Stagecoach

Bus Services from Milton Keynes 

Most local bus services in Milton Keynes are now provided by Arriva. The yellow minibus fleet has now been largely replaced by bigger blue and cream buses. For more about the history of the local bus network click here.

Longer distance services to neighbouring towns and cities are provided by two competing bus operators - Arriva and Stagecoach. A  selection of their principal routes is shown on the diagram.

Short bus journeys can seem expensive, indeed rail can work out cheaper than buses for local journeys within Milton Keynes. However, bus fares tend to taper at longer distances and both Arriva and Stagecoach sell all day tickets.

Arriva

All Day Ticket

Many bus companies offer an All Day ticket although the name of the ticket may vary. Usually it is purchased on the bus and then is valid for the rest of the day on all the services of that company. There may be a few exceptions - typically All Day tickets cannot be used on London services.

What makes these tickets even better value, and this is not always advertised, is the ability to use the ticket on the services of more than one bus company. Often companies come to an arrangement with neighbouring companies to accept each others tickets. So if you buy your ticket from one company, find out what arrangements it has made with other companies.

Both Arriva Shires & Essex and Stagecoach East offer an All Day ticket and have agreements to accept some other companies tickets. Arriva offers an All Day ticket called an Explorer whilst Stagecoach sells a range of Dayrider tickets.

Arriva Shires & Essex Explorers are issued and accepted on all local Arriva buses. So, for example, it is possible to buy an Arriva Explorer on a local city bus and use it to travel  on the Arriva express service 100 between Aylesbury and MK.  Arriva Explorers are also accepted by most bus companies in Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire covers St Albans, Stevenage, Welwyn, Hertford & Bishop's Stortford. For timetable information in this area visit the Intalink timetable site. To obtain a bus map for Hertfordshire, email a request to feedback.ptu@hertscc.gov.uk - don't forget to include your postal address!

Stagecoach has a more complicated range of tickets. A Dayrider ticket sold on the X5 route is valid thoughout the Oxford to Cambridge route as well as other Stagecoach East routes and routes in Oxfordshire.

MK Day Saver

Arriva offers an all day ticket, for use on its MK network, for £3.90. While this ticket cannot be used for long distance trips, it can still offer significant savings to the local traveller intending to make more than a couple of journeys. Also note that Arriva's MK network does include some routes outside of the city such as service 32 to Buckingham. However, Aylesbury, Luton & Leighton Buzzard are not included.

MK Family Saver

A group version of the Day Saver ticket is available for £7.50. It covers a group of up to  2 adults and 4 children travelling together. 

NOTE: Some routes normally operated by Arriva on weekdays may be operated by other companies on Sundays and in the evening. Other companies do not sell the Day Saver but most will accept it.

Arriva in MK

Selected Weekday Bus Routes