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The Public Transport Thread

I just can't see any real improvements until a) the resort is truly year round, which can't happen any time soon because of traffic through the village, and b) the bypass gets built, which can't happen any time soon because of all the reasons it hasn't already.

If both were to happen then it would be much more feasible. Operating a seasonal bus service at the intensity required to make it successful would mean too many buses and drivers with nothing to do the rest of the year, and unless it was really successful at getting rid of cars, the perception would be that it was making traffic worse due to the size of them, even though even a half full bus obviously takes up much less space than the equivalent number of car passengers.

Before I could drive I got the train and bus from Uttoxeter a few times and it wasn't ideal but it was ok, but the service seems a lot worse now. I avoid driving as much as possible and would absolutely love to be able to use public transport instead, and considering what the roads are like round the park I'm sure a lot of other people would.

One compromise might be that if the bypass gets built and we get year round opening, maybe limit the bypass to buses and coaches, at least during peak season?


Bring back Alton Station imo
 
Matt N said:
Out of interest, which mainline station are you referring to?

As far as I can see, the closest railway stations appear to be Uttoxeter and Blythe Bridge, which are both at least 10 miles away and both appear to only run more local services.
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I'm referring to Stoke.

When Alton Towers Transport had express buses from Stoke station using double deckers, I think around 2005 maybe, it was around 35-45 minutes. That's a total journey time of 1.5 hours from Manchester, a touch more from Birmingham.

That's not far off Central London to Thorpe Park timings. It's entirely possible to sell a proper day out, and even more so a resort stay, to the huge amount of people in their catchment area without access to a car, if they fully utilised Stoke as a hub for transport to the park.
 
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Looked at the Liverpool one out of interest, leaves the city centre at 8am and then somehow will take 1 hour and 40 minutes before it departs from Warrington. Be lucky to get to Alton Towers for 11am.
 
Birmingham
Depart 08:00
Arrive 11:25
Leaves Park 17:00

Manchester
Depart 08:00
Arrive 10:55
Leaves Park 17:00

London (Edgeware)
Depart 08:00
Arrive 11:35
Leaves Park 17:00

(Arrival times based on Google Map directions for Saturday mornings, from the last advertised pick-up point)

Add 'getting in' to the park time, and leaving ride areas to make sure to get to the coach in time, and lunch - it's a few hours of rides for £64.50 per person. On a busy Saturday (they only run on Saturdays), where a 60 minute queue at 15:30 would be a massive risk...

No ta
 
Out of curiosity, what would people say is an ideal non-driver route to Alton Towers as of 2025?

Following my recent solo trip to Paultons, I’ve concluded that Alton is the final frontier for me to try and tackle the public transport route to at some point.

However, I’ve looked into it, and it seems… difficult at first glance. The earliest I can really get to any of Stafford, Stoke or Derby on the train is 9:00, and it would seem the only bus connection all day from any of those places leaves at 8:50… and the only bus back is at 9:30 in the morning.

Am I missing something, or is public transport provision around Towers really that sporadic? I thought I lived in an area with sporadic public transport provision with buses that only come every 2-3 hours…

Is there some wonderful bus that I’m unaware of, or is paying an arm and a leg for a taxi really the only option?

I was trying to suss out if Towers was a feasible day trip on public transport, but that seems like a long shot… it’s just about day trippable by car from where I live (roughly a 2.5 hour drive on a good run).
 
Getting public transport to AT has always been a pretty miserable experience and one that has got worse over time as the options have diminished. It's just about feasible from somewhere you can get an early train to Stoke but on the whole it's really not worth the effort if you can drive
 
I do it all the time from London, but for the moment I've stopped day trips to Towers because it's so exhausting doing the journeys up and down from London

The quickest I've done it from door to door is about 3 and a half hours, and that was only because my train from Stafford back to Euston was delayed so I got to Stafford before the train did

I've been to a lot of parks with just as bad, if not worse, public transport options, but Towers especially is a pain because of how huge the park is
 
Here's your simple answer Matt, and I have used the local service more than once...
A coach trip from a local town.
Catch the bus to said town...Get on the coach to the Towers.
As simple as that.
Most small town coach firms to Alton trips through the summer holidays.

If you are very lucky, you get to sit at the front and give directions to the driver who got completely lost.

But that was about thirty years ago.

But real decent scheduled public transport, in the countryside???

That died in the last millennium didn't it.
 
Matt N said:
I was trying to suss out if Towers was a feasible day trip on public transport, but that seems like a long shot… it’s just about day trippable by car from where I live (roughly a 2.5 hour drive on a good run).
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2.5 hours is easily day trippable, you'll be fine. Even easier if you have a passenger or two to chat nonsense to. Thorpe is at least 2.5 hours from me and it's fine even solo. You can chuck a break in if desperate at 1.5 hours in and it'll seem even shorter.
 
I'm around 1 hour and 40 mins away from Towers in the car and I usually go on a weekday and just get up at around 5.20 a.m and beat the rush hour traffic on the way there. Then pop into Tesco Uttoxeter for some snacks or whatever and then take my time getting to the turnstiles for around opening. Just take it nice and easy really as you getting up very early has done most of the leg-work for you. Then stay as long as you want and do what you need to do and you can jump back in the car a bit earlier and beat the rush hour traffic on the way back home too if you want (or a good portion of it). I will caveat that I start work very early in the mornings so getting up early is quite normal for me.
 
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I can drive and have a full license, but I’m absolutely desperate not to drive to Alton Towers if I can possibly avoid it, largely because I absolutely hate motorways (contrary to most people’s opinion, the higher speed motorways and dual carriageways are easily the road type I get most anxious on).

It is a crying shame if the only feasible non-driver option is to take a taxi, though. Even if I go with Uber, which is often cheaper, two-way taxi transport between Stoke and Alton would cost at least £40-45, and if the last regular taxi I took in Cardiff is anything to go by (£11 to go between Cardiff Central train station and the university district in Cathays, which is not very far!), I can only imagine that a normal taxi would cost even more.
 
Matt, my gran got to Alton without motorways back in the fifties, roughly the same as you distance wise, in three and a half hours, mainly using the good old A6.

I'm sure you could plot a route without motorway in less than a minute.

I'm a real old git me...atlas always on hand in the car.
 
rob666 said:
Matt, my gran got to Alton without motorways back in the fifties, roughly the same as you distance wise, in three and a half hours, mainly using the good old A6.

I'm sure you could plot a route without motorway in less than a minute.

I'm a real old git me...atlas always on hand in the car.
Click to expand...

From my Yorkshire direction its M1/A38 past Derby/6-finger country. The latter is the absolute worst part of the journey for me, seems like every second car treats the centre line as something that applies only to other people.

It does surprise me that there aren't more local shuttle services though, there must surely be a market for it more than one bus a day in each direction.
 
rob666 said:
Matt, my gran got to Alton without motorways back in the fifties, roughly the same as you distance wise, in three and a half hours, mainly using the good old A6.

I'm sure you could plot a route without motorway in less than a minute.

I'm a real old git me...atlas always on hand in the car.
Click to expand...

Google Maps you can disable Motorways.

Maybe a run to Towers would be a good one for gaining confidence. Motorways can't be avoided forever.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Just going to put this here as an example of how a bus service to a theme park should be done;

702 - London Line - Legoland - London via Windsor, Slough

Reading Buses
bustimes.org bustimes.org
I should note that this service is on the £3 scheme and the buses are modern double deckers with USB charging.
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Ah, but that is London and the affluent south east...it is special you see...massive funding and support for at least four different ways of getting round that particular bit of the country on public transport, but the rest of the nation isn't quite as well served...I know three little old ladies who now have to share a friday taxi, due to the local peak hours only service out into the country.

Our local services simply get cut further every five years or so, because of "underuse" apparently.
They have made the frequency of operations and reliability so poor on outer routes that nobody dares to rely on them, if one bus doesn't turn up...wait another hour.

When my beloved Volvo was in for the gearbox, I managed to get to some punters on the local excellent bus service.
The lovely Volvo bus broke down.
 
The best theme park bus service I’ve seen in terms of frequency was the one to Thorpe Park from Staines. That one leaves every 15 minutes!

It has been absolutely rammed to the point of borderline overcrowding whenever I’ve done it, but you can’t have everything, I guess!
 
Matt N said:
The best theme park bus service I’ve seen in terms of frequency was the one to Thorpe Park from Staines. That one leaves every 15 minutes!

It has been absolutely rammed to the point of borderline overcrowding whenever I’ve done it, but you can’t have everything, I guess!
Click to expand...
It helps that Staines station to Thorpe Park is only about 15 minutes drive and Staines station is a fairly short journey from central London. Alton Towers is a longer bus journey and the closest stations aren't as close to places where people are unlikely to own cars.

It's a bit chicken and egg, in the London area public transport is good so no need to own a car (or in many cases even learn to drive), so more people use public transport so more is provided, also for those working in central London it isn't possible to park easily so not worth driving.
In the Midlands, public transport outside of cities isn't so great so more people own a car to get to work and therefore don't need public transport as much as they already have the car. For those with no car, it can be better to take a coach trip direct from the town to Alton Towers. Hence less demand for local buses to the park.
 
Should they restore the old Churnet Valley Branch Line that would of been handy having the station outside of Alton Towers today
 
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