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The Public Transport Thread

This kid will have been 'Chief Executive' of about 10 of his own firms by the time he's about 19. He still hasn't done a feasibility study or considered costs. Complete pie in the sky and why anyone would write a news article about it I do not know. Pathetic.
 
Reviving this thread because we now have direct coaches every Saturday from a multitude of cities around the UK!
I do have a few reservations about this: so far it's Saturdays only so it can't be used for a short break, I hope if this is successful they look at more dates in the holidays. The timetables don't give you much time in the park either, I reckon with the timetable I've posted you've got 5.5 hours of riding.
 

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This is definitely a positive move for non-drivers! Alton Towers’ location does not have the greatest public transport links, so this will help non-drivers get to the park a bit more easily!

If I’m being very nitpicky, it would have been nice to see them add some cities in the South West to the list of routes. As someone who lives in the South West, the addition of somewhere like Bristol or Cardiff would make this a much more feasible option for me. In its current form, it’s not really worth people in the South West like myself using this option, as the coaches only go from the North and the South East.

That is me being unnecessarily nitpicky, though; this is brilliant progress for non-driver transport to Alton Towers!
 
Sheffield snubbed… it’s like they don’t even care that we’re the greatest city in the world
 
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Yep, the Leeds service runs via Sheffield.

Turns out the Manchester route has a stop within sight of where I live, though as it costs £32, gets to the park at around 11 and leaves at 5 I don't think I'll be using it any time soon.
 
They do, however, seem to have snubbed the entire South West, if I’m not mistaken. The closest any of the coach routes seemingly get to here is Birmingham; they don’t come to Bristol or Cardiff. There is also a whole route to London and the South East.
 
Looks to be a good range of options there, covering a good chunk of the main catchment areas - I suspect trying to run a route from anywhere further afield would not be financially viable.

The main issue for me is the timetabling, with coaches arriving about an hour after rides open and leaving at 5pm it means missing a good chunk of the day even assuming the shortest possible weekend hours. Moving the return journey back by an hour would make it a much more attractive prospect.

I might have used the Manchester service had it been running 15+ years ago, I suspect it'd have been quicker than the train to stoke then 14/15 bus that I occasionally used back then.
 
Matt N said:
They do, however, seem to have snubbed the entire South West, if I’m not mistaken. The closest any of the coach routes seemingly get to here is Birmingham; they don’t come to Bristol or Cardiff. There is also a whole route to London and the South East.
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That’s a very long way on a coach though - having done a bakers dolphin trip once from Bristol it was hideous. You’re better off with train and taxi I’d suggest
 
Alix said:
That’s a very long way on a coach though - having done a bakers dolphin trip once from Bristol it was hideous. You’re better off with train and taxi I’d suggest
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It's not any further than London, though, is it?

I get that London is, well, London, but it would have been nice if they'd offered something to our neck of the South too. I totally get that it isn't feasible for them to send a route all the way down to, say, Exeter, but places like Bristol and Cardiff aren't that far South West and have a fair population.
 
Matt N said:
It's not any further than London, though, is it?

I get that London is, well, London, but it would have been nice if they'd offered something to our neck of the South too.
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London has got to be a misprint? By the time you get there you’d have one hour then have to head home again!
 
Alix said:
London has got to be a misprint? By the time you get there you’d have one hour then have to head home again!
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Not at all; they offer a coach stopping in London, Edgware and Watford before reaching Alton Towers. It leaves Middlesex University in London at 8am, and leaves Alton Towers at 5pm in the evening: https://altontowers.thecoachcompany...ate_id=&trip_group_id=1#ecm-trip-booking-page

If they can offer one from London, surely Bristol or Cardiff wouldn't be that much of a stretch?
 
London is just on there because it's London, realistically it probably shouldn't be a route but due to population density it might work.

There is almost certainly no business case for a Cardiff/Bristol route - it's just too far and would be underused
 
Matt N said:
Not at all; they offer a coach stopping in London, Edgware and Watford before reaching Alton Towers. It leaves Middlesex University in London at 8am, and leaves Alton Towers at 5pm in the evening: https://altontowers.thecoachcompany...ate_id=&trip_group_id=1#ecm-trip-booking-page

If they can offer one from London, surely Bristol or Cardiff wouldn't be that much of a stretch?
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I wasn’t being totally serious - and I notice it doesn’t say what time you arrive at towers… I think my point still stands - you’ll be on the coach longer than you’re in the park so it’s really not worth it
 
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