Caution NiN bus from gudvagen to Voss

Sorry to hear about your experience. We did NIN a few weeks ago and took the bus from Gudvagen to Voss with no problem. We purchased a ticket from the driver. There must have been 4 busses and they were crowded but not full. We then connected with the train from Voss to Bergen and the train was empty. It rained the entire day we did NIN and then poured the next day in Bergen. So you can't win them all.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I’m starting to think about a trip to Norway and trying to figure out the best way to do the NIN.

It’s extremely frustrating when the trusted advice you follow is wrong. This has happened to me before. I’m glad you were able to come up with a Plan B.

I’m looking forward to the rest of your report.

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Can't fix a 'problem' unless its known.

Unless something has changed since the summer of 2023 (which is certainly possible), that offfice in Flam is not a government-run tourist information office; it is a commercial agency primarily interested in selling tours, etc. Those folks told me there was no bus from Flam to the Borgund Stave Church when there was such a bus.

If you hadn't met people with pre-purchased tickets who couldn't get on the bus, I would be doubtful about what the Flam folks told you. (The agency probably made money on your taxi booking.) In this case, it seems they may have been accurate.

This is obviously a problem, because NiN has a lot of moving parts and depends on the availability of the scheduled transportation.

You can actually book the bus from Gudvangen Quay on the Entur website, (entur.no) - the official booking avenue for Skyss who run the service - they have only a handful of bookable services so it is the most cost efficient method for them.
Another reason why I would prefer the long distance bus #450, from the E16 junction.

Dianejay - So you are saying that even people who had booked tickets were denied a seat?  You probably didn't stick around long enough since you had the taxi waiting, but do you know if others were also stuck with no seat?  This is very concerning.  Everything I've read said it's no problem to buy from the driver. 

Dianejay, this is all very confusing. There is regular
scheduled bus service between Gudvangen and Voss, usually with enough buses to handle all the ferry passengers between the 2 places, both Nutshell customers and independent travelers.

There are dedicated buses for those who purchased the actual "Norway in a Nutshell" package. Those buses would require prebooked tickets provided by the tour operator.

As acraven said above, the "tourist office" in Flåm is not a legitimate tourist office. I believe it is part of the Nutshell organization to book their products. Please correct me if this is not true.

At the end of the day the #950, presumably the bus being talked about, is a local citybus. It has 53 potential intermediate stops which you can join or leave at, on a request basis. Those are mainly used by locals but a few might be used by tourists.
The locals can't be booking weeks and months ahead. It has to be an on demand service for them.
In the same way as Myrdal to Flam trains are often "sold out" on line and even at Flam station, but actually always have turn up and go space for locals from the intermediate village stations you wonder if something similar was happening here.
Even the 450 bus has 10 intermediate stops.

Is it possible that this was a misunderstanding about the chartered buses for people who purchased the official NiN package?  Because if you didn't buy the package you are technically NOT a NiN passenger.

From the Fjord and Beaches blog:

Please note, that for this leg of the journey, some buses are
chartered to pick up Norway in a Nutshell travellers who have booked
through FjordTours. If you have booked your tickets yourself, you are
technically not a Norway in a Nutshell traveller, and so it is
important to make note of which bus company you have booked with.

A side note on this: you have no idea how many travellers book their
own Norway in a Nutshell tour, yet do not understand that they ARE NOT
Norway in a Nutshell travellers when they do it this way.

Norway in a Nutshell (NIN) is a package, and ONLY when you have bought
this package can you count yourself as a NIN-traveller. This is
usually not very important, but if there is an unforeseen circumstance
where the boat cannot run (for example), it is important to understand
that you need to approach the boat company as an individual traveller,
and not a Norway in a Nutshell traveller.

It happens all the time that individual travelers say that they are
“doing Norway in a Nutshell”, and end up missing out on important
information because they did not understand the difference.

Sometimes, there are separate arrangements made for NIN travellers,
and if you think these arrangements are made for you too, you will
sadly be left on the docks because you do not actually have a NIN
ticket. Rant over.

Moving on, there are a few things to note when taking the bus.
Firstly, there are two stops in Gudvangen. One is called Gudvangen Kai
(Kai = dock), and buses departing from here will pick you up right by
where the boat gets in.

The chartered NIN buses often stop here, and will have “Norway in a
Nutshell” written on them. As I have just mentioned above, do not take
any of these if you have not booked the NIN Package.

The other bus stop is called Gudvangen E16, and is along the main road
(called E16). This is where most of the buses will pick you up. It is
just a 5-minute walk from the ferry dock. Simply follow the river
until you get to the main road. The bus stop is just by the bridge
where E16 crosses the river.