England: Trunk Services
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It might be because of its size, but England hasn’t got a solid express coach backbone to its bus network quite like Scotland or Éire. The shortfall has been made up by longer local bus services, of which quite a few are to be found listed here. All of these services have a local feel to them, yet they cover longer distances too and that’s one of the criteria that are used to decide what is and isn’t a trunk service. Nevertheless, it is a tricky distinction to apply in England, so this list is bound to alter when a service itself changes.
1/X1 Liverpool - Birkenhead - Ellesmere Port - Cheshire Oaks - Chester
These combine to offer a service level that is frequent with three departures every hour during daytime hours and an hourly service during the evenings of those days. That the total travel time is nearly two hours makes it all the more impressive even if trains surely are the faster way to travel from major towns. With buses, what matters is getting to and from the places between these.
16: Leek - Cheddleton - Werrington - Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
18: Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent - Sneyd Green - Endon - Leek - Haregate
Because Leek has some fine hill country to its north and bus services to there from Macclesfield, these services are of some interest to me. Service 16 offers a half-hourly frequency from Monday to Saturday, while service 18 is near-hourly from Monday to Saturday and less frequent on Sundays, with daily coverage extending from early morning to early evening.
18 Timetable (Monday to Saturday)
25/25A: Chesterfield - New Whittington
50/50A: Chesterfield - New Whittington - Eckington - Sheffield
X17: Matlock - Chesterfield - Sheffield - Meadowhall - Barnsley
All of these are seven-day services and most connect Chesterfield with Sheffield, which is how I got to add them here. The X17 is even more interesting since it also extends as far as Matlock with a near hourly service frequency on all days of the week and the Sheffield to Chesterfield section becomes half-hourly every day apart from Sunday. The same sort of frequency doubling is seen in the other services when Sunday gets compared to other days of the week, and they all make up a useful network of bus services around East Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.
36: Ripon - Harrogate - Leeds
It was an article in Discover Britain magazine that brought to my attention the delights of Ripon. In so doing, it got me investigating possible routes there and away by public transport. That act reminded me of the frequent service 36 operated by Transdev Harrogate & District with their modern double-decker buses. So far, I have yet to sample these but a twice-hourly service on Sundays and thrice-hourly on other days is far from shabby at all.
38: Macclesfield - Congleton - Sandbach - Crewe
Having been restored to a seven-day service recently, this stalwart of the Cheshire bus network looks a bit more useful again. The Monday to Saturday frequency is hourly between 05:00 and 00:00, offering a reasonable service over most of the course of the day. The Sunday frequency is much less at next to ninety minutes with a shorter operating period of 08:00 to 19:00. That is a big improvement on having no service at all. In the past, the service facilitated many a hiking excursion for me, and it may do so again.
65: Buxton - Tideswell - Sheffield
This seven-day service links Buxton with Sheffield and Meadowhall, running via Blackwell in the Peak, Miller’s Dale and Litton before Tideswell, then on through Great Hucklow, Foolow and Eyam, Calver and Grindleford, past the Fox House Inn on Hathersage Road and Ecclesall towards Sheffield Interchange, a journey of around ninety minutes end to end. At Tideswell there is a guaranteed connection with service 66 towards Baslow, Eyam and Chesterfield, so a single ticket can carry a passenger across a fairly wide stretch of the Peak District without the need to plan separate connections. It all helps for getting anyone to the start of an intended walking route, of which there are many in this part of the world.
82: Chester - Northwich
It was only when pondering a southbound stretch along the Sandstone Trail that I got to consider the possibility of using this service from Kelsall as an option in case I needed to stop my hike early. In the event, there was a strike that day, so the option was not there for me anyway, and it was just as well that I didn’t need it. Since it is a near-hourly Monday to Saturday daytime travel option, it is just as well that trains operate to a seven-day timetable.
84: Crewe - Nantwich - Tarporley - Tarvin - Chester
84X: Crewe - Nantwich
Following Arriva’s departure from Cheshire, both Stagecoach and D&G Bus registered replacement services, numbered 84 for the former and 84X for the latter. Route 84 extends the whole way between Crewe and Chester, operating seven days with an hourly frequency. That increases to half-hourly between Crewe and Nantwich from Monday to Saturday. Service 84X echoes the same frequency between Crewe and Nantwich from Monday to Saturday, and is lasting despite my initial scepticism.
130: Macclesfield - Wilmslow - Handforth - Wythenshawe - Manchester Airport
This once was a service linking Macclesfield with Manchester seven days a week and from morning until night. That sadly is no longer the case, and we have this remnant again operating seven days a week following extra government funding.
The main Monday to Friday service frequency is hourly while this becomes 60 to 90 minutes on Saturdays and mainly 90 minutes on Sundays. Also, Monday to Friday hours of operation extend from 06:00 until 19:00, which decreases to 07:00 to 19:00 on Saturdays and 08:00 to 18:00 on Sundays. Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport are served for six days of the week, though not every journey goes beyond Handforth (mainly earlier and later journeys are affected), and Handforth Dean sees service on Sundays.
All this is a far cry from the near half-hourly service that we once enjoyed on weekdays and better coverage of the day with later evening services. In short, it is a classic example of what has happened to too many bus services over the last two decades.
218: Bakewell - Baslow - Sheffield
There was a time when 218 offered a direct connection from Buxton to Sheffield that itself met the 118 from Stoke-on-Trent and Leek. That’s no more, and we now have a seven-day service starting from Bakewell. The weekday frequency is very usable, and the Sunday one varies according to season. Even with these changes, it’s good to know that it’s possible to get to Baslow Edge and surrounding hills without needing a car.
280: Preston - Whalley - Clitheroe - Barnoldswick - Skipton
Here is a service that will get you from Preston to Skipton and back since destination displays get changed at Clitheroe without any passengers needing to change buses for a through-journey. There are five journeys in each direction on Sundays with other days seeing a largely hourly frequency though you need to watch the times since departures do not operate always at the same minutes past the hour. Still, it remains as useful a travel option for anyone wishing to explore Lancashire and Yorkshire countryside as it is for generally getting about the area and that is enough to get it added here.
391 Macclesfield — Kerridge — Bollington — Poynton — Stockport
The bus route between Macclesfield and Stockport has passed through a variety of operators over the years and is now managed by Belle Vue Coaches. After a recent restoration, this again is a seven-day service, albeit with a much reduced frequency on Sundays and public holidays. Otherwise, buses run Monday to Saturday from early morning until early evening. Then, the core service typically operates every two hours in full, but additional short workings between Poynton and Stockport enhance the frequency to roughly hourly on that section. Even so, timetable is not based on a regular clock-face pattern, meaning that some extra care is needed when planning a journey.
500 Liverpool John Lennon Airport - Speke - Liverpool
Arriva operates this express service from early until late every day of the week, running between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Liverpool city centre with a journey time of around thirty minutes. The general frequency is respectable, so there can be no complaints about that, with buses roughly every fifteen minutes on weekdays and Saturdays during the summer boost, and a slightly wider gap on Sundays. Services operate around the clock, albeit with a three or four gap during the night, though it is worth checking ahead on bank and public holidays, when times may differ.
554: Keswick - Wigton - Carlisle
555: Lancaster - Kendal - Keswick
Because of its route and frequency, this service can be seen as part of the backbone of the Lake District’s bus network. Its frequency is up to half-hourly between Kendal and Keswick on weekdays (Monday to Saturday), which can have lots of uses if you could escape the crowds. For the latter purpose, Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere can all be seen as gateways to the nearby fells and the bus passes by a goodly number of footpaths and other rights way leading to the likes of Helvellyn, Fairfield and many more fells, some less populated than those listed. Views from the top deck should be good too, so long as any route branding doesn’t get in the way.
724: Harlow - Hertford - Welwyn Garden City - Hatfield - St. Albans - Watford - Heathrow Airport
There was a time when work often took me to Hatfield and I seem to remember occasional sightings of buses plying this route back then. My more recent interest in the service stems from wanting to make use of Heathrow Airport for international travels now that Manchester does not seem to have as many options as it once did. The Sunday service frequency may be around two hourly, but it is next to hourly on other days of the week. In many ways the service is a round the clock operation though there is a big gap during the night hours. The end to end running time is around two hours, so you do need to check how long it takes from your starting point because rail may make a quicker option.
840: Leeds - York - Whitby
843: Leeds - York - Scarborough
Both of these are operated by Transdev under the Coastliner brand using high-quality double-decker buses throughout the year, with a reduced timetable over Christmas and New Year. Of these, the 843 service is hourly and shadows the Wolds Way beyond Malton, while the 840 offers much to walkers too with its regular calls to Pickering and Thornton-le-Dale, so both routes reward walkers in different ways. Whitby is served much less frequently than other places, so you need to check the timetable carefully. The pair makes for regular bus connections between Leeds and York via Tadcaster even if the total journey time of around an hour is over twice as long as that of the corresponding train journey between the two cities.
M4: Burnley - Colne - Keighley
This is part of Transdev Blazefield’s Mainline route network and goes through South Pennines walking country, offering access to the Pennine Way at Ickornshaw, which is why it attracts my interest. Sunday service frequency is mostly hourly and at best half-hourly on weekdays. Weekday evenings see a sparser frequency with a better service available between Burnley and Colne than on the rest of the route.
M6: Skipton - Barnoldswick - Colne - Nelson - Burnley
Here is another of Transdev Blazefield’s Mainline routes that replaced a one-time extension of route X43. While first and last journeys of the day may vary, this offers an hourly service frequency that opens up walking country around Thornton-in-Craven, for instance. That the journey time is around ninety minutes highlights just how far wet Skipton is in North Yorkshire.
Skyline 199: Buxton - Stockport - Manchester Airport
Perhaps amazingly, Buxton has had a direct bus link to Manchester Airport much longer than Macclesfield. That may be a consequence of Derbyshire folk making more use of buses than their Cheshire counterparts, but that is not to take from the usefulness of High Peak’s offering. Incidentally, it also serves Disley in Cheshire along with places across the Derbyshire boundary like New Mills, Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith. While I know that there always is the option of going by train for this travel corridor, buses offer a little extra in terms of convenience and there can be railway engineering works.
Swift: Derby - Ashbourne - Mayfield - Uttoxeter
The One (Mayfield to Ashbourne to Derby) once puzzled me by running Monday to Saturday without bank holidays, despite the numbers of people I saw using it on two Saturday visits to Ashbourne, and it has since been combined with the 409 (Uttoxeter to Ashbourne) to form the Swift, which now serves Uttoxeter more often than either predecessor did. That old surprise about Sunday running has been resolved, since the Swift now operates on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays too, albeit only between Derby and Ashbourne, with Mayfield and Uttoxeter still unserved on those days. The Monday to Saturday timetable has also tidied up, with a consistent Trent Barton service running roughly every half hour throughout the day rather than handing over to Arriva in the evenings, though evening journeys are still cut back to Mayfield rather than running the full route to Uttoxeter.
The Witch Way: Manchester - Prestwich - Rawtenstall - Burnley
The route number may be X43, yet the branding has to be more memorable. For over thirty years, there were no direct trains between Manchester and Burnley until the Todmorden Curve was reinstated, so bus services did better as a result. The attractions of comfortable seating and other amenities aboard frequent express double-decker services still mean that buses can be an alternative to what is an hourly direct train service. The frequency is half-hourly on Sundays and up to four buses per hour on other days of the week. It is the sort of high-quality service that commuters and those wishing to explore Lancashire countryside need, so any patronage is well deserved.
Transpeak: Derby - Matlock - Bakewell - Buxton
Guidebooks aren’t usually so forthcoming when it comes to learning about bus routes, but that’s how I first found this route. Then, it was an offering from Trent Barton and is operated by High Peak nowadays. That was more than twenty years ago, so it should come as no surprise that there have been big changes along the way.
Once, mid-engined coach style vehicles plied the route between Manchester and Derby. However, the Manchester to Buxton section is no more, and we get low-floor buses these days. The service frequency is next to two-hourly on Sundays and this doubles on other days of the week.
Despite the route truncation, the route remains a useful one to know when getting about the Derbyshire Dales with visitor honeypots like Matlock and Bakewell being on the route. These places can get busy with motorised traffic so anything that reduces that has to help even if busy roads can mean late buses at times.
X4: Middlesbrough - Redcar - Saltburn - Loftus - Whitby
Only once did Yorkshire’s coastline see my footfall, and that saw me strolling around Whitby. The occasion showed me services like this one, though I used alternatives for getting there and away again. The frequency largely is half-hourly too, and the service did get the Sapphire treatment by Arriva.
X4/X5: Workington - Cockermouth - Keswick - Penrith
There was a time when Keswick had a railway link in the form of the Cockermouth and Keswick Railway, but that sadly no longer exists, and this bus service is its modern-day equivalent. On weekdays (Monday to Saturday), the frequency is roughly half-hourly, and buses run from early to late too (especially so on Friday and Saturday nights). In addition, Sundays get an hourly timetable that covers less of the day. Without this service, getting to those hills in the north of the Lake District would not be as easy, and it would be a pity to miss them because of a lack of connectivity. In any event, the A66 is busy around these parts, which makes giving the car a rest would a more sensible move.
X12: Ulverston - Coniston
Ulverston may not be uppermost on a list of access points for the Lakeland fells, but this bus service makes it one of them. Ulverston’s having a railway station makes the X12 a possible link for someone coming in from outside the area and bus timings may work for that day of exploring the fells either and even might make it a better alternative to the 505 too.
X12 Timetable (Monday to Friday)
X15: Newcastle - Morpeth - Alnwick - Belford - Berwick (via Great North Road or A1)
Northumberland may be one of England’s forgotten counties in some respects, but it does have an attractive coastline and good empty hill country surrounding the Cheviots. It takes 45 minutes to traverse by train and the bus running times that you see for this service, though better than the X18 below, will cause some pause for thought (travelling non-stop by coach from Newcastle to Berwick takes around 75 minutes anyway).
X17: Coventry - Kenilworth - Royal Leamington Spa - Wellesbourne - Warwick
X18: Coventry - Royal Leamington Spa - Myton Warwick - Stratford-upon-Avon - Bidford - Evesham
Between all of these, there should be a decent bus network connecting many of Warwickshire’s towns. Services are expectedly less regular on Sunday but frequencies of several journeys per hour prevail on most routes on other days of the week. With the attractions of Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon, that only can be a good thing.
X18: Newcastle - Morpeth - Amble - Warkworth - Alnmouth - Alnwick - The Coast - Berwick
This route has been created by merging the previous 518 and 501 services to give one with journey times between Newcastle and Berwick of nearly four hours! The 518 was never a speedy affair anyway since it goes around by the coast to serve places like Amble, Warkworth and Alnmouth. These places though are worth visiting, Warkworth comes especially recommended, as are those north of Alnwick.
You do need to remember that not all services go the whole way, with many starting from and ending at Alnwick like the 518 used to do. There are useful connections to and from Alnmouth’s train station too though you do need to watch your timings. That said, they offer a way to shorten overall journey times that cannot be discounted.
X84: Leeds - Otley - Ilkley
As a means of getting between Leeds and Ilkley, this service is not so shabby when you examine its weekday frequency and its often hour-long running time. Trains may be the mainstay for many between Leeds and Ilkley, yet they go a different way, making this travel option all the more useful.
X93 Whitby - Scarborough
X94 Middlesbrough - Guisborough - Whitby
With a paucity of rail connections to Whitby these days, it is easy to see how bus services need to increase their frequency for the summer season, and the X93 is one of those. It plies the coastline seven days a week, offering an hourly service in the low season and stepping up to half-hourly when the sun is likely to draw more visitors to this part of Yorkshire, running between Whitby and Scarborough via High Hawsker, Robin Hoods Bay, Fylingdales, Cloughton and Barrowcliffe with a journey time of around one hour. There is a good portion of the day covered too, always a bonus when so many rural services finish by late afternoon, with departures from Whitby Bus Station beginning early and continuing at roughly hourly intervals until late into the day. The related X94 covers the inland leg, connecting Middlesbrough with Guisborough before joining the coast road at Scaling Dam and continuing on to Whitby.
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