Buses & coaches

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A note for the curious: the British use the term "buses" for bus services that run locally, while they reserve "coaches" for services that operate over longer distances. The actual vehicle may be the same in both cases, although you tend to see more double deckers in towns and cities.

If you don't have your own transport (and sometimes even if you do), bus and coach services are very useful in the UK. Although not always the fastest means of transport, they are generally cheap (by UK standards) and cover a large number of destinations, both in England and on the continent.

In Bradford, the usual place to start a coach (i.e., long distance) journey is at the Bradford Interchange. This is a combined bus, coach, and rail station (but note that quite a few train services start at Forster Square station rather than at the Interchange). It is located in the city centre along Bridge Street.

See below for:

Bus & coach companies and timetables
Some "behavioural" hints & tips.

Bus & coach companies

Metro http://www.metro-wyorks.co.uk
Local bus, coach and train services in Bradford and other parts of West Yorkshire are run from a Leeds office. Metro's Journey Planner offers search capabilities that integrate bus, coach, and train services.
Enquiries: (0113) 245 7676
National Express http://www.nationalexpress.co.uk
Operates coach services throughout England. Their coaches are a popular and affordable means to travel longer distances, for example to go to London.
Enquiries: (0990) 808080
Air Links http://www.airlinks.co.uk
Not a coach service as such, but this web site contains a timetable for coaches to London airports.

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A few "behavioural" hints & tips

For local bus services in particular, you must usually pay the exact fare. No change is given, so be sure to carry enough small coins to make the required amount. (The amount varies with the distance, but last time we checked you had to pay 43p or 64p in Bradford, depending on your destination.)
In most cases, you pay the fare to the driver — there is usually no separate ticket collector.
Most buses and coaches have only one door for entry and exit. As usual in England, keep to the left side of the entry to leave room for passengers leaving the bus.
To make a bus stop while you're waiting at a bus stop, you will have to "flag" it (raise your hand). If you don't, chances are that the driver will just ignore you and continue without stopping.
To make the bus stop while you're in it, you will have to pull a cord or press a Stop button and move towards the front of the bus (where the doors are located) in time for the next bus stop.

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	Copyright © 1999-2000 Anne-Wil Harzing and Ron van der Wal. All rights reserved. Legal notices and colophon. This page was last modified on 7-11-99 19:03