymington, Bournemouth and Poole.

 

[route101]

The Stagecoach West Explorer is a pretty decent shout. £7.30 on the app or £7.50 on bus, and now covers a huge swathe of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and into some neighbouring counties. In much of this area Stagecoach are the only operator or are very dominant.

Until recently it wasn't valid in Oxfordshire (except for on the S6 and possibly Oxford city services) nor on the direct route between Oxford and Cheltenham - even then it wasn't a bad deal, but now it's excellent.

Another very good value ticket in a similar area is Arriva's Orbit day ticket - £6.70 and includes their services in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and the Luton area, as well as their routes to Oxford and Reading.

There is a separate ticket which includes the 853 which I used a few weeks back. Is it now valid on the 853?

 

[NorthOxonian]

There is a separate ticket which includes the 853 which I used a few weeks back. Is it now valid on the 853?

Yes, they appear to have changed it so the normal West Explorer is valid on the 853.

Looking at the fare finder, they've also reduced the single and return fares. It was £8 single and £10 return, but now it's £7 and £7.50 respectively.

 

[43055]

I thought the £5.70 Day+ ticket I used last week for Midland Classic was good value which covers the full network except routes X11 and 20.

 

[Simon75]

Is the new 1bws ticket subsidised?

1 bws ticket is £5.70 adult, & not valid on tourist routes & more bizarrely 28 Mold - Flint, but valid throughout North Wales on other routes including Trawscymru ( T12 between Wrexham & Chirk only ) & Snowdon Sherpa network, as far as Aberystwyth, Chester, & Ellesmere Port, as long as you board or alight in Wales.

So can't you buy one if you board in Chester , travelling to Wales then ?

 

[gnolife]

So can't you buy one if you board in Chester , travelling to Wales then ?

You can buy them if you're alighting in Wales. You wouldn't be permitted to buy one to go Chester to Sealand Road P+R (for example)

 

[PG]

Large area: Salisbury Reds Explorer ticket, £9.50, valid all day across Salisbury Reds, morebus, Bluestar & Unilink services covering as far as Swanage, Weymouth, Dorchester, Blandford, Swindon, Southampton, Lymington, Bournemouth and Poole.

Also covers as far as Devizes.