• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Longest bus route in England?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

paul1609

Established Member
Joined
28 Jan 2006
Messages
7,189
Location
Wittersham Kent
I presume you are only after local bus routes and not routes operated by coaches like National Express or Megabus or Flixbus etc.

Ten years ago i would say it was probably either the 700 from Brighton to Portsmouth or the 100/101/102 from Hastings to Dover but these have all been split up now so they are no longer very long. So who knows what it is these days. I am not sure on the exact answer.

The 102 Rye to Dover goes via Dungeness now so it's still around 45 miles long. It is ostensibly 2 services as it splits at Lydd Army Camp but its always the same bus and driver going through. There's quite often groups of Pensioners doing the round England on a pass trip!
Obviously not as long as some of the up north services you mention
 

Surreytraveller

On Moderation
Joined
21 Oct 2009
Messages
2,810
The 102 Rye to Dover goes via Dungeness now so it's still around 45 miles long. It is ostensibly 2 services as it splits at Lydd Army Camp but its always the same bus and driver going through. There's quite often groups of Pensioners doing the round England on a pass trip!
Obviously not as long as some of the up north services you mention
Why do bus routes split like that, when its the same driver and bus, with through fares? It all seems rather pointless
 

flymo

Established Member
Joined
22 May 2007
Messages
1,534
Location
Geordie back from exile.
We used to have a Blyth to Hexham through service, X25\ X26\601\602, 5 hours and 4 different routes, much of it in relative countryside, twas bliss.
Good lord I'd forgotten all about that, just after dereg in 1986 I remember, just refreshed the memory with a look at the '86 TT.
 

Attachments

  • 441.jpg
    441.jpg
    242.6 KB · Views: 97
  • 75.jpg
    75.jpg
    219.3 KB · Views: 98

JD2168

Member
Joined
11 Jul 2022
Messages
856
Location
Sheffield
Some services could be:
56 Lincoln to Skegness via Horncastle
X17 on Sunday runs full route between Barnsley & Matlock via Meadowhall, Sheffield & Chesterfield
 

Statto

Established Member
Joined
8 Feb 2011
Messages
3,208
Location
At home or at the pub
But why advertise it to the public as such, when its a through bus?

Because the route is registered as 2 or more separate services, the bus company have to show it as 2 or more separate services in the timetable, even though they operate it as a through route, most like Stagecoach in this example, print timetables like this.

 
Joined
20 May 2018
Messages
229
So if 50km is the limit for a registered route, what is the closest a route/route segment comes to 50km?
 
Joined
25 Aug 2019
Messages
264
Location
Lancaster
There's one bus each way on Summer Sundays between Preston, Lancashire, and Richmond, Yorkshire, approximately 87½ miles. It's the 830 service, run by Northern DalesBus.
 

Ken H

On Moderation
Joined
11 Nov 2018
Messages
6,272
Location
N Yorks
There's one bus each way on Summer Sundays between Preston, Lancashire, and Richmond, Yorkshire, approximately 87½ miles. It's the 830 service, run by Northern DalesBus.
There is also a Pocklington -Ripon - Grassington Dalesbus. But thats only 65 miles.
 
Joined
25 Aug 2019
Messages
264
Location
Lancaster
There used to be a Keele University - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Hanley - Buxton - Bakewell - Sheffield service running at weekends, can't remember if it ran during the week. It gradually got shorter and shorter, now it's just between Hanley and Buxton, change for Sheffield.

Another longish one was between Hanley and Chester, then it got cut to having to change at Crewe.
 

markymark2000

On Moderation
Joined
11 May 2015
Messages
3,538
Location
Western Part of the UK
There used to be a Keele University - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Hanley - Buxton - Bakewell - Sheffield service running at weekends, can't remember if it ran during the week. It gradually got shorter and shorter, now it's just between Hanley and Buxton, change for Sheffield.
And even now, Buxton is only 3 times per day Mon-Fri only. D&G have kept cutting it back.
 
Joined
25 Aug 2019
Messages
264
Location
Lancaster
When it ran between Hanley-Sheffield, at weekends in summer there was always a good load of passengers, some for walking in the Peak District, and always half a dozen or so who travelled the full route. I sometimes went to Sheffield, other times got a connecting service from Bakewell to surrounding villages, sometimes as far as Matlock and Wirksworth.
 

JD2168

Member
Joined
11 Jul 2022
Messages
856
Location
Sheffield
There used to be a Keele University - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Hanley - Buxton - Bakewell - Sheffield service running at weekends, can't remember if it ran during the week. It gradually got shorter and shorter, now it's just between Hanley and Buxton, change for Sheffield.

Another longish one was between Hanley and Chester, then it got cut to having to change at Crewe.
It was the X18 run by First ran all week, generally around every 2 hours. When the Sheffield to Buxton section was replaced by the 218 there was a garunteed connection at Buxton with the 118. 218 now only runs between Sheffield & Bakewell run by TM Travel.
 

Statto

Established Member
Joined
8 Feb 2011
Messages
3,208
Location
At home or at the pub
There used to be a Keele University - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Hanley - Buxton - Bakewell - Sheffield service running at weekends, can't remember if it ran during the week. It gradually got shorter and shorter, now it's just between Hanley and Buxton, change for Sheffield.

Another longish one was between Hanley and Chester, then it got cut to having to change at Crewe.


X18 Hanley to Sheffield, with some going to Keele.

C84 was Hanley to Chester via Crewe that got split in Crewe, so is now 84 Crewe to Chester & 85 Nantwich to Newcastle
 

WM Bus

Member
Joined
28 Jul 2018
Messages
255
The longest in the Birmingham area is the X50 to Chippping Norton, operated by Diamond Buses. It's about to disappear as it will only run for 2 more Sundays; the 17th/tomorrow and final day 24th July.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Simon75

On Moderation
Joined
25 May 2016
Messages
881
The Longest bus now from Stoke-on-Trent is the 64 (former X64) to Shrewsbury c 30 miles
 

Eyersey468

Established Member
Joined
14 Sep 2018
Messages
2,135
No National Express service is now registered as a local bus (all deregistered earlier this year) so journeys under 15 miles aren't possible. I'm also not sure if you can pay on board these days, unlike all the other examples mentioned.
You can still buy tickets off the driver, however it is more expensive to do it that way rather than book in advance, and you are banking on the coach not being fully booked
 

SouthEastBuses

On Moderation
Joined
15 Nov 2019
Messages
1,800
Location
uk
X4 Northampton to Peterborough via Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby and Oudle. Almost 90 km long!

I'd also add the Red route of the New Forest Tour down in Hampshire & Dorset, which is about 70 km long.
 

Deerfold

Veteran Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
12,571
Location
Yorkshire
X4 Northampton to Peterborough via Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby and Oudle. Almost 90 km long!

I'd also add the Red route of the New Forest Tour down in Hampshire & Dorset, which is about 70 km long.

So quite a bit shorter than some we've had?

The X4 is, of course, registered in 2 sections, split at Corby.

Stagecoach’s summer only X8 from Chorley to Keswick is a mere 93 miles or so.

If you add up the 4 sections it's registered in.
 

Dren Ahmeti

Member
Joined
17 Oct 2017
Messages
550
Location
Bristol
They used to break at the airport which was rather problematic dud to delays but I think now they get their break in Bristol due to increased turn round times. Certainly all my recent trips have. It is solely run from Plymouth as far as I'm aware and one driver does one round trip per day.
That’s correct, Stagecoach Exeter run them, and take their breaks in Bristol.
 

SouthEastBuses

On Moderation
Joined
15 Nov 2019
Messages
1,800
Location
uk
So quite a bit shorter than some we've had?

The X4 is, of course, registered in 2 sections, split at Corby.



If you add up the 4 sections it's registered in.

New Forest Tour Red Line could maybe be classified as Britain's longest open topper bus route tho!
 

embers25

Established Member
Joined
16 Jul 2009
Messages
1,809
That honour must go to Lands End Coaster or Jurassic Coaster X52 surely?
 

LUYMun

Member
Joined
15 Jul 2018
Messages
776
Location
Somewhere
See my response to a similar topic being discussed last March:

LUYMun said:
There used to be the 30 that ran from Farnborough to Basingstoke, which included about five double-runs AFAIK: one to serve RAF Odiham, one to loop Zebon Copse and Church Crookham, one to serve Fleet Rail Station, one to loop at Minley Estate and one to serve Farnborough Rail Station, not helped with an interworking route 31 beyond to Frimley Park Hospital (had we left the EU sooner that section may as well be part of the 30!).

It was introduced by Stagecoach during the time they held the Fleet Buzz subsidiary in 2013 to partially replace their route 200/100/10 (renumbered over time in that order), which too ran from Basingstoke albeit to Camberley a few miles north, in unison with algamating Fleet Buzz's existing routes out of Farnborough and Fleet. During this course of time, alongside the step-entrance Varios and low-floor single-decker ex-London castaways, a few of their Leyland/Volvo Olympians began running on this route, mainly acting as backup (translating Stagecoach English to Standard English, "backup" meant it was regular thanks to the Buzz vehicles unable to start up in the morning).

It was withdrawn in 2015 - partly because of Hampshire County Council budget cuts; partly because South West Trains had a quicker, more frequent service from Farnborough to Basingstoke; and partly because the staff disliked its huge length. The withdrawal was also the amalgamation of Fleet Buzz into Stagecoach South, and to this present day the 13 (Basingstoke - Haslemere) and 10 (Farnborough - Church Crookham) replace about two thirds of the 30 but never shall the twain meet.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top