On 14 Feb, 23:51, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
Once upon a time -- around about 2/13/08 19:35 --
possibly wrote:

So, how many people get gibberish when I say the
price of a One Day Bus Pass currently stands at £3.50?

Works fine here in the USA


Astounding! The whole of the USA? I mean, I knew that fare zones for
buses in London were phased out in the recent past, but I didn't
realise we got the USA thrown in as well! Perhaps that was part of the
deal Blair brokered with Bush... you know - the deal that never
happened, or at least that's what we were told.

So, do I get Greyhound coaches thrown in as well, or is it simply
local buses? I suspect the latter, still it's an amazingly good deal.
If it is only local buses then I guess the idea of trying to get from
one seaboard to the other might be thwarted - I'm presuming here that
weekly, monthly and annual London bus passes are good for this deal as
well?

Which brings me round to thinking about the new English National Bus
Pass scheme for those 60+ or with a qualifying disability that
launches in April, which will allow holder to have free *local bus*
travel between 9.30am and 11pm weekdays and all day at weekends. I'm
reminded of a story Peter Masson told of a challenge he set himself in
his youth, which was to circumnavigate London in a day - but using a
"Green Rover" ticket which only allowed for travel on London Country
buses (the green ones), not LT's Central area buses (the red ones). I
believe he managed to get most of the way round on his Green Rover,
though did have to pay a fare on one or two bus routes.

So thinking along these lines, I eagerly await hearing of older
English folk who will take on the challenge of trying to cover great
distances using their free national bus pass, obviously only using
local buses. It could start off relatively small - for example a
journey between London and Brighton, or Manchester to Leeds - but
then it could gradually mushroom - Leeds to Newcastle, Manchester to
Newcastle, London to Newcastle, indeed Brighton to Newcastle... and we
haven't even considered the south west yet, let alone Land's End.

Obviously many such trips couldn't be done in a day, so nights would
be spent in B&Bs. I can see it becoming an obsessional hobby amongst a
small number of devotees... it could get competitive - who can get
from there will be BBC2 documentaries made about it...

If in five years I haven't heard about such a thing happening I will
be sorely disappointed, in fact I think I will emigrate. To the USA
with my annual all zones, all states Bus Pass.