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.