My wife and I are planning a month long trip to England next spring. We'll be renting a car for a week in Cornwall, but are planning on using a Britrail pass and busses in the Cotswolds and the Lake District. Is there a bus equivalent of a Britrail pass? I think I saw you can buy week long or month long bus passes with specific bus companies, but I don't want to do that, and then need to use another bus company to get somewhere I want to go. Does anyone have suggestions? I know renting a car is easiest, but we would really like the social interaction you get with public transportation, though I know it's slower and more restrictive. Thanks for any advice!
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
2563 posts
Unfortunatley the anwser is 'no' - unless isn31c can come up with something?
Posted by
Lake District, England
9232 posts
There isn't a Britrail for buses.
But in the Lake District all buses are run by Stagecoach (*). They have a ticket for all of their buses (from Chester to Dumfries, Skipton and Newcastle) which is very good value- Weekly £36 and monthly £118 (which are called North West Gold Megariders). They are issued on a smartcard with the 28 day one only being available on their app. 7 day is either on the app or bought on bus.
(*) The caveat is that Cumberland Council have been given £5 million by the Government to enhance the already good services. A summit meeting has been called for January with anyone in the County who has a bus to work out how to spend it. So there is a chance of new entrants during next Spring/Summer. Part of the debate is around a new all operator ticket if new companies come into the fray.
The Cotswolds would depend on where you are staying. If you are using mainly Stagecoach then they will probably have regional 7 and 28 day Megariders as for the Lake District.
If using mainly Pulhams (more likely) the Oxford Bus Company have a 7 day ticket for £39.50 (All OBC, Thames Travel and Pulhams) and a monthly for £128.
There is a daily all operators ticket but not a longer period one that I have heard of.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5518 posts
There is a Mybus Oxfordshire 7-day ticket for £25. Valid on a large percentage of local buses in Oxfordshire plus extensions into some neighbouring counties. Details including exceptions here. Available only online (websites / apps) from participating operators. Daily version for £6.50 can be bought on buses.
Posted by
Lake District, England
9232 posts
In the Cotswolds Stagecoach have a West Gold 7 Day Megarider for £31 and 28 Day for £122.
It is not valid to Stratford on Avon, but is valid from Daventry and Banbury to Oxford then through the Cotswolds on their services to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Hereford, Bristol, Bath, Swindon, Chippenham and Hungerford (Berkshire)- another vast area.
Bus Connections are available from Daventry to rail stations at Long Buckby, Northampton and Rugby.
Posted by
OP
Asheville, NC
14 posts
This is all so very helpful. Thanks all!
Posted by
2714 posts
Are you sure that Britrail will be the best deal?
I have just checked for Plymouth to Cheltenham (hopping off place for The Cotswolds) and see direct trains taking 3 hours 45 minutes and the price is roughly £20 (without a Railcard discount). That’s booking ahead for early February Advance tickets for specific trains (non refundable). Show up and pay on the day for these longer journeys will cost more.
Posted by
OP
Asheville, NC
14 posts
Hi James, but with the Britrail, I would have unlimited rail journeys, correct? I wouldn’t be paying for a ticket morning of. (I hope I’m understanding how this works.)
Posted by
2714 posts
You need to divide the price you pay for the Britrail Pass by the number of days of travel. Then you need to consider your journeys. Generally, for a short day return journey, paying on the day for real tickets might work out cheaper than using a day's worth of Britrail Pass.
For longer journeys, such as Plymouth to Cheltenham, knowing in advance what day you plan to travel, you can purchase specific train advance ticket (non refundable). Some journeys can be cheaper if tickets are split - this might be at a change point to another train or even at a stopping point where you just continue on the same train. Sounds nuts but true.
https://www.buytickets.scotrail.co.uk is a site that shows at least one split point if it will save you money. Play around with it for potential journeys and change the dates. Note that you can go too far ahead in time and find high prices. This is because the cheaper fares have not yet been loaded. But, I hear you say, I am not travelling on Scotrail as this is the train company in Scotland. Don’t worry, any train company can issue the tickets for any other train company & like Scotrail, they don’t charge commission. However, Scotrail is the one that will show you reductions using ‘splits’ if need be.
https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk is the most likely train company that you would be travelling on between Plymouth & Cheltenham. GWR also have trains on the same tracks but these tend to slower due to making more stops.
https://www.seat61.com is the go to site for train travel advice - though you will also find some knowledgeable experts on this forum.
If you are hiring a car for Cornwall, you might also like to consider keeping it and driving up to the Cotswolds for driving around the villages. The main highways from Cornwall to Cheltenham are all very good - similar to Interstates. The big difference you will find is when you come off these are start going down country roads. Go on Google Maps and find the areas you wish to visit and drag on the yellow man in places to see what the roads are like.
Posted by
OP
Asheville, NC
14 posts
Oh, that’s good to know. It sounds like it would be worth doing a bit of research and figuring this out better. Thanks so much for your help!
Posted by
2714 posts
That’s OK.
If you want a live view of the railway between Exeter and Plymouth - click on this link for Dawlish webcam.
Posted by
Lake District, England
9232 posts
Cornwall also happens to be quite a good county to travel in by bus- there is a £30 a week bus ticket for all operators-https://www.gocornwallbus.co.uk/week-tickets.
Also on cross border services into Devon.
Weekly capped tapping only works on Go Cornwall services and their partners, not First Kernow. That may or may not work for you.
There is a balance between that and a rental car with things like the constant parking charges everywhere you go.
There is a pretty comprehensive network of services, as shown in this guide (this is the winter version so omits some seasonal workings, notably the Lands End Coaster- https://images-gocornwallbus.passenger-website.com/2024-09/TFC%20September%20Web%20%281%29.pdf
There is also Ride Cornwall- a daily all buses and trains ticket for £18, the Cornwall Day Ranger ticket for £16 (all trains in the County), and the Freedom of Devon and Cornwall rail ticket 3 days in 7 £64, 8 days in 15- £102.50-
All except Ride Cornwall get a 34% discount if you qualify for any railcard
https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/rangers-and-rovers
https://www.railcard.co.uk/
Most of the trip reports on this forum are from people who used the bus before the new network and new multi-operator tickets came in after the pandemic.
Although it is a long way to go I have done Bude to Mousehole in a day (one way) on the bus. That is way further than you would want to do. If I had gone a different route I could even have done Bude to Lands End and back round the Penwith Peninsula the long way to Penzance.