| Depart | 07:23 | 07:30 | 07:53 | 08:00 | 08:30 | 17:15 | 17:15 | 17:44 | 18:14 | 18:35 |
| Arrive | 08:40 | 08:40 | 09:10 | 09:10 | 09:39 | 18:27 | 18:29 | 18:57 | 19:25 | 19:57 |
| Duration | 1:17 | 1:10 | 1:17 | 1:09 | 1:12 | 1:12 | 1:14 | 1:13 | 1:11 | 1:22 |
It is 99 miles from London to Leicester and averaging the trains below, it takes 1 hour 20 minutes. It is nearly twice as far and only takes 8 minutes longer.
| Depart | 07:25 | 07:30 | 07:55 | 08:00 | 08:25 | 17:30 | 17:35 | 18:00 | 18:05 | 18:30 |
| Arrive | 08:38 | 08:55 | 09:04 | 09:23 | 09:38 | 18:51 | 19:04 | 19:17 | 19:34 | 19:52 |
| Duration | 1:13 | 1:25 | 1:09 | 1:23 | 1:13 | 1:21 | 1:29 | 1:17 | 1:29 | 1:22 |
The Alton Line Users Association Website is here
The Desiro trains horns have been replaced after a year of discussion in April 2007 with low tone, broadband, more directional horns between 11:00pm and 7:00am between Alton anf Farnham.
Alton Station also serves as the London terminal for the Mid Hants Watercress Railway, a restored steam railway running between Alton and New Alresford, so called because it was used to transport fresh watercress to London. See our link page for more information. Please also note that contrary to various documents, the Watercress Line does not provide a commuter service between Alresford and Alton via Four Marks.
This SWT trains problem page is not strictly in our area but will give you links to more such sites about SWT.
The brilliantly named South Hampshire Rail Users Group can be found here
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Buses and Coaches
From September 1st 2008 some sense will return to the 64 and X65 bus routes. The buses will return to going from Guildford to Winchester as one route but they will only change their route number in Alton to satisfy the (not sensible) EU regulations. For more details see the link at the top of this page. Blame the EU for these unnecessary changes, confusion and disruption. Both routes have the same faults in that the last buses in the evening run too early and that most of the buses cannot carry wheelchairs (and heavy shopping bags etc may be hard to load). Only fold-up bicycles are allowed. The routes however give good access to Winchester and Guildford Stations. Both these stations have frequent trains to the rest of the country without necessarily passing through London.
Do note that neither in Winchester of Guildford is it advertised that the same bus makes the full journey. In both places the bus appears to stop in Alton. What a mess!
The 64 and X65 bus routes are the only routes passing through Alton which make a profit. All other routes are subsidised. Hampshire County Council spent £5.44 million on bus subsidies in 2006 and a further £566,000 on community transport. Although passenger journeys have increased by nearly half a million, if the buses do not get used, then ultimately the routes are withdrawn. Use it or lose it! Buses tend to be used more by young people and senior citizens.
From April 2008, all England residents over 60 can receive a free National Bus Pass.
This will be valid for five years and allow free bus travel anywhere in England
except for Express Coaches and some limited stop services. Go out and enjoy your surroundings but you can't be in a hurry!
For more details see the Spring 2008 EHDC Partners magazine. Do telephone EHDC on 01730 234101 if your pass does not arrive as expected.
Up to 11 million people are eligible for this pass. Councils claim that the £212m reimbursement from the government means that the scheme is underfunded by £60m. For the free journey to Winchester, Guildford or Farnham you can also save on the parking charges.
Click on this link to find out how you can apply for a free bus pass. http://www.easthants.gov.uk/allservices.nsf/servicesSearchView2/Travel+Concessions+Service+Description,+Standards+&+FAQs?OpenDocument
Do note that the bus pass is tied to the minimum pension age, so as this rises, the qualification age will also go up.
A pensioner has travelled from Land's End to John O'Groats using their bus pass.
Travel to London for free by taking the X65 to Guildford and then the 515 to Kingston from where you can take buses all over London. It will however typically take you three hours each way and you must be back in Guildford for the last bus which leaves at 18:35. For an overnight stay in London this may be a useful cheap alternative to the trains.
More than 800 older people a day suffer falls on buses, research from Help the Aged and Age Concern has shown. For over-75s, injuries caused by falls are generally a leading cause of death, while one in five older people who fall have to seek medical attention. Research has shown that nearly two million older people are concerned about falling while a bus passenger.
(Note that on Market days in Alton on Tuesdays, the 64 and other buses do not use the High Street when coming from the south but stop in Drayman's Way opposite Sainsburys.)
Trivial fact - local Stagecoach buses do not have the route number on the back.
Bus timetables are available from the Bus Station in Winchester, occasionally from Alton Station or can be downloaded online. This link gives you a list of all the bus routes passing through Alton. http://www.stagecoachbus.com/south/timetables.php?depart=alton&arrive=&service=0&x=0&y=0 You can also use the drop down to specifically display selected routes. If you ask, Winchester Bus Station also gives out an incredibly useful map of bus, train and ferry services in Hampshire to help in planning your travel. Alton station now also has some local bus timetables for distribution.
If a bus service runs at a frequency of every ten minutes or more often then the timetable is not so relevant (as on the London tube.)
Have you been stuck at a bus stop, when no bus arrives and you do not not know where it is? Is it delayed or is it cancelled? Some help is at hand if you have access to a mobile.
You can call the travel line on 0845 121 0180 which covers North Hampshire and Surrey or 0845 121 0170 for Hampshire Coastal regions. Please note that these two numbers are only manned from 9:00am to 17:00pm Monday to Friday. The roadside publicity on the bus stop also should have the travel line numbers you can call for the area you are in.
If the bus is late, the best strategy for hourly or more frequent services has been shown to wait for it. For less frequent services, try alternatives after 15 minutes.
Stagecoach enquiry operators will be able to advise you of any problems the services may be experiencing on the day you wish to travel. They keep in contact with all the local depots during the day so that they have information with reference to the services.
The Winchester bus station number is 01962 842283. This is particularly useful for real time updates for the 64 bus route. It is also manned outside usual working hours.
It is also possible to email support " at " stagecoachbus.com.(Replace the " at " with @)
Bus fares for any journey are hard to find out before you board the bus - unlike train fares which are on the internet and you can easily book them in advance. Do remember though that a dayrider gold for £7.30p gives you one days unlimited travel in Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex on Stagecoach buses. A megarider gold does the same for a week at £18. These could be seen as effectively maximum bus fares if you only use Stagecoach Buses.
Bus fares are relatively expensive. A day return fare from Alton to Farnham costs £5.30p in June 09. For the 20 mile return journey this works out at 26p per mile. At £1.04p per litre, a car which does 40 miles to the gallon has fuel costs of just under 12p per mile. Once you have the car, why use the bus? Two or more travellers in the car make even greater savings. Normal families on buses? It's a joke.
You can contact the central traveline on 0871 200 22 33 for help with integrated bus and train travel countrywide. Calls cost 10p. It is a central information office that supplies timetable information for all bus and train operators,but it will be able to supply you with local contacts if you have a particular problem. They are open fron 7:00am to 10:00pm everyday.
Traveline is also on the internet at:- http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk/se/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en&timeOffset=15
(It may be worth checking the web site recommendations against your own experience for optimum travel routing.)
Here is the countrywide link for Traveline.
Another such facility is called Transport Direct which is here:- http://www.transportdirect.info/TransportDirect/en/Home.aspx
txt4times is an SMS service which can text you the departure times of the next three buses from any bus stop in Hampshire. Each message costs 25p. Send your outgoing message of an 8 letter bus stop code and optional bus service number to 84268. Each bus stop will eventually have its code displayed on it.
To currently find them go to the Transport Direct website, click on Find a Place, then enter an address or postcode and zoom in on the maps till you get to 1:2000 detail. The stop codes will then appear after the bus stop symbols. All Alton codes start with hamgm. Here are some examples:-
| Normandy Street | hamgmpdm |
| Railway Station | hamgmtwp, hamgmwad |
| The Swan, High Street | hamgmjmg, hamgmjmd |
| Halifax, High Street | hamgmjap, hamgmjdm |
| Butts Road near bridge | hamgmdpj, hamgmdpm |
| Health Centre | hamgmwgd, hamgmwjw |
| Alton House Hotel | hamgmpwa, hamgmpwt |
| Sainsbury's, Draymans Way | hamgmjmp, hamgmjmw |
There are plans to eventually make the times real, not just from the timetable.
Good bus companies need feedback from their customers. They will get complaints and if sensible will act on them but they will also get constructive suggestions that will provide them with good market intelligence. Bus company managers cannot be everywhere, unlike other businesses. We can all be mystery travellers and help improve our local bus services by feeding back views to Stagecoach here.
A good practice guide for buses can be found here at Bus Users UK.
National Express Coach route SH031 passes through Alton on its way from Portsmouth to London Victoria. This is an easy and cheap way to get to Heathtrow airport. Its main disadvantage is that there is only one coach each way everyday with the London bound coach leaving Alton at 07:40am in Drayman's Way near to Sainsburys. You can book National Express here. The National Express telephone number is 08717 818181. The Routesixty discount card gives half price travel for all people over sixty.
Another way to travel to Heathrow is to get yourself to Winchester, and then take a National Express 032 coach to Heathrow from the coach stop near King Alfred's statue. There are about nine coaches a day each way.
If you want to travel cheaply from Winchester to elsewhere in the country then Megabus have coaches to many parts of the country departing from the park and ride.
You can download the Greater London bus map here.
Equivalent bus journey costs:-
| Britain £2.00 | Norway £2.71 | China 9p |
If you want to take a group out for a trip or visit, then minibuses can be hired from various organisations around Alton. You can search here for availability.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK is here.
Did you know that in remoter parts of the UK you can travel in the Postbus?
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Cycling
Alton has several useful cycle tracks but they could do with extensive improvement in places. Sustrans National Cycle Route 23 has a link into Alton.
In the area bounded by Hook, Alton, Guildford, Reading and Dorking, cycles may not join train services due to arrive in London between 07:15 and 10:00 inclusive, or departing from London between 16:45 and 19:00 inclusive. Fold-up cycles that can be taken on board as luggage and cycles left at stations are not restricted.
There has also been an increase in travellers with a bicycle stored at each end of their train journey. ( Consider buying two cheap second hand bicycles to use at each end of your journey? ) or buy a fold up bicycle?. The Alton recycling centre has a constant supply of bicycles.
Here is a link to excellent information about bikes on trains, folding and electric bicycles
and here is a largish paper to download about carrying bicycles on buses.
Here is a link to the Alton branch of the CTC.
Ten tips for cyclists
Why Cycle?
Increasing motor traffic is having a devastating effect in Hampshire, particularly in sensitive areas, such as AONBs.
Bikes, by contrast, are quiet, non-polluting and great fun.
Cycling is a more reliable, independent and convenient form of transport
By using a bike, you are helping to reduce the environmental damage caused by cars.
It is easy and door-to-door.
You will be healthier and fitter.
You will save on increasing fuel costs, vehicle taxes & maintenance, and park for free.
You can also avoid congestion, often arrive in less time and will arrive consistently on time.
The greatest share of the world's transport needs can be and are being met by human power. Bicycles outnumber cars on our planet by two to one. Every year bicycle production outpaces car production by three to one.
Bicycles use less energy per passenger mile than any other form of transport, including walking. This table contains rough average figures but more importantly ranks the different forms of transport.
| Transport Mode | Calories/Passenger Mile |
| Private Jet | About 11000 |
| Air | About 2210 |
| Car | About 1860 |
| Bus | 920 |
| Train | 885 |
| Walking | 100 |
| Cycling | 35 |
Bicycles take less energy to make than other types of transport. The energy and materials needed for one medium-sized car can produce one hundred bicycles. Bicycles are more space efficient than cars, as more people on bikes than in cars can move through a given lane in a given amount of time. Bicycles are only outranked by trains for this. Cars are the least space-efficient form of transport.
More than three-quarters of UK car commutes are less than five miles. This is a reasonable cycling distance. It is also the range in which internal-combustion engines get the poorest mileage and emit the most pollution. Using human power benefits the engine - the human body! The advantages of regular, sustained exercise are well documented, and cycling is a low-impact form of exercise (along with swimming).
Human power frees society from the costs of car dependency - injury, obesity, pollution and congestion. Pro-bicycle planning in numerous western European countries has had excellent results. Bikes account for 25% of all urban trips in Denmark and Holland. In these two countries, and in Germany, cycle owners outnumber non-owners. More and more large cities such as Seattle and San Diego have buses with exterior racks for commuter bicycles. Trains in Europe of course have cycle racks (but not always for rush hour use when demand is at a peak.)
90% of people questioned in a survey would consider cycling to work if they were able to clean up and look professional before going to their desks. Provision of showers, changing rooms and lockers would make cycling a more appealing option. Here is a link to the UK's largest bike park with such facilities.
Here is a link to a map of cycle route 23 Basingstoke to Alton and here are more cycle route maps in Hampshire. Finally here is a link to the bicycle tube map for London.
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Air Travel
London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports can be reached within an hour assuming the traffic is not held up in any way. This is only usually possible if you are travelling at anti social hours.
If you are aiming to catch a departing flight at normal times then allow at least two hours to be certain. If you are meeting someone from a flight then one hour is OK but take a mobile phone with you! By 2020 it is predicted that there could be a 40% increase in traffic over 2005.
By 2020 over a quarter of the UK's CO2 could come from planes.
Gatwick Airport can be reached by taking a train to Clapham Junction and then catching another to Gatwick Airport.
Live Gatwick flight arrivals and departures are published on the internet here
Instead of driving to Heathrow or taking a taxi, you can take the train to Woking and then use the Railair link buses.
Live Heathrow flight arrivals and departures are published on the internet here
The easiest airport to access from Alton is at Southampton. Either drive to junction 5 of the M27 or take the 64 bus to Winchester and then an eight minute train journey to Southampton Airport (Parkway) Station. Travelling by public transport of course means no parking charges. There are flights to over 200 worldwide locations. The airport has the shortest plane to train connection of any airport in Europe at just 99 steps.
Live Southampton airport flight arrivals are published on the internet here
For European journeys, it is really worth considering high speed trains like Eurostar. They are less influenced by weather, you can often travel seamlessly from city centre to city centre and they are far more environmentally friendly.
Aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of carbon emissions in the UK, rising annually at a rate of 3% and representing 13% of the climate change damage generated by the UK. To make air tax greeener, transfer passengers and cargo flights should pay. Long haul flights and higher polluting planes should pay more. Business flying plays an essential part in determining aviation's future as it currently represents 22% of UK passenger trips and a much higher percentage of airline profitability.
Can anyone really justify the five fold increase in carbon emissions per passenger over normal flying by using a private jet?
Low cost air travel is setting up unsustainable patterns of behaviour. People are buying property holiday property in France that they wouldn't otherwise and say flying to Prague rather than taking the train to Edinburgh for stag nights. Changing these patterns of behaviour is hard to do once they are established.
Air passenger duty, the recession and steadily increasing fuel costs are producing a fall in bookings. Air travel is very fuel hungry so long term the real cost of air travel will rise above inflation. Comparing 2009 with 2008, Stansted passengers are down 20%, charter flights in May are down to 688,100 from 865,900, 40 routes have been adandoned from UK airports and 30 airlines have collapsed in the past 18 months.
CO2 Emissions per Passenger
| Journey | Out & Back by Air | Out & Back by Train |
| London to Paris | 3.5 hours, 244 Kg/CO2 | 2.25 hours by Eurostar, 22 Kg/CO2 |
| London to Edinburgh | 3.5 hours, 193 Kg/CO2 | 4.5 hours, 24 Kg/CO2 |
| London to Nice | 4 hours, 250 Kg/CO2 | 8 hours by Eurostar+TGV, 36 Kg/CO2 |
| London to Barcelona | 4.5 hours, 277 Kg/CO2 | Eurostar then overnight sleeper, 40 Kg/CO2 |
| London to Tangier | 5 hours, 435 Kg/CO2 | 48 hours by Eurostar+TGV, sleeper trains & ferry, 63 Kg/CO2 |
Electric trains are more eco friendly than diesel trains (In the future, controversial biofuels may make a difference.)
When stationary usually with the engine still running, diesel trains also score badly. For alternatives to air travel look here.
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Taxis
There are taxi ranks at Alton Station and in the High Street. A link to taxi firms in Alton is here
As well as normal taxis, Chawton Cabs operate a special taxi to take wheelchairs. Here is a link to their website http://www.chawtoncabs.com/
The TrainTaxi web site gives details of taxi ranks or taxi offices serving each station in the UK.
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Footpaths
Here is a link to details about several good walks around our area. based on literary themes.
Alton Station is the starting point for the 21 mile Hangers Way long distance walk to the Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield. The route is well signposted with a tree logo on a green arrow. The best public transport route between the two end points is probably 38 bus to Petersfield from the Park, bus 67 from Petersfield to Winchester and then the 64 bus back to Alton.
Another long distance path, the Clarendon Way which goes from Guildford to Salisbury, also passes through Alton
Guided walking tours of Alton run every Wednesday and Saturday in the summer from The Alton Craft Centre in the market square and cost £2.00 for adults and 50p for children. They run in winter months by Appointment Only. They last up to two hours. For more information please telephone 01420 88568.
Comprehensive maps of footpaths and bridle ways for the whole of Hampshire can be found here. Click "Go to Maps" and then type in Alton as a place name.
Come and join a new, sociable walking group twice a month starting from the Selborne Arms Car Park at 10.30am on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month.
On the 2nd Wednesday of the month, the walk will be a gentle, amble through and round the village aimed at people looking to enjoy a gentle, sociable stroll.
The walk on the 4th Wednesday of the month will be an active walk taking people out of the village and through the fantastic countryside surrounding the village. This is aimed at walkers who want a mid-week longer walk to really stretch the legs.
Both walks are ideal for people looking to increase their physical activity levels and therefore improve their health, fitness and wellbeing. These walks form part of the national Walking the way to Health Initiative - click here for more information and the local Walking to Health scheme - found here.
For more information please contact Amanda Martin on 01420 511691.
Travel Schemes
Every Tuesday, passengers can board the Alton Dial-a-Ride minibus from surrounding villages to get to Alton. The Tuesday market in the High Street is still very much an attraction. Shoppers have time to browse through the market stalls, visit the larger supermarkets and still have time for that inevitable cup of tea or coffee during their 2 hour stay in Alton. Most stalls in the market are open every Tuesday from 8:00am until 3:00pm The minibus is easily accessible to wheelchair users via a ramp and has low floor access. Services such as Dial-a-Ride are vital in enabling non-car users to access market towns such as Alton. Contact Dial-a-Ride on 01256 462101 between 8:30 am and 12:00 noon or 2:00pm to 4:15pm Monday to Friday. Bookings can be made up to two working days in advance, ie book on Friday for the Tuesday market.
A Car Share Scheme has replaced the 205 bus. It connects the following villages - Farringdon - Upper Farringdon - Newton Valence - East Tisted - West Tisted - Monkwood to Alton. This is a bookable share taxi that operates on Tuesdays and Fridays arriving into Alton for 10am and returning around 12.30pm. Fares are £2 single (£1 for children under 14) and Farepass is accepted. Ring 0845 602 4135 for more information on how to book and to register.
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Last Change - January 2010
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