All aboard to learn about coastal buses in Northumberland

An Arriva X18 Coast and Castles bus at Craster. Picture by Iain Robson

On the trip, which departs Alnwick Bus Station at 12.02pm on Wednesday, April 26, and stops at Longhoughton, Craster, Beadnell, Seahouses and Bamburgh, people will be able to learn all about public transport in the area so that they can confidently tell their customers how to travel around this summer. People can join at any point along the route.

Arriva will be providing a light lunch at Sunnyhills Farm Shop at Belford before catching the bus back down the coast, arriving into Alnwick at 4pm. To reserve a place, contact Amy Walker on [email protected] or 0191 5204231.

Staff from Arriva and the AONB Partnership will be on hand throughout the trip, providing information about routes, tickets, discounts and the Arriva App. They will be joined by award-winning B&B owner, Jeff Sutheran, from Seahouses, who will be explaining how a good knowledge of local transport can be beneficial to business.

Jeff is also the chairman of the North Northumberland Tourism Association (NNTA), which will also be unveiling new journey planners on the trip that will be available for people to take away.

He said: “Surveys have shown that providing easy-to-follow journey-planning information is a great way of encouraging people to take a car-free day or explore somewhere new.

“There will be a journey planner for each of the major towns and villages in the north of the county and they will be available free of charge to accommodation businesses and to download from websites. The planners have been funded by a grant from the AONB Sustainable Development Fund.”

Chris Curtis, commercial manager at Arriva North-East, said: “Using the bus is a great way to explore the Northumberland coast. Giving people working on the frontline in the tourism industry the knowledge to confidently give travel advice to visitors is the aim of the day.

“Arriva North East has listened to feedback and is reducing the cost of some short journeys along the coast. The summer timetable is also being extended to offer an hourly service along the coast between Alnwick and Belford from the beginning of May until the end of September.”