A Ticket to Ride - If you can find it

I mentioned yesterday about not being able to get the Ride Cornwall ticket on a Citybus. So I spent some time on line trying to get information…

So lets start with Plymouth Citybus clicking through on Tickets > Day Tickets > Other Tickets

As you can see the Ride Cornwall ticket is mentioned but there is no link to any additional info on how to get it.

OK so lets go to Cornwall County Council, it is there ticket so that's surely the place to go?

Click through to Transport & Streets and onto Public Transport then Transport Ticketing which appears promising

 

“The Ride Cornwall ticket is a one-day rover ticket that gives the holder a day's unlimited travel on all rail and most bus services within Cornwall and between Cornwall and Plymouth, after 9am Monday-Friday and at any time on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays” Excellent

So lets click the First Group Ride Cornwall link we are invited to click

OK so it goes to the First Kernow homepage but there is a tickets link on the top of the page. however after a lot of clicking around I can only get details of the daily First ticket at £12 only valid on First Kernow services. So thats a blank

OK so back to Cornwall County to give them another go this time on the old and rather ugly Public Transport in Cornwall page

The first thing which made me laugh was that this website was designed… badly I think, but then if it works I will let them off.

so lets to go Bus Tickets on the left hand column

The promising line here is For full details pick up a Ride Cornwall Leaflet or click here so lets see what we get

So its the full GWR web site. I cant see any clear link to the Ride Cornwall ticket though. I tried all the link and after a while found a page for Rangers and Rovers ( I am still not sure how I got there though) I completed the box (after waiting a while for the page to load)

We finally get something useful

There are some great value tickets hidden here which I for one knew nothing about but for now we will stick to Ride Cornwall so lets try the More Info link

we finally get some details with a nice long page - the highlights being

So if I cant get it on a Citybus then it looks like a trip to the Railway Station first - If I do this again then I will set out a little earlier next time.

One note though - there was a line at the top of this page Updated Information applicable from 03/09/2016

which reveals

 

A rather large increase in price from £10 to £13 another thing which Cornwall County Council have kept quiet!

Why is it so difficult to find information? Is it really that hard for councils to promote their own tickets? Is it really that hard for bus operators to promote such tickets?

Tickets to ride

A new bus ticket has been announced for Devon:

A new scheme is being launched next month (April) offering unlimited day travel on most buses throughout Devon on just one bus ticket.

Devon County Council has teamed up with a number of bus operators to introduce the Devon Day ticket.

The ticket entitles the holder to one day’s travel on local bus services of all participating local bus companies within the Devon Day Bus area, which includes Plymouth and Torbay.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: “The Devon Day ticket gives passengers the freedom and flexibility to use most local bus services in Devon. This scheme is a passport to Devon – it’s a much easier and cheaper way to explore the county by bus. Tickets can be bought from the driver of any of the participating services and they are then available to use at any time on the day of issue.”

Initially, the Devon Day Bus will run for one season from Friday 1 April until the end of September 2016. (why?)

The bus companies taking part in the initiative are

• Axe Valley Mini Travel,
• Country Bus,
• Dartline,
• Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company,
• Filers Travel,
• Hatch Green Coaches,
• Local Link,
• Plymouth City Bus,
• Stagecoach South West,
• Tally Ho,
• Target Travel, and
• Turners Tours.

Tickets are also available beyond the Devon County boundary on Stagecoach services to Saltash on services 2, 2A, to Bude on service 6, 6A, 85, 217, 219, 319, to Lyme Regis on service 9A, and to Taunton on service 20.

Dartline services to Dulverton on service 398, to Taunton on service 387,
Plymouth Citybus to Saltash (A38/Liskeard Road, or Carkeel Roundabout) on services 10, 11, 11A, 12, to Torpoint (H.M.S Raleigh) on services 70, 70A, 70B, 71 and to Gunnislake (Square/Cornish Inn) on service 79/79A.

Valid Devon Day tickets will also be accepted on Devon County Council supported services operated by Taw & Torridge – Services 654, 657, 658, 696, 873 and Redwoods services 397, 681, 682.

On services operated by Taw and Torridge and Redwoods, Devon Day tickets will be accepted for travel, but you will not be able to purchase the ticket from these companies.

The Devon Day Bus will cost £8.50 for adults, £5.70 for children (age 5 to 15 inclusive) and £17 for a family (maximum two adults and three children).

For more information visit https://www.journeydevon.info/devon-day-ticket/

On Twitter follow @journeydevon or email devonbus@devon.gov.uk

For timetable enquiries and journey planning across the South West go to www.traveline.info or contact Traveline (call charges apply) on 0871 200 2233.

Devon News

In Cornwall of course you still have the Ride Cornwall ticket

Unlimited travel on most bus and all train services

The Ride Cornwall ticket is a one-day rover ticket that gives the holder a day's unlimited travel on all rail and most bus services within Cornwall and between Cornwall and Plymouth, after 9am Monday-Friday and at any time on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Tickets cost £10 (adult), £7.50 (child) and £20 (up to 5 people but no more than 2 adults). For more information view the First Group Ride Corwall. (note that this link does not work this morning!)

Then in Plymouth we still have The Skipper

Plymouth City Council, in partnership with all of the city’s bus companies, have agreed to offer the residents of Plymouth a multi operator day bus ticket, which will enable them to make as many bus changes on their journey as they like, regardless of the bus operator, for a whole day (from the start of the service until 2am the following day).

You can purchase this ticket on the bus (only), from any of the participating bus operators, namely:

• Plymouth Citybus
• Go Cornwall Bus
• Stagecoach South West
• Target Travel
• Jackett’s Coaches
• Tally Ho
• St Budeaux Taxibus

The area of validity for the Plymouth SKIPPER day ticket will include the whole of Plymouth including Torpoint, Saltash, Roborough, Langage, the built up areas of Ivybridge, Wembury and Heybrook Bay.

The southern boundary between Ivybridge and Deep Lane Junction will be the A38 and therefore include Lee Mill and Smithaleigh, and then include the area of Sherford down to the A379.

The northern boundary will include all communities served by the existing 59 route including the whole of Roborough.

• £4.20 for an adult day ticket
• £3.10 for a child day ticket (up to and including 18 years)

The ticket is valid on all services, except those listed below, and is valid from the start of service until 2am the following day. The ticket is valid only for travel on journeys with a start point and an end point within the area of validity.

It is also planned to have week and month Skipper tickets available later in the year, hopefully for the start of 2017. Whilst this may be good news for some, it sadly replaces the excellent green travel pass that the council operate and is available through particpating employers. I have relied on this pass for over twenety years jnow so it will take a bit of getting used to as I will have to purchase it and keep it up to date whereas my current pass just gets paid out of my wages and I dont have to think about it. . I also expect it to cost quite a bit more than the current pass too, but I will wait and see!