Paul Corfield wrote:

Possibly the U9 and 331 out at Uxbridge but not travelled on these.

The 331 is a pretty good route, but again loses points for being a
single decker.

It's also one of the "Beyond the Fringes" routes that strays outside
Greater London as it passes through Denham.

Denham: Scene of much annoyance as the Post Office/Mini Market will
quite happily sell you a Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard (valid on the 331
throughout the route), but if you want to get the Chiltern Railways
service into Marylebone, rather than the 331 to Uxbridge and then the
Met or Piccadilly, it'll cost you an extra £2.80 for the privilege, as
it's outside the zones.

Mind you, if it was up to me (which it isn't), I'd extend the Z6
boundary to include Denham, just to get rid of that anomaly.

And on the subject of Denham and anomalies, who's going to decide what
counts as a "local" bus service for the purposes of free bus travel for
over 60s from next April?

Green Line Route 724, which generally uses Single Decker buses in the
usual Arriva Turquoise livery, could class as either, depending on the
journey being made, as it runs through from Harlow to Heathrow Airport,
via Ware, Hertford, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, St Albans, Watford,
Rickmansworth, Denham and Uxbridge, with an end to end journey time of
nearly 3 hours.

Cheers,

Barry

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:35:39 +0100, Barry Salter
wrote:

And on the subject of Denham and anomalies, who's going to decide what
counts as a "local" bus service for the purposes of free bus travel for
over 60s from next April?

One would assume that the legal definition will apply - that it must
be a registered local stage carriage service rather than a coach
service. The former receives fuel duty rebate, the latter doesn't, so
the definition is already there, though I believe some bus companies
take the **** by registering a long route as two separate ones even
though it operates as one.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Barry Salter wrote

And on the subject of Denham and anomalies, who's going to decide
what
counts as a "local" bus service for the purposes of free bus travel
for
over 60s from next April?

Green Line Route 724, which generally uses Single Decker buses in the

usual Arriva Turquoise livery, could class as either, depending on
the [...]

I assume that 'local' means those that are currently valid on some
local bus pass and that all that is intended to happen from the end of
March '08 is the extension of geographical validity to the whole of
England.

The notes with the Surrey permit say

Not Route 80 (no idea if this still runs)
Not National Express Coach services
Not special services

Otherwise any route that passes though Surrey, so includes the 465 &
R68.

And more recently the new First 300 Windsor to Virginia Water Station
via Windsor Great Park has been made an exception from the start
(though there is a discount).

--
Mike D

On 25 Sep 2007 15:32:46 GMT, "Michael R N Dolbear"
wrote:

Not Route 80 (no idea if this still runs)
Not National Express Coach services
Not special services

Interestingly, Megabus and Scottish Citylink are required to carry for
free[1] within Scotland. Could well end up *including* NatEx...

[1] Megabus still require their booking fee is paid, however, but not
the fare.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sep 25, 8:29 pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On 25 Sep 2007 15:32:46 GMT, "Michael R N Dolbear"
wrote:

Not Route 80 (no idea if this still runs)
Not National Express Coach services
Not special services

Interestingly, Megabus and Scottish Citylink are required to carry for
free[1] within Scotland. Could well end up *including* NatEx...

[1] Megabus still require their booking fee is paid, however, but not
the fare.



Well, it's going to be difficult for anything in London to beat Fort
William to Glasgow as a scenic route ...

I've always enjoyed Eversley Park Road on the 125, which sends you plunging
into the bowels of the Earth before hauling you back out again - as I
descend, I feel that the road climbing the far side of the valley is
parallel with the front of the bus. I suppose it's an optical illusion,
because the 3D views on WIndows Live Local suggest it isn't that steep at
all.

Shooters Hill on the 89 is another good valley, but you get a much longer
and grander view.

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:35:39 +0100, Barry Salter wrote:

The 331 is a pretty good route, but again loses points for being a
single decker.

It's also one of the "Beyond the Fringes" routes that strays outside
Greater London as it passes through Denham.

Denham: Scene of much annoyance as the Post Office/Mini Market will
quite happily sell you a Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard (valid on the 331
throughout the route), but if you want to get the Chiltern Railways
service into Marylebone, rather than the 331 to Uxbridge and then the
Met or Piccadilly, it'll cost you an extra £2.80 for the privilege, as
it's outside the zones.

Mind you, if it was up to me (which it isn't), I'd extend the Z6
boundary to include Denham, just to get rid of that anomaly.

There are plenty of other examples of this, such as the 258 to Watford
Junction and the 81 to Slough (TfL tickets, including any-zone
Travelcards, are valid throughout). Extending Z6 to include them all
would make it rather large!