Trains are the usual subject of this column, but I stray into buses wherenthere is a good deal available. Buses often get a bad press, for not turning up or running late, or – worse – running early. But, like trains, most buses operate and close to time, so I decided to put the network to the test with a one day Durham Day Rover on all bus operators in County Durham. A return journey from, say, Pelton to Chester-le-Street costs £2 each way, but for the same £4 you can buy the Day Rover from first bus out to the last journey home, valid on all operators large and small.
I didn’t quite go from the first bus to the last, but from 0725 to 2115 in 14 hours I travelled up to the top of Weardale and Teesdale and from the dales down to the sea at Seaham and back home, even including meeting up with a friend and his domino playing mates in Murton between buses. Meal breaks were at Middleton in Teesdale and Seaham,
and every bus turned up and all tight connections were met such that I arrived home 30 minutes earlier than I originally expected. As it happened, I only used the buses of Go North East and Weardale, but I could have used Arriva and Stagecoach too. You can make up your own itinerary (whether for a theoretical or an actual journey) using www.traveline.info, and you can plan multiple journeys like Middleton in Teesdale to Seaham, remembering that you cannot travel by train nor outside of County Durham.
There is an even bigger deal available for £6.80 in the form of the (formerly Transport North East) Day Saver which covers Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham, including the Tyne and Wear Metro and the Shields Ferry. This ticket is a real big hitter as it covers from Middleton in Teesdale to Berwick upon Tweed. I am planning to use this for a trip to Ford and Etal in North Northumberland on 22 June.
For readers in Tees Valley, you can use these tickets to and from the boundary stop where you cross from the Tees Valley area (Mayor: Ben Houchen) to the North East Combined Authority (Mayor: Kim McGuinness). Apart from the region-wide Explorer North East ticket, I can find no comparative ticket for the Tees Valley
Just for the record, here is my itinerary for Friday, 5 th April, starting and
finishing in Pelton, near Chester-le-Street. Had I travelled on a Wednesday (only) I could have extended my journey with a trip even higher up Teesdale to Langdon Beck on the Hodgson’s service 73.
All buses were operated either by Go North East or Weardale Motor Services. A * in the table above means the same bus operated the previous journey, therefore a guaranteed connection! I calculate that I travelled around 162 miles with no measurable additional carbon emissions. I felt that I had got the measure of County Durham in one day, and all for £4, at under 2.5p per mile.
