UK public transit mystery

October 29, 2015 12:14 AM

Aldeburgh to London via public transit, on a Sunday next March: possible? (Google Maps is not listing any option at all on Sundays during the next few weeks, and while Google doesn't have March schedule info yet, I assume March is no better than October.) Hoping this is a glitch or missing info since there are so many options for other days of the week.
posted by kalapierson to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

The way I'm reading it, the first part of that journey is by bus, and the buses don't run on Sundays (see here). There are still trains on Sundays, if you can get to Saxmundham (see here), which is about 7 miles from Aldeburgh. So, maybe taxi to Saxmundham then train? (I'm not familiar with this part of the country, so maybe someone else will have better ideas).
posted by Pink Frost at 12:52 AM on October 29, 2015

You'll need to get a taxi to Saxmundham and then train from there.

This page has some information and taxi company numbers.
posted by dave99 at 12:56 AM on October 29, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you both! Looks like £30+ for just that 10-minute cab leg, but great to know there's some option on Sunday!
posted by kalapierson at 2:51 AM on October 29, 2015

Best answer: According to Traveline East Anglia, there are buses from Aldeburgh to Ipswich this Sunday (and likely on a Sunday next March), and you could take the train from there to London. The bus looks like it takes a couple of hours though. I have heard that public transport in East Anglia is pretty thinly provisioned, so a cab-then-train may still be your best option.

Transit data is generally loaded into Traveline and systems that use its data (like Google Maps Directions) about two weeks before service changes (it varies wildly by region), so you should never assume that a journey planned more than a couple of weeks out is going to be valid - indeed you often won't get a result for anything more than a couple of months out. Check again in February for up to date information and double check the bus company's website for information about service changes before relying on a time.

Source: have worked on travel data provision for the last four years.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:17 AM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

The train that runs through Saxmundham is sloooooow, so bus to Ipswich might be a better bet. Worth investigating both options, anyway.
posted by altolinguistic at 5:14 AM on October 29, 2015

I used to live in Ipswich for a few years. Other than nthing that East Anglia is no place for the carless in general I just wanted to add that a lot of work is done on railway tracks on the commuter routes into London on Sundays. There are too many passengers during the working week but at the weekend they often close bits of the track and ask you to get onto a coach for some or all of the remainder of the journey. So if you have to be there at a certain point in time be sure to confirm if they are operating a rail replacement service that Sunday nearer the time.
posted by koahiatamadl at 6:51 AM on October 29, 2015 [3 favorites]

You could look into CATS community transport and Suffolk Country Council's Demand Responsive Transport page. I've not used them myself, but came across the websites a few weeks ago when trying to work out public transport options in Suffolk. I think they were brought in when various bus services were axed. There are various different types of service offered, so you'll need to poke around a bit (some are just for travellers with disabilities, for example) and it might be that the ones you need don't work on Sundays, but worth checking.
posted by penguin pie at 7:00 AM on October 29, 2015

I grew up around there, members of my family still live there, and I still travel between London to Ipswich by train on a regular basis: I sincerely recommend you get a cab from Saxmundham and do not rely on a bus.

The weekend train service from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich is indeed interrupted by rail replacement buses more often than not: the operator, Abellio Greater Anglia, has not yet announced any planned alterations taking place after January 2016. This is the page you'll want to check.
posted by bebrogued at 7:32 AM on October 29, 2015

Response by poster: For future readers: I'm in Aldeburgh now (didn't come here in March as I was originally asking about in this question) and I've found the local buses totally reliable, always showing up according to their schedule with no issues.

Maybe they've recently improved; maybe (likely) they get more funding and attention during September when it's still shoulder season for tourism.

But in 12 days here with no car, I won't have needed to use a taxi at all, including for my arrival or departure (which is no longer planned for a Sunday). Yay Greater Anglia transit!
posted by kalapierson at 2:29 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]