Colchester bus services – did you know?
If you have a direct bus service in walking distance of your house, why not try the bus as a greener and more sustainable way to travel into town or to work?
You can incorporate a bit of physical activity into your daily journey, and if your route has bus lanes you could reach your destination quicker than by car in peak hours especially if you factor in having to find a parking space.
Below we answer a few questions you might have about bus services in Colchester.
I live in Colchester, are there many frequent bus services? There are ten local bus services into the town centre provided by First and Arriva with a frequency of every 10 to 20 minutes.
Are there more buses suitable for commuting? There are 19 bus services into Colchester with an up to hourly frequency provided by First, Arriva, Hedinghams and Chambers.
How will I know when my bus will arrive? Download First and/or Arriva’s app that includes real time information, as well as route planning and timetable info. The electronic boards at some bus stops are now showing real time information.
Is there a ticket allowing travel on any bus? There is a range of multi-operator tickets including Day Rovers, Weekly to Annual Borough Cards, Evening and Sunday savers.
I never have cash on me. Buy a mobile ticket. First and Arriva sell M-Tickets for most of their products.
I only want to use the bus on some days. First offer carnet tickets for part time travel over 1 or 3 months.
It’s too expensive to travel with my children. First and Arriva offer Family tickets to discount travelling with children over 5 years old.
If you want to find out more about local bus travel, including downloading our frequent bus routes map, journey planners, links to the bus operators websites and apps click here
If the organisation you work for is a member of the Colchester Travel Plan Club (you can check here) , you usually travel to work by car but you would like to try the bus – we are offering some FREE First and Arriva carnet tickets for you to give it a go. Email travel.plan.club@colchester.gov.uk if you are interested.
Exciting new bus news
New! Park and Ride to stop at Colchester Hospital, 88 Bus Partnership, free hot drink at Leisure World for bus users!
Three pieces of exciting bus news to highlight this month!
Park and Ride will stop at Colchester Hospital in the New Year.
Great news for visitors and staff that the Park and Ride will be stopping at the hospital in January 2017. A day ticket will cost £3,(free after 9am for concessionary fare pass holders) and did you know that you can then use that ticket like a Rover to travel into town and back on the Park and Ride bus?
The details of the hospital stop aren’t available yet but use this link to find out more about the existing Colchester Park and Ride
New 88 Bus Partnership
If you live on the 88 route between Great Yeldham and Colchester, you can now benefit from a new partnership allowing tickets issued on the 88 services from different companies to be used on buses along any of the number 88 routes.
The route which takes in Earls Colne, White Colne, Wakes Colne, Halstead Road and Eight Ash Green as well as Colchester town centre, will now offer more flexibility in journey times due to the ability to catch any of the buses either end of the journey.
Each operator will accept day returns, weekly, monthly and annual tickets from Hedingham Buses and First Essex buses on the 88 bus route.
The new Quality Bus Partnership offers key advantages including:
- Ticket inter-availability – customers can buy a return ticket or pass from one operator and use it to return on another operator’s bus
- More flexibility in journeys thanks to better aligned schedules and routing
- Improved vehicle standards and accessibility
- Bus stop infrastructure improvements at key stops
If you live along this route and could consider getting the bus to work, you can find out more information here including a map of the routes covered.
Free hot drink for Leisure World bus users
Did you know there are now bus services serving Leisure World?
Between 7 November 2016 and 26 February 2017, if you travel by bus to Colchester Leisure World, you can claim a free hot drink in the Leisure World café, on presentation of your valid single or return bus ticket dated for that day.
The following bus routes are covered within the offer:
Weekday services
- 4 (Network Colchester) – Stanway – Lexden – Colchester – Greenstead – The Hythe
- 11 (Network Colchester) – Colchester Rail Station – Highwoods – Severalls Park – Mile End
- 63 (Hedingham Omnibuses) – Monkwick – St Michaels – Central Colchester – Cowdray Avenue
Sunday services
- 67B (First Essex) – West Mersea – Peldon – Blackheath – Colchester Town Centre – Leisure World
- 70 (Regal Busways) – Braintree – Coggeshall – Marks Tey – Stanway – Lexden -Colchester Town Centre – Leisure World
Please note that this offer is ONLY open to persons presenting a valid single or return ticket for the day – it does NOT apply to holders of any period tickets/passes.
Find out more including links to the route timetables HERE
FREE carnets for drivers to try the bus
If you live locally and drive to work, have you considered using the bus? We have 5 FREE bus carnets* up for grabs for 5 drivers to try the bus!
Interested?
First check if there is a frequent bus service near you using this journey planner www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk/se
Then email travel.plan.club@colchester.org.uk and include the number of your local bus service.
*Offer only open to members of Colchester Travel Plan Club. Choice of Network Colchester (10 journeys over 2 months) or First services (12 journeys over 1 month) Everyone who emails by the 15 March will be put into a prize draw and the first five names will receive a carnet of their choice.
Helping you use the local bus network
Useful apps
Network Colchester/Arriva
M-Tickets, timetables, journey planning and real time information www.arrivabus.co.uk/app/
First Essex buses
M-Tickets, timetables, journey planning and real time information (some areas) www.firstgroup.com/essex/plan-journey/first-travel-apps
Traveline South East
Public Transport journey planner incorporating walking and cycling routes www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk/se
Arriva Essex – @ArrivaEssex
Chambers – @ChambersBus
First Essex – @First
Essex Hedingham – @HedinghamBuses
Network Colchester – @NColchester
Stephensons of Essex – @BreezeBuses
Colchester Park and Ride (Junction 28 off the A12)
£3 daily or cheaper with a season ticket. Fast, frequent buses to town. www.essexhighways.org/Transport-and-Roads/Getting-Around/Bus/Park-and-Ride/Colchester-Park-and-Ride.
Day Family ticket
Unlimited travel with up to 2 children for £5 a day. Both Network Colchester and First offer this ticket. (not a multi-operator ticket)
Are you a bus user?
We have just launched a bus users survey for members of the Travel Plan Club.
We want to hear back from bus users about your journey to work or to where you study. The survey covers all aspects of your bus experience including your satisfaction with:
- Reliability
- Bus drivers and quality of driving
- Bus stops
- The vehicle
Why are we doing the survey? Well in 2013 we want to do more to encourage members to use the bus particularly for their journey to work and studies. However before we do this, we feel we need a better understanding of how existing bus users find local services.
The survey will give us some insight into what is good and not so good about local services and facilities for bus users. We can then use this data for a number of purposes to:
- Work more closely with the bus operators and high way authority to help improve services
- Tell others what is good about travelling by bus and to break down some of the barriers that may stop more people from using the bus
The survey is open until the 13 May and takes 5 – 15 minutes to complete depending on whether you regularly use one or more bus operators.
So if you are a bus user we would really welcome your feedback. Thanks for your help.
Three month offer – 25% discount on Plusbus
If you use the train and then a bus for onward travel once you reach Colchester, then take advantage of a three month deal offering 25% off a Plus Bus ticket.
Plusbus offers an add on bus ticket to your rail ticket allowing unlimited travel on any Network Colchester, First or Hedingham bus within the Colchester Urban area (equates to Colchester Inner Zone and includes University, CHUFT and Colchester Zoo).
The discounted Plusbus monthly ticket is avilable from Colchester station ticket office for £48 between6 November 2011 and 31 January 2012. . The discount, offers a saving of over 70p per day compared to a typical day return bus ticket.
The Plusbus discount, plus all the other station improvements are part of the Station Travel Plan project, a partnership including CBC, ECC, NEEA and the bus operators, working together to encourage more sustainable travel to the station.
Improvements for train users also using the bus, include changes to bus timetables and facilities for passengers waiting for buses at the station. Buses are now better coordinated with trains, and new stops and bus timetable information is now installed on the station forecourt.
Find out more about getting the bus to or from the station Getting the bus to the station leaflet
Watch out for our own public transport discounts promotion for TPC members! It is imminent…..!
