Having a car might seem essential in Diptford, but here are some alternatives that may come in handy.
Buses
There are no longer any scheduled buses through Diptford.
The nearest bus service is Countrybus Service 91 between Totnes and Plymouth which calls at Avonwick on Fridays only. Click here for timetable.
South Brent has a good bus service to Totnes, Torbay, Ivybridge and Plymouth on the Stagecoach Gold service, and a sporadic service to Exeter and Plymouth on the X38.
There are also services to Totnes, Kingsbridge, Dartmouth and Salcombe from Harberton and Halwell.
Falcon express coach to Bristol
The 'Falcon' express coach service runs from the Marley Head overbridge to Bristol Airport and Bristol city centre via Exeter and Taunton. The service runs 20 times a day, both day and night. Tickets can be bought from the driver or on-line. Standard fares to Bristol are £27 single/£31 return; fares for under 25s, over 60s and concessionary pass holders are £18 single or £20.66 return. The journey to Bristol is about 3 hours. There is usually a loo on board the coach, and a wireless Internet service.
The Falcon also runs to Plymouth and can be used for local journeys.
Ring and Ride
Ivybridge and District Community Transport offers a 'ring and ride' service that covers Diptford with their voluntary car scheme. This is available for frail, elderly, rurally isolated or people with a disability who find public transport inaccessible or difficult to use. There is more information at their website. Telephone (01752) 690 444.
Car Share
- Links drivers and passengers together to share their journey
- Reduce congestion and pollution
If you are a car user and could give a lift to someone or need a lift why not visit and register with Carshare Devon?
Carshare Devon is a free journey matching website which offers you the opportunity to find people travelling the same way as you. Simply register, add a regular or one-off journey you make and search over 11,200 members to find a match.
Trains
Sadly, trains through Diptford parish ceased in 1963. The nearest stations are Totnes and Ivybridge.
Totnes has the most frequent services, with about 80 trains a day including direct intercity services to Cornwall, Exeter, London, Bristol, Birmingham, the north of England and Scotland, plus the sleeper to London, as well as stopping services running as far as Penzance and Cardiff. Here's a summary of direct services.
Ivybridge has fewer services, mostly stopping services between Cornwall and Bristol, but does have limited intercity services to London. Ivybridge does have the advantage of a free car park, making it a useful starting point for trips to Plymouth or Exeter. Here's a summary of direct services - change at Totnes, Newton Abbot or Plymouth for more services.
Buying tickets
In general, you must buy tickets before boarding the train: the only exception is if ticket facilities are unavailable at the station.
You can buy tickets at Totnes station. There is a ticket machine on platform 1 (ticket office side) and the ticket office should be open:
- Monday to Friday – 07:25 to 16:10
- Saturday – 07:25 to 15:45
- Sunday – 10:50 to 18:25
There are no ticket facilities at Ivybridge, so if you travel from there you can buy a ticket on the train.
Despite what you may hear, tickets bought at the station are usually the same price as tickets bought online.
Buying a ticket in advance for a fixed train is usually - but not always - cheaper than buying a flexible ticket or buying a ticket on the day of travel, and both advance and flexible tickets are available from ticket offices as well as online.
Trainline isn't cheapest
Beware of additional booking fees if you book online: it is almost always cheapest to book tickets directly from a train operating company, such as Great Western Railway (trains to Cornwall, Bristol, Cardiff and London) or CrossCountry (trains to the north), who do not charge booking fees. Companies such as Trainline charge extra booking fees for exactly the same tickets.
You can check train times and fares for the whole country at www.nationalrail.co.uk, and the site will direct you to a train company where you can buy tickets with no booking fee.
Splitting Tickets
Put away that scalpel: splitting tickets just means buying two or more tickets instead of one for a train journey. Surprisingly, it can actually be cheaper to book two tickets for one journey: for example, if you are travelling from Totnes to Bristol, it can be cheaper to buy separate tickets from Totnes to Taunton and Taunton to Bristol (particularly for single tickets or day returns). If you buy tickets this way there is no need to leave or change trains at the station where you split the ticket - but the train you take must be scheduled to stop there.
There are online services, such as RailEasy or SplitMyFare that will split tickets for you: they will charge a fee to do this, but it may still be cheaper than booking one ticket.
Railcards
There are a wide range of Railcards that give discounts on train tickets. The most well-known are the Family Railcard for up to two adults and children; the Senior Railcard for the over 60s; 16-25 Railcard; and Disabled Persons' Railcard (you are eligible if you have hearing aids!). You may not know that there are also the 26-30 Railcard, Two Together Railcard and Jobcentre Plus Railcard, among others. All can be found at GWR's website, including the Devon and Cornwall Railcard that is available only from Great Western Railway and stations in the region.