Hertfordshire and Essex Travel Advice 
by Kyle Grimwood, a disgruntled Year 12 student

Many people in both the lower school and sixth form have no choice but to take the bus or the train to school each day. Like I do, I take two trains a day at rather excessive cost and at rather inconvenient times to sit on a train for exactly 11 minutes just because I live in Harlow. 
 
I know that particularly for the sixth formers, the challenge of getting here in the morning is something that needs help to overcome. Seeing the confusion of 40 people at Harlow Town station on the first day of school trying to figure out the ticket they need and what train to get and being worried when the train turned up one minute late is something I don’t really want to see again next September. Thus, below are details of what I deem to be the best trains and tickets to get from surrounding stations, remember the person writing this has experience in using our great(ish) rail network. 
 
NOTE: All tickets are for the Adults fare considering most people that take the train to school are 16 and over and included are railcard discount fares with the 16-17 Saver card, mostly because they are very popular amongst sixth formers but also because I have one and it is totes wicked. For those under 16, the adult fare w/ discount is quite close to the child fare. 
 
Example: Harlow Town to Bishops Stortford Adult  
 
Adult Singles - £13 
Adult Anytime Return - £7.90 
 
Adult Singles w/ 16-17 Saver discount - £6.50 
Adult Anytime Return w/ 16-17 Saver discount - £3.95 
 
Ideal Train Times: 07:56/08:04* and 15:15/15:23 
 
Example: Sawbridgeworth to Bishops Stortford Adult  
 
Adult Singles - £9 
Adult Anytime Return - £5.20 
 
Adult Singles w/ 16-17 Saver discount - £4.50 
Adult Anytime Return w/ 16-17 Saver discount - £2.60 
 
Ideal Train Times: 08:11 and 15:15 
 
Example: Stansted Mountfitchet to Bishops Stortford Adult  
 
Adult Singles - £5.90 
Adult Anytime Return - £3.40 
 
Adult Singles w/ 16-17 Saver discount - £2.95 
Adult Anytime Return w/ 16-17 Saver discount - £1.70 
 
Ideal Train Times: 08:22 and 15:14 
 
All above trains reach Bishops Stortford BEFORE 8:30am to allow for sufficient time to get to school. 
 
* The 07:56-08:05 arrives before the 08:04-08:17 into Bishops Stortford (about 12 minutes earlier) so choose which one you wish to take. I will suggest the 07:56 if your journey includes: 
 
- going to Aldi 
- going to Aldi 
- going to Tesco 
- going to Aldi 
 
Commuting Tips: (from someone who has travelled for 7 weeks on the railways and knows a bit about them) 
 
- use the side entrance at Bishops Stortford (BS) station (not the big one with the WHSmith and ticket office) as this will lead to Warwick Road and the big Aldi store, the main entrance leads to a big block of flats and will entail an unnecessary walk around the station. 
- always check the Greater Anglia site in the morning to check if your journey is disrupted by strikes, engineering work, etc. 
- if you book tickets online, use Trainline but if you do, book on the day and not the night before so as not to incur a 50p booking fare for booking in advance. 
- trains south from BS use Platforms 2 and 3, Platform 3 for Stratford bound trains and Platform 2 for Liverpool St trains. 
- have your ticket on your phone or in your hand BEFORE reaching the ticket barriers, the number of people standing at the barriers looking for them is annoying. 
 
But what about those who take the bus?  
 
Sorry, I don’t know much about Hertfordshire buses, being from Harlow in Essex and not Bishops Stortford, and only a sniff about the Stansted to Harlow buses. Check your local bus site (Arriva for the 508/9/10 routes) for more detailed timetables, stops and fare info. What I do know though is below... 
 
The best stop to board the 508/09 buses is at the Interchange stop, a short 10-minute walk is then required to get to Herts and Essex by simply walking up Warwick Road. From Harlow Town Centre, the best 508 bus to get there leaves at 07:30 and on its return arrives at the Interchange at around 15:30. 

For a single from Interchange to 'Bus Station, Harlow' it costs £5.10, a price I feel is extortionate for a 45 minute journey which for 30 of it is filled with students who don't know a seat from a grab pole. A bus journey is often necessitated when the trains are shut but if you can, AVOID IT.

For all the other buses going to Stansted, surrounding areas, Sawbridgeworth and Harlow, I’d recommend the Riverside stop by the Wetherspoons, the Interchange stop at Bishops Stortford station or the Holy Trinity Church stop on South Street. 

​For those taking more local buses, the 308, 325 and 386 buses have a stop at the Three Tuns PH on the A1060 right next to Warwick Road, the opposite stop being a short walk down the A1060 to Pryors Close. Or you could just use the stop at the station if you're a bit lazy.

The bus stop outside Bishops Stortford station’s main entrance also caters to buses such as the Stansted-Harlow routes as well as supposedly all these below and may be a more attractive option instead of street stops. 
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I do hope that all this information is useful to some people and that this will save you time instead of hurriedly trapsing through Google trying to find information.  
 
All info is current as of November 2022 and may be subject to change. Check your local transport company's website for more up to date information in case this is out of date. 
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