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Just how far can you travel by bus from London in 24 hours?
- ggm 5y agoPurely for the appropriateness of the lyric I give you Paul Kelly: "from St Kilda to Kings Cross is 13 hours on a bus" the kings Cross in question being in Sydney, not London. I've done the London - Edinburgh night bus. and, the Melbourne - Sydney night bus. They both kinda suck. The Edinburgh London pulled in at the Victoria station coach terminal, not kings Cross station unfortunately You should be able to get north of Aberdeen in the time limit on a regional.
- eesmith 5y agoIn the comments, there's a restriction - the rider is using an over-65s bus pass.
- denysvitali 5y agoHe is not, but he is following the rules of a over-65 bus pass, which exclude coaches. As far as I can tell, he is paying every single ticket and he is going to provide the total at the end of his journey.
- phire 5y agoTotal is £56.95, you can see the breakdown here: https://twitter.com/politic_animal/status/1429006714641297412 https://twitter.com/politic_animal/status/142900671464129741... Apparently a walk-up train fare would cost £73.50, but he managed to pre-book his return trip train for £40.90
- aix1 5y ago> he managed to pre-book his return trip train for £40.90 Those discounted fares are often tied to a specific train (i.e. a particular departure time on a given date). Kudos to the author for their faith in the ability to execute on the bus journey and get to the train in time for departure.
- pm215 5y agoIf you check out the end of the thread you can see that they stayed overnight in a hotel in Morecambe and took the train back the next morning. There wouldn't be a train to catch at gone midnight when they arrived in Morecambe (the last sensible train option to London leaves at about 20:00 and takes three hours). I wonder if they had a plan B for accommodation if they'd missed that last bus to Morecambe, though...
- aix1 5y ago> following the rules of a over-65 bus pass For non-UK readers, the significance of this restriction is that a person who are over 65 years of age would have been able to make the entire journey free of charge. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01499/SN01499.pdf https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01...
- carlsborg 5y agoTechnically you could probably get to Vienna, Austria in less than 24 hours by bus, and still have time to visit a Wiener Würstelstand and the opera, if your timing and access to a shower is good. London -> Paris: 2hrs 25 min, Paris-> Vienna: 17 hr 53 min.
- yosito 5y agoI was puzzled by the fact that this person seems to have remained in England and didn't even make it to Scotland. I guess they were taking only public transport service busses and not express long distance busses. Seems a bit arbitrary to me.
- AndrewDucker 5y agoIn the UK that kind of service is known as a "coach" rather than a "bus" generally.
- mxmilkiib 5y agoI remember way back when the Megabus from Edinburgh to London was the same type of bus as the one I used to go to school on :) And it cost 1 quid (plus 50p booking iirc). Also, for GP, afaiu, the rules in Scotland are kinder (includes long distance) https://www.transport.gov.scot/concessionary-travel/60plus-or-disabled https://www.transport.gov.scot/concessionary-travel/60plus-o... P.S. Hi Andy!
- martin-adams 5y ago£1 plus 50p booking ads used to annoy me. It’s £1.50-that’s the price!
- motiejus 5y agoThe booking fee is per booking, not per ticket (at least it was about a decade ago when I last did this route with megabus). So technically the ticket price can be as close to £1 as you want it to be.
- gandalfian 5y agoI think he means walk on bus rather than prebooked coach. Otherwise there is a coach to Berlin and in 24 hours I would guess about Poland.
- codeulike 5y agoYes, deliberately excluded coaches. Basically the rule was to only use routes that a older persons concessionary pass can be used on (I’m too young for one, but it’s a useful yardstick!), which excludes most express coach routes. https://twitter.com/politic_animal/status/1429016868963094531?s=19 https://twitter.com/politic_animal/status/142901686896309453...
- 00deadbeef 5y agoThat’s generally the terminology we use in the UK. Bus = something you just walk on Coach = longer distance and prebooked
- satysin 5y agoYup. While not an official definition the following site has a decent definition of the differences https://www.wyattcoaches.co.uk/news/what-is-the-difference-between-a-bus-and-a-coach/ https://www.wyattcoaches.co.uk/news/what-is-the-difference-b...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- signal11 5y agoThat’s actually a pretty good explanation. My Concise Oxford dictionary app has this: coach(1) /kəʊtʃ / ▸ n. 1 Brit. a comfortably equipped single-decker bus used for longer journeys. 2 a railway carriage. 3 (also coach class) N. Amer. economy-class seating in an aircraft or train. 4 a closed horse-drawn carriage. ▸ v. travel or convey by coach. – DERIVATIVES coachload n. – ORIGIN C16: from Fr. coche, from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) ‘(wagon) from Kocs’, a town in Hungary.
- cinntaile 5y agoI was expecting an isochrone map, but this made for a better story.
- dkdbejwi383 5y agoEasier reading (and avoids the new auth-wall on Twitter) https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1428438081871433731.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1428438081871433731.html
- pimlottc 5y agoThanks for this, I managed to follow the original thread to Leicester and then somehow got lost in the Twitter UI.
- aww_dang 5y agohttps://mycitypaper.com/fumbling-toward-portland/ https://mycitypaper.com/fumbling-toward-portland/ >Megaloping has only three simple rules. One: All vehicles used must be operated by a public transit company. Two: Using regional or long-distance transit systems is forbidden. Three: No megaloper can walk more than two miles.
- thriftwy 5y agoIn Russia it was at some point possible to go from St. Petersburg (Atlantic coast) to Vladivostok (Pacific coast) using only regional trains ('electrichkas'). With some skill, paying for the ride could be avoided entirely, but it would take ~28 days. Whereas a proper sleeper train does that in "just" 7 days.
- umanwizard 5y agoThat’s impressive. AFAIK in the US, the only two major cities you can get between on regional trains (i.e., without using the national train operator Amtrak) is New York and Philadelphia (New Jersey Transit from NY to Trenton, then SEPTA from Trenton to Philly). NYC and Philly are so close that they could almost be considered the same metropolitan area, so it’s not very impressive! Edit: also Baltimore and Washington, but those are even closer.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago> NYC and Philly are so close that they could almost be considered the same metropolitan area, so it’s not very impressive! Indeed, supporting this: there are some people who live in Philly and commute to New York. (Using Amtrak, not the local trains.)
- ptspts 5y agoWhy not use the LORR to extend the distance?
- theobeers 5y agoYou could extend the distance, but it wouldn’t get you to another major city. I guess if you were touring Ivy League schools, you could see Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Penn with only commuter rail networks (if you allowed yourself small local connections).
- jefftk 5y agoYou're somewhat close to being able to do it between Boston and New York (and then all the way to Philly); there's just the gap between Wickford Junction and New London. (MBTA's Providence line, gap, CTRail's Shore Line East, Metro-North’s New Haven Line)
- laumars 5y agoAs discussed elsewhere in this submission, if you want real mileage by road then it’s by coach you have to go. I used to be scared of flying (technically still am but I’ve since learned to manage that fear) so over the years I’ve travelled great distances by road and rail. I’ve used coaches a lot to travel the U.K. and Europe. 12 hours has taken me from London to Amsterdam. I’d wager another 12 hours would get you as far as Eastern European, possibly even Russia. But such a journey would have to be pre-booked coaches. You couldn’t get there on buses.
- Symbiote 5y agoLondon to Berlin is 26 hours with Eurolines. It says there is a change, but not where the change is.
- dukeyukey 5y agoI've taken that bus. I think the change is in Lille, in France near the border with Belgium.
- laumars 5y agoThe Megabus will take you from London Victoria to Prague in 19hrs https://bustickets.distribusion.com/connections/results?departure_station_code=GBLONGLC&arrival_station_code=CZPRGZOB&departure_date=2021-09-10&marketing_carrier_code=RJET&pax=1&locale=en¤cy=GBP&retailer_partner_number=143338 https://bustickets.distribusion.com/connections/results?depa...
- bogomipz 5y agoInteresting that the Prague journey is 7 hours less than Berlin which is closer. Is this just because the number of stops is greater on the Berlin route or something else?
- laumars 5y agoPossibly, though the location of the stops might matter more (ie the Berlin route might be a greater mileage but less direct). The change over likely doesn’t help either.
- akshaykumar90 5y agoTo everyone looking for the answer: It was Morecambe, UK -- after 21hrs and 24mins.
- overkill28 5y agoThanks, couldn't figure out how to follow the Twitter thread to the end. This is a really cool idea, but I would have much preferred to learn about it as a blog post or YouTube video.
- jmclnx 5y agoThanks, and that is quite impressive considering he was using what I would call public transportation
- neonate 5y agohttps://www.google.com/maps/place/Morecambe,+UK/@54.0705645,-7.3344808,6z/ https://www.google.com/maps/place/Morecambe,+UK/@54.0705645,...
- shusaku 5y ago“How far can I go on just local trains” is a fun game to play here in Japan. I’m not sure my body could handle the bus version here, unless the roads of England are very straight and smooth!
- lucb1e 5y ago> I’m not sure my body could handle the bus version here Why is that, hairpins up mountains or abrupt driving or so? I hate buses for long distance (1h+) as well for what it's worth, would much rather catch a train even though the Netherlands has some very straight and smooth asphalt, but technically my body could handle it!
- adav 5y agoMaybe English motorways, but not many buses on there!
- q-rews 5y agoOne of my most exciting bus journey was on a very straight and smooth road which the driver did probably above 80/100 Km/h regardless of the speed bumps we encountered along the way. My ass got some air that day (in the skateboard sense). - Bangladesh
- asutekku 5y agoFrom my experience with the Shishun 18 Ticket one could easily get from Fukuoka to Tokyo and even further in around 12 hours or so. It's awful after couple of hours when you hit those smaller trains with benches that have not been replaced in decades but definitely doable haha
- Doctor_Fegg 5y ago> unless the roads of England are very straight and smooth Hahahahaha nope. (English country lanes are great for cycling. They are not ideal for buses. I write as someone who has spent too much time on the very winding S3 Charlbury-Woodstock service in Oxfordshire.)
- dboreham 5y ago
- pahn 5y agoShow HN: I actually made an art installation on this question once: https://maschinenzeitmaschinen.de/tagged/derweil https://maschinenzeitmaschinen.de/tagged/derweil derweil is an interactive video installation correlating time, space and big data to provide tailor-made instructions on how to get lost. Materials: Google Directions and Streetview APIs, JavaScript, NW.js, cables.gl, Involt, Arduino IDE, computers, thermal paper, plastic, metals, wood. Edit: wording and spelling.
- version_five 5y agoThere is something very romantic about this - obviously there are other ways to make the trips, but somehow is feels more free and a bit furtive, like if you had to sneak out of town for some reason it's a good thing to know. I'm in Canada and I can't think of any meaningful distance you could cover in this way. Maybe Toronto-Barrie. Our cities are all so far apart, they are mostly isolated hubs and spokes. Curious in the US, would there be any regions where you could get anywhere by this method?
- drstewart 5y agoMy hunch is that the best odds to get about as far in the US by bus would be the NE corridor, specifically from Washington to NY (which is about 225 miles / 362 km). Most of these cities have transit authorities that cover their metro region, and they'll probably all have bus service into the adjacent one.
- skykooler 5y agoThink that would break down around Philadelphia - New York, unless you consider the NJ transit coaches "local" buses.
- drstewart 5y agoI just looked out of curiosity, and it looks like it's doable (not sure about the time frame, just the route options). From Philadelphia city center: SEPTA 4 to Cecil B Moore Av SEPTA 3 to Frankford Transportation Center SEPTA 14 to Oxford Valley Mall SEPTA 127 to Trenton Transit Center NJT 409 to High St & Broad St NJT 413 to Camden NJT 317 to Asbury Park NJT 139 to NY Port Authority
- skykooler 5y agoI mean, if you're including the 317, you could already get on it in central Philadelphia (its other terminus). That's sort of my point though - those buses are big Greyhound-style intercity buses, not the hop on / hop off city buses from the british experiment.
- louthy 5y agoI felt ‘seen’ as I went through the tweets… - Starts is London, where I lived for 18 years. - Goes through Kibworth Beauchamp which is about a mile from where I live now (Beauchamp is pronounced like ‘Beecham’ btw) - Then to Derby, where I was born and grew up - Then through Belper, where my first job was Felt slightly surreal!
- Epenthesis 5y agoIs Derby pronounced with the first syllable rhyming with "car" or "her" (/dɑ:bi/ or /dɜ:bi/)?
- danschuller 5y agoThe "car" one
- Symbiote 5y agoAlso being familiar with the East Midlands, I would have expected the pronunciation enquiry to be for Loughborough (/lʌfbərə/).
- bob229 5y agoLondump truly is the worst capital city in Europe
- Kreotiko 5y agoThe title is misleading, it should state that is within the U.K. You can get to south Italy from London in less than 24 hours. Edit: My fault, it is not misleading. I didn’t get the context of somebody using British English.
- acallaghan 5y agoBy coach maybe, not by bus
- Kreotiko 5y agoGood point but I have travelled from London to South Italy on a vehicle called bus by their operators :)
- steve-benjamins 5y agoYou should consider taking back your comment about it being misleading— the author is from the UK— vernacular is different for busses and coaches. Misleading is a pretty negative thing to call someones story!
- Kreotiko 5y agoYou are very much right, cheers
- wincy 5y agoDespite them not intentionally misleading I was excited to read about someone’s trip to Italy on a bus or something. I rarely travel in the US because every place is kind of the same. Why travel 400 miles when I can get some McDonald’s right here?
- niij 5y agoWhere have you been that you consider every place the same? The pit stops on the highway yes, but the difference between San Juan, NYC, Idaho, and Fairbanks is immense.
- jccalhoun 5y agoReally interesting. As someone from the USA, I didn't realize that this was only local buses not cross-country and was surprised he only got 339km in 24 hours. Reading the comments here it now makes sense. I don't know if you could replicate the journey in the USA with those rules
- Ichthypresbyter 5y agoNote: the UK has long-distance bus services which could get you a lot further. The challenge here was to use only local bus services (defined as those on which people over 65 get to travel for free).
- lostlogin 5y ago> long-distance bus service The National Express! I was too poor to afford the train so would use the busses. Often the bus was faster than the trains for London - Edinburgh, usually for weather related outages. The train is way nicer.
- Symbiote 5y agoThe train (London King's Cross to Edinburgh) is about 4½ hours, but the fastest National Express coach is over 9 hours. You were incredibly unlucky if the time you took the train had a 5 hour delay.
- lostlogin 5y agoIt wasn’t once it was delayed, it was several times. ‘Leaves on the track’ and ‘flooding’ were the common issues. This was a few years ago though, so maybe things are better now?