Peterborough to Norwich with First Eastern Counties Excellent EXCEL Bus Service. 

I drive this route daily, nice to see some positive feedback for my colleagues and glad you had a good experience!

Cheers Mark for taking us on a great journey.

I used to catch this bus to Great Yarmouth when it used to go all the way to Lowestoft from Peterborough. If you have the time (and a strong bladder!) it's unbeatable value for the distance covered.

I've always liked the Enviro 400 City. Seems like the operator of this bus has really put some effort into the customer experience with the good legroom, wireless and USB charging (when working/switched on), AC, WiFi and comfortable & stylish seats. Sure the train is faster but for £2 I'd take that journey if I needed to go between the 2 cities.

I like Norwich, King's Lynn and Peterborough Along with Beccles, Bury St Edmunds, Clacton-On-Sea, Walton-On-The-Naze, Ely and Cambridge

I'd definitely use this to visit King's Lynn, which seems like an incredible town to explore!

That really was a lovely bus! You have definitely won me over to buses. Looks to me that bus route would be ideal for a London-Kings Lynn-Norwich-London kinda East Anglian round robin! Keep em coming. I hope you are feeling better now 👍

A few years back the route was Peterborough to Lowestoft. Just over 4 hours long.

I really wish we had the bus fare incentive here in Scotland, it's brilliant. Looked a clean, comfortable bus especially at the back! 😊

This route was shown in railway timetables for many years as it provides the useful cross-country links to Wisbech, Swaffham and Dereham, being virtually a rail replacement. Travelled it some years ago and enjoyed the trip. I hopped off at Dereham and went on the Mid-Norfolk Railway to Wymondham.

Heres a recommended route to do, the 56 from Lincoln to Skegness operated by Stagecoach East Midlands.

That’s a bargain fare £2 for that distance and quality bus!

Great video always enjoy watching them.

Fantastic video Mark very much put together very informative

Thanks for this lovely bus trip - so interesting to see how it looks from some of my favourite places! Yes, do try the Fen line up to Kings Lynn. I haven't been on it for a few years now but it used to be a pleasant quiet interesting journey and I always enjoyed it, from around Cambridge northwards. Thanks too for all your videos - having Covid and the moment I can't get out, and you're helping to keep me sane!!

Hi they used to have coaches for First operating between Lowestoft to Peterborough all the way before then getting a batch of 58 plate volvo b9tl geminis to replace them and they all came with seatbelts. It wasn't a legal requirement to wear seatbelts though, it was optional. Then in 2013 we had a batch of brand new enviro 400 deckers that came without seatbelts, along with this they split the route so the XL did Norwich to Peterborough and X1/X11 did Norwich to Lowestoft section. This was due to driving hours and changes of drivers.

You should try the X46 from Hull to York operated by East Yorkshire.

Nice video, thanks for sharing have a good week

A nice journey made better by having a clean bus that is comfortable and at the right price, pleasant scenery for the journey as well, till next time stay safe and well, cheers.

Lovely views, great commentary, quality music, thanks as always!

You have such a flawless way of narrating your videos

Great film. I do like that service, particularly the vehicles on it. At one time it extended beyond Norwich to Great Yarmouth and ended up in Lowestoft. I didn't do the complete end to end trip, as broke my journey to ride behind a locomotive hauled train from Liverpool Street, between Norwich and Yarmouth (another lost run).

you've managed to make an interesting video from what at first glance is a difficult subject. Well done.

Much improved. Good on you, mate!😊

That's quite long but looked impressive. Definitely a new one to try. The longest regular bus journey in the UK I took was on the Arriva Sapphire X18 service between Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed via Bamburgh, at over 4 hours

Hello my friend it's John thanks for the video lovely bus ride how much 2£ cheap as chips lol by the way my friend in Jersey has done a walk round st aubins take a look brings back memories all the best John 😊

I might have to give that one a go myself. I'd highly recommend the X17 from Wirksworth to Barnsley via Matlock, Chesterfield and Sheffield. It's very scenic in the Peak District. Well worth a try!

Bargain, top video Mark

you should visit Donegal airport it was voted most scenic landing in the world in 2017 although it only has two flights a day to Dublin on a good day the views form landing are spectacular

The general rule for steatbelts on buses is if you're allowed to stand up on the bus, it doesn't need seatbelts.

Class video, couldn’t last 3 hours on a bus though 😂😂

Just earned yourself a new subscriber, you should try Ensignbus' X80 southbound across the River Thames, however it could be a very long journey across the Dartford Crossing!

Great video, kings lynn is a lovely town to explore ,as is Ely.

Another two routes to try are the London line 702 and possibly the flight line 703. 702 is Legoland to London Victoria, although early morning journeys can start at Reading. The 703 is Bracknell to Heathrow. Brand new buses similar to these but ADL Enviro 400 city buses, with a nice interior. Ran by Reading Buses

Hi Mark. Another cheery video. I wonder who designs these buildings. All that glass at the bus station and I wouldn't want the job of cleaning them. Take care

Thanks for this great video in your usual very watchable style. Of course you can travel from Peterborough to Norwich in two hours by rail or car, but the point of this excellent bus is the service it gives to the places in between. I've heard bus operator excuses for not running express buses ("the regular buses would hold them up", "we'd have to cut some regular buses" etc.), but First seem to have done the job pretty well, apart from a few areas; re the USB sockets, at about 8:00, just after you touch one of the sockets, it appears to light up - maybe you have to press them? It's good that at present you can use these buses for £2, but it would be better generally if tickets were integrated with rail, so that Wisbech, Swaffham and Dereham were on a rail/express bus network, and you could buy through tickets from ticket machines, websites, stations and bus drivers - or conductors: even one-coach trains have a conductor who will sell you tickets to anywhere. But the reason they don't appears to be a squabble over money! In the latest 'Modern Railways' magazine there is an article celebrating GWR's recent ventures into bus-rail integration, but 'It is better ... to keep the bus fare separate' - the subtext being that even if through-ticketing brought in extra passengers, if the money is taken by the rail company, they won't hand any of it over to the bus company - and that applied even when the buses and trains were both part of First group! The stupidity of this is when you compare the ticket price for a rail only journey to another of equal distance where part was by bus - which would almost certainly be more expensive with separate ticketing. There are probably hundreds of towns, large villages, and suburban centres which would benefit from express buses like this, particularly if integrated with rail, and a huge market nationally - and at a time when we need (climate, air-quality, congestion etc.) to encourage people out of cars. Is it just stupid rail managment? - or un-enterprising bus management? - or both, plus unimaginative politicians?

Lovely looking bus. The USB ports only work if the little light is on underneath or around the USB port. If the engine is off they won't work, it's not in control of the driver. First always seem on point with timetables and branding.

Fully agree, this year my wife and I have tahen the excel from Peterborough to Kings Lynn and from Lynn to Norwich a great service with friendly drivers especially good as my wife uses a wheelchair. Two further suggested routes, Bath to Wells and Berwick to Edinburgh. Route numbers escape me at mo.

Hi Mark how you doing mate? Great video as always well edited with perfect background music added to the road scenes the bus that you went on is a really nice modern smart double decker bus indeed very good for a 4 year old one, £2 for a single ticket from Peterborough all the way to Norwich is a bargain for a 3 hour and 15 minutes journey indeed, those seats look really comftable to sit on for a number of hours plus the nice sized table you could easily put a laptop on top of it, bugger the driver kept turning off the engine every time he stopped at a bus station which switched off the air conditoner which was 100% needed for the journey due to the very hot heat also a bugger that the USB sockets on the infront of the front seats didnt work at all they must have been switched off by the driver very modern for there to be wireless charging docks on the seat which also didnt work again must of been the driver turned the feature off, kind of good that the WIFI onboard did kinda work for a little bit before it gave you that error which is a bugger hit and miss indeed looked like you enjoyed the journey as a whole anyways i hope your having a good afternoon so far and keep up the great content on the channel as always as its so entertaining plus enjoyable to watch 👍

I did Norfolk recently, I think it's best to stay in Kings Lynn otherwise this bus journey is quite long! We got stuck on the 47 when the East Of England show was on. First really could do with an Excel route via Fakenham to Cromer (hint, hint!). If you want charging, make sure the blue light on the USB socket is on. Cheers!

I use to drive this route when I worked for Norwich its a great run

That must feature in one of England's longest service bus journeys. I once remember travelling from Newcastle (upon Tyne) and Sea Houses. I remember the bus being Newcastle to Morpeth, with a connecting service to Berwick. To our surprise it was the same bus, driver and we even stayed on it. Puzzled by it, i did ask the driver about the Morpeth thing and she told us was a technicality to remain a service bus, and to qualify for concessionary carriage terms. That was a while ago, and longer service bus journeys have become more common, so i think it may no longer apply.

I was on that service a few weeks ago. They changed drivers at Kings Lynn at the bus stop just through that arch, which seemed odd when the bus station is just down the road.

Great travel video again Mark. Inspired me to do the same trip. Just wondered what timetable or app you use to get times etc

Much better than First Bus Manchester who thankfully are mostly on the way out. I guess this service does not quite have the great scenery of the North York Moors but the bus looked great and the subsidised fare cannot be beat. I have been on EMT and a charter train to Norwich which seemed a nice city. It certainly beats being at an Arriva single decker for over 3 hours from Harlow to Heathrow.

Excel is a lovely route i was priviledged to be a driver on it, Your lucky it's 3.2hours now since it split several years known as "X1" back then it was much longer when it extended to Great Yarmouth - Gorleston and Lowerstoft making a single journey time to 5hrs 42mins. I'm pretty sure i'm right in saying it was the longest bus route in the UK?

Yh it is mark

I think that was above and beyond the call of duty, the train would have been faster, albeit more expensive and a risk of overcrowding on a 2car 158. We stayed at the same Travelodge when visiting the North & Mid Norfolk railways a couple of years ago and used the Excel to/from Dereham, short journeys yes but 3 hours.... Keep up the trips, always good to compare your thoughts with ours.

Welcome to East anglia buddy from Alan in Lowestoft buddy 😊

Peterborough to Norwich by coach isn’t really that long journey. And that’s if there aren’t any hold ups on the A47.

Nice bus. But what about that fabulous house and garden in Swaffham.

There used to be a first excel in Bristol however they rebranded it to badgerline

With working as a bus driver for Stagecoach in Manchester, my staff pass gets me free travel on about 80% of bus routes in GB....what I am still wanting to do is Manchester to Thurso using regular service buses & coaches (non Megabus/Scottish Citylink services as me staff pass not valid on them). A route I want to do is the 35 from Aberdeen to Elgin. Will get round to it one day

So they've replaced and upgraded this route then? Cause I use to get the X1 from Norwich to King's Lynn to do my nursing placements at the Queen Elizabeth. Even late at night it was safe. Then i started driving and it was great. Although the upstairs didn't have table seats.

Welcome to Norwich, a Fine City! Glad to see the journey, but you're right that there's no spectacular scenery. Heading eastwards you get to see rivers and broads (lakes). Hope you had a good evening 😜 By the way, what do you think about the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre? To be honest, I'm dead against it...

We've done that trip between King's Lynn & Norwich..which I get for free as my Stagecoach staff pass allows free travel on First Eastern Countries services .

What is coming up in tomorrow video

First Bus WIFI only lets you use it for a small amount of time, after which it just disconnects you and says 'an error has occurred' I'm not sure how long it worked for you, but on First Manchester buses it only lasts a few minutes

Smart looking bus. It's a pity that all bus services don't offer the same.

You should try the 12 from Brighton to Eastbourne

Defo was a good bus and try and do X5 Bedford to Oxford

Is Swaffham where all of the locals have the same DNA?

Hi! How does this compare to train from PBoro to Norwich?

I do not know if you have already done this, but try TM Travel's 218 Sheffield to Bakewell, but beware the buses have horrible legroom

Try some buses in dorset

Comfortable but no toilets. Twice I got "caught out" on this bus and had to jump off at Kings Lynn, lol.

£2.00 is a good price for a 80 mile journey , however you can do the journey by car in 90 mins , not 3 hrs.

I wonder if the driver went all the way to Norwich

Nice video but did you change your hiar stile recently 😅

It's a shame that even with the £2 fare there doesn't seem to be many people using the bus.

Nice trip. A long trip on a bus with no toilet? I am guessing your pensioner's bus pass wasn't valid on this type of trunk service but £2.00!! was good value.

I think that they should at least put seat belts in those front seats...Thanks for the trip.

I have taken those buses several times and the POWER sockets NEVER work.

You do punish yourself! There again, 3h 15 mins isn't a bad journey time for such a long journey via all those places. The rival train journey is tediously long as well!

No its not a legal requirement on services buses to have seat belts

Whilst it seems excellent value of course, I'm unsure why a journey of 80 miles takes 3 and a quarter hours. Good looking buses though, shame about the USB points

You wouldn't need seatbelts on a standard everyday bus

@ 8.51 what's wrong with people.

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