Our Coast, Our Sea - A Passport to discover North Northumberland

18 April 2011

Exploring North Northumberland by bus is a great way to see our stunning countryside and now it is even easier. New bus tickets aimed at tourists in north Northumberland will be launched just in time for the start of the busy holiday season. The ‘North Northumberland Passport’ is a weekly ticket giving seven days consecutive travel and the ‘North Northumberland Discovery Ticket’ is daily ticket.

The tickets will be available from 17th April and are valid for travel on Arriva, Travelsure and Glen Valley Travel buses throughout North Northumberland, making bus travel not only excellent value but much more convenient and straightforward to use.

The tickets – £5.50 for the Discover and £18.50 for the Passport – will be accepted on most services north of Amble and Alnwick but do exclude Berwick Town services and other selected journeys. Full details are available on the Northumberland County Council Website

Caroline Bruce, Corporate Director of Local Services at Northumberland County Council: ”The Passport and Discover tickets were launched by Arriva Northeast last year and proved to be very popular, however tourists could not use these tickets on journeys provided by other operators which led to some confusion. We are very happy to have Travelsure and Glen Valley on board with this initiative which will encourage a greater numbers of visitors to leave their cars behind and jump on the bus”

The Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership also welcomed the news.

Iain Robson, Assistant AONB Officer said: “We have worked with Arriva to promote the Coast and Castles Connection routes, encouraging visitors to use the bus to explore the Northumberland Coast. We have negotiated a range of discounts with top attractions along the coast for bus travellers and I am sure the attractions in the scheme will extend the offers to travellers with tickets from the other operators too.”

The AONB Partnership has developed a number of itineraries to help visitors explore the Northumberland Coast by bus. There are ideas for walks, birdwatching and heritage excursions from the bus, which are available to download from www.northumberlandcoastaonb.org .