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Page updated 16/04/2009
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Better bus passes and now Rail Cards tooConcessionary bus passes now allow travel from 9.00am - MORE Cheaper senior rail cards - MORE THE ECC BUS TIMETABLE PROBLEMSAdvertising timetables you can't buy (well not here) MORE What's wrong with the new timetable? MORE Get our Saffron Walden area timetable (it's much better than the ECC one, and free) DOWNLOAD THE ECC north Uttlesford Bus Review fiascoShuttle bus plans cancelled - MORE Why its cheaper to use a taxi - MORE New routes designed for children going to school on Saturdays, in the holidays or the middle of the day - MORE
Concessionary bus passes now allow travel from 9.00amHolders of bus passes issued by Uttlesford District Counil can mow travel on any bus in starting or ending its journey in Essex from 9.00am Manday to Friday and anytime at weekend. Anywhere else in England the passes work from at least 9.30am although some local authorties allow travel before then. To get your bus pass you need to live in Uttlesford, be over 60 (you do not have to be retired) or suffer from one of a wide-range of disablities. Click here for full details and application forms Senior Rail CardsSave £5.00 at the Uttlesford District CouncilFor over 60s, senior rail cards give one-third off almost all rail tickets in the UK (except season tickets and rush-hour jouneys inLondon & the south-east). They normally cost £24.00 for an annual card but Uttlesford residents can get one by calling at theUDC Council Offices in Saffron Walden for only £19.00. Unlike the bus passes, you do not need a passport photo to buy a rail card. You cannot buy the cheap railcards on line: phone the UDC (01 799 510 510) for more information or simply call at the office during office hours. You can pay by cash or credit card. Click here for full details of rail cards and cheap rail travel!
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NEW COMPACT BUS TIMETABLE BOOK FOR SAFFRON WALDEN - & Audley End Stn DownloadVillage timetables are in the full area timetable booklet |
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This page last updated: © David Corke/ Sustainable Uttlesford |
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ECC ALL ESSEX BUS TIMETABLE March 2009 - Where can you get one?ECC adverts claimed this book was available from most High St newsagents. Not in our area it isn't. No newsagents stock it: you can get it from the Saffron Walden library and Tourist Information Centre. Maybe it is best not to buy one; the November 2008 edition was full of errors many of which were corrected in the new edition (following Sustainable Uttlesford's campaign) The new edition is much better but is already out of date as it does not include the improved services to the station and still has a number of other errors (mainly on the map) Sustainable Uttlesford's new timetable is up to date: CLICK HERE FOR A FREE DOWNLOAD Errors relating to Saffron Walden and surrounding villagesin teh March 2009 ECC timetableRoute timetablesRegular routes 313 States Sch 08:07 stops at Debden which it does not [ECC has instructed driver not to stop] 445 States buses stop at Littlebury High St:: they do not enter Littlebury High St let alone stop there.
Omitted routes105 (Stansted Transit Wicken Bonhunt – Stansted) This route is included on Traveline.info Shopper bus [Community Transport bus service paid for by ECC] School contract routes which are not listed on Traveline but do in practice accept adult passengers [194, 104, 1209, 112, 1210] Saffron Walden Town Route map (at back of timetable) School terminus: routes 302 & 322 omitted from those terminating here 17 listed as visiting High St & 29 as terminating, which they do not do when leaving Walden. Boarding point at Saffron Walden Common not shown for outward bound buses. 34 shown as one-way entering Peaslands Rd from Thaxted Rd, in fact it travels only in the other direction. High St: 302 & 322 shown as terminating here which they do not, they never visit the stop. Places served indexAUDLEY ENDProbably the most important route for people in the Saffron Walden area is that connecting the town centre and the railway station. Because of the splitting of the Audley End/ Saffron Walden service between four timetables it is near impossible to discover the times for this route Fares & TicketsEssex Sunday saver said to be valid on any Sunday bus starting its journey in Essex: the only Saffron Walden Sunday route does not accept this ticket The extremely good value and useful Megarider Tickets valid for journeys on Citi7 and services through Cambridge are not mentioned VillageLink: service 59 is said to issue and accept VillageLink tickets in the faretable supplied for this route by ECC. “Four Counties Buses 10 journey tickets ( in VillageLink wallet) are to be accepted”!. This route needs adding to the VillageLink network listing. Finding information (9-10) A high price (0871) number is provided for traveline at a cost which is claimed to cost (10p a minute plus network extras) but is very expensive to use in practice, especially from a mobile phone. The 01245 454 385 Traveline number is not given although this is much cheaper to use (free on many phone subscription packages) Traveline.txt – there is no current source of the bus stop codes for this service other than going on line. If you can go on line you do not need the text messaging service. ECC needs to add the SMS codes to its published timetables and bus stop timetables before publicising a service that it is impossible to use. Public Transport mapThe new "regular bus routes" map in the timetable booklet is a big improvement and makes it clear how view areas are served by regular buses. A separate, free, map or all bus routes is available. This has a huge number of errors for the Saffron Walden area: these have been reported many times in the past but nothing done to correct them. Buses & CoachesIt is implied that the timetables are for buses serving Essex. In fact many of them are coaches which do not accept concessionary bus passes – it is extremely misleading not to distinguish bus & coach routes. Some which might appear to be coaches (eg X30 – in back of book with coaches) are legally buses and accept bus passes. North Uttlesford Bus Review301 now meets the trains - but its no go for the Audley End ShuttleEssex County Council has dropped its plans for a dedicated Saffron Walden/Audley End shuttle service (as predicted by Sustainable Uttlesford, ECC could not find the money). Instead route 301 has been retimed so that the buses actually link with trains to and from London. This will mean that it is possible to use a bus to catch a train hourly through the day between the morning & evening rush hours when there already buses that link with trains. Sustainable Uttlesford welcomes the new 301 timings but regrets that it will still not be possible to use buses to link with a cheap-day return trip to London. Why you will need a taxi if you use a cheap-day return to LondonThis is because National Express no longer allows you to use rush hour trains for the homeward journey and the first evening train allowed for cheap-day return tickets arrives at Audley end after the last bus will have gone. There is an easy (and cost-free) way in which ECC could resolve this problem (by running the last two evening runs of VL5 via Audley End) but so far ECC have declined to consider doing so. Villages protest as new bus routes are routed to disuade people using themIn theory Littlebury, Elmdon & Chriahall should have been delighted at the outcome of the bus review: upgrading of routes 11 and 445 to proper routes not just school (445) or shopper (11) status. In practice the routes have been spectacularly badly designed with buses gouing miles out of their way to visit schools on non-schooldays and at times in the middle of the day when children are already at school. The Littlebury 445 was supposed to give the village a proper link with Saffron Walden but the bus does not stop in the middle of the the vilage (despite what the timetable says) and takes so long to go via Newport School that it is quicker and cheaper to walkhalh a mile and use the citi7Losers: Clavering & ArkesdenThe Tuesday shopping bus (service 11) has been withdrawn from serving these villages with no replacement. They may also lose the "Shopper bus". The other losers are the many villages whose bus services still fall below the minimum service level Shopper bus to go?At the moment, the "Shopper Bus" [a sort of bus which is not advertised on timetables] serves Littlebury, Clavering, Wicken & Langley on Market days but ECC will not say whether this service will continue long after it has been duplicated by the new 11 and 445 routes. It seems almost certain to be withdrawn Bus withdrawnFour Counties buses are withdrawing this service because ECC will be putting the pupils that used to use it on their new 11 & 445 services. Unlike the new services, bus 92 used to serve Audley End Station
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