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Is it possible to use a Plusbus ticket without actually having taken (or any intention to use) the rail part of the ticket?

I was looking at the day ticket prices for Bristol.  A bus ticket from First costs ^4 off peak, or ^4.30 peak.

With a railcard, a ticket from Stapleton Road to Bristol TM+Bus costs ^3.10, which is also valid during the peak time.

The Plusbus ticket also allows travel on other operators and the boundary is pretty much the same.

If I bought the rail ticket online (in advance), I'm assuming it would be ok to travel only on the bus and not use the train journey?

If both stations are within the plus bus region then it isn't allowed.

Possibly skirting to the edge of the rules but.........I don't see how anyone would know you had NOT used the rail part!

Although is it worth the hastle for 1.20?

Surely thats a bit like the old YP discount on First walk on fares?  If its not valid, dont allow the system to sell it.

If it sells it.......

The FGW website will sell the ticket, it also shows on the National Fares Manual.

Probably not as a one-off, but I need to make a number of journeys twice per week, for quite a few weeks (so a weekly/monthly ticket isn't an option).

As both stations are within the Bristol Plus Bus boundary it isn't valid, however I suspect you won't get any grief with the ticket.

Weird one indeed. PlusBus rules are clear. You cannot buy a PlusBus ticket when travel is between two stations in one PlusBus area. Yet ticket websites will apparently sell you one to add on to BRI from SRD.

By the way, tis only ^3.05 from East Coast!!!

^1 for Plusbus tickets at all towns, except Blackpool, Maidenhead, Newbury, Newport (South Wales), Reading & Swindon.

Tickets need to be bought from a Train Line powered site, e.g. FGW and travel must be made in June.

http://www.plusbus.info/images/PLUSBUSJune.pdf

Hi all,


is it possible to reniew a season ticket with plus bus at the ticket machines? Thanks 

No

However some staff dispute that, was told yesterday that I can buy any ticket from a TVM! Yeh right

hi all,

    I want to re-new my season ticket onlne. Is it possible to do this inc Plusbus for reading? cant seem to add it on FGW site.

Thanks,

Simon

If they can be done on-line, Plus bus tickets have to be done separately, First do your train part, origin to Reading then try Reading to Reading Plus Bus.

Bear in mind that Plus Bus seasons are only for set periods i.e. one week, one month or three months and cannot exceed the expiry date of the accompanying train tricket.

And for Reading the prices will be...

Fares - season tickets: Adult: 7-days ^13, month ^45, 3-months ^135, Year ^460. Child: half adult price.

Info from www.plusbus.info

It doesn't seem possible to buy Plusbus season tickets on Trainline powered sites (like FGW) however it is possible on Mixing Deck sites (like Southern).

On the screen where you enter the photocard number, there is a section entitled "Additional options" which gives travelcard and plusbus options.

It seems to be quite a common request at Reading station for the plus bus add on so you can always buy on arrival the season ticket add on if that helps.

Reading is a bit of an odd ball when it comes to Plusbus, it didn't participate when the discount promotion was running. Perhaps because much of the local network is run by a council owned company? That said the coverage is perhaps also a bit wider than in some towns covering the council owned Reading Buses, First Group, Arriva, Thames Travel and number of others.

Thanks for the info. Seems daft you can^t get it all on their web site considering you can get day plus-bus on it.

Regarding the cost- it^s the same as a weekly ticket from the bus company but I find it more hassle to buy on the bus (they don^t give change). I think its a good price, and regarding them not taking part in the deal- I think this is due to the fact that they have been struggling to make a profit- I wonder how much the TOC gets for issuing plus-bus tickets?

Since Reading Buses changed their ticket system last year so that zonal (North, East, South, West) weekly tickets got scrapped the PlusBus ticket is substantially cheaper than their own weekly ticket.  Plus you're right - simply having a monthly, quarterly or yearly PlusBus pass makes life easier (well it has done for me at least!)

Boppy.

One reason why I buy plusbus in Reading is that with a railcard discount the price is barely more than the cost of a single bus ticket.
It also helps that plusbus isn't operator specific so the travel options from my local bus stop (of which Reading buses is one of three operators), while notionally the three companies do accept each others tickets it always seem to cause some sort of query but when you produce a plus bus ticket a knowing nod from the driver and you take a seat.

Just for comparison to the Plusbus prices above based on the Reading-buses website today:
^1.70 Single (Reduced to ^1.50 if bought 10 journeys at a time (smartcard)
^3.80 simplyReading (formerly Busabout like a day ranger valid anytime on a similar but operator specific basis to plusbus)
^13.00 Weekly
^52.00 30 day

For me Reading buses have their good points, notably they do seem to invest in new buses and seem to always be experimenting with trying to get the business costs down both environmentally and financially, it was admittedly  dissapointing a whiole ago when they managed to pre-purchase their fuel at the high point in the market. Then went on to buy alternative fuel buses that turned out not to be a great decision. Now it seems the flavour of the month is hybrid fuel buses.  Perhaps one day the company will be released from Reading Borough control and then it can start expand its horizons a little so that rather than bus journeys ending at a random crossroads because it happens to be the coucil boundary the routes might be drawn to attract customers, combined with their focus on environmentally fiendly transport it really could be a chance to demonstrate good practice.

According to  the Plusbus website (http://www.plusbus.info/sites/default/files/pdfs/PLUSBUS%20^1.50%20June%20%26%20July%20Online%20Offer%20text.pdf) the bus add on is available for a flat rate ^1.50 when train tickets are bought on line.

Not sure why Didcot and Maidenhead are among the exceptions.

Gone up in Price compared to last summer it was only ^1 then. ow well i might take advantage of this when i next book tickets online. Maybe to swansea and get a trip on the open top bristol vr down to mumbles

I wonder if, for Maidenhead, it's because it's such a small town with, to be honest, not the best bus service around... usually it's easier to walk (for those that can).. That is just my guess though   :)

You could argue that would be a reason to have Maidenhead in the lower price offer!

It was available in past years but it is back again for June & July. Online Plusbus add on for ^1.50 is available with participating TOC sites.

Details at  http://www.plusbus.info/homepage-offers (http://www.plusbus.info/homepage-offers)