What Are the Cheapest Ways to Commute in Bath?

SWOOP is all about making transport seamless and effortless, so we've looked into some of the best options to help you plan your trips without stress.

Commuting might not be something you need to do every day if you're able to blend some of your hours remotely - but being stuck in hours of traffic on the M4 or driving around Bath city centre aimlessly trying to find a rare-as-gold-dust parking space can make it a slog!

Cheap Travel to Bath

The most affordable way to get to Bath from elsewhere in the UK is by coach - although it's also the slowest, so it depends on how much time you are prepared to spend travelling.

However, if you work in Bath and live in London and travel home once a week, coach travel is certainly a way to cut back on your expenses.

A one-way ticket from London to Dorchester Street, Bath, costs £17 and takes just under three hours to arrive. Coaches from London depart from Victoria Station, and on your return, you can hop on the tube with links to the Circle, Victoria and District TFL lines.

You can walk into Bath city centre from the main bus station, queue for a taxi, wait for the next bus service, or book a Bath taxi to collect you.

Fast Commutes to Bath

If you need to minimise your travel time, you can take a train from London in about one hour and twenty minutes, arriving at Bath Spa Train Station within half a mile of the city centre.

Trains are the quickest option, but you should book as far in advance as possible to avoid paying peak charges - tickets can get extremely expensive!

A rail card is advisable if it's a regular journey. Most train services leave London about every half an hour, although an advance ticket (released around 8-10 weeks beforehand) is nearly always the cheapest. Once advance tickets sell out, the costs double or triple, so it's important to get in early or travel at off-peak times.

You can catch a train to Bath from Paddington Station and verify ticket prices and times via National Rail.

Commuting to Bath by Car

Unless your employer has a staff car park, it's wise to be cautious about commuting to Bath because parking is limited and costly.

However, you can drive, and a trip from London takes around 115 miles and two and a half hours. That said, traffic on the M25 and M4 can get heavy, so you should check the traffic reports before leaving to avoid getting stuck.

Driving is a little faster than the bus, although slower than the train and will likely cost a similar price in fuel and parking (plus the congestion toll if you travel through London).

Commuting to Workplaces in Bath

Now we've covered the various ways to get to Bath; let's think about a more local commute and the most reasonable ways to get from your front door to your desk.

The right commuting options depend a little on where you work - Wessex Water, for example, on Claverton Down Road, has around 2,100 employees and parking facilities. You can either drive and park or request a SWOOP car from your home that will deliver you to work in around eight minutes from Bath city centre.

However, most of the big office buildings in Bath don't have parking or offer restricted spaces in underground car parks that are reserved or need to be pre-booked.

Unfortunately, there is no metro or underground in Bath, so you have three options if you live nearby or arrive in Bath via the Park and Ride or train.

Bus Commutes

There are a fair few bus routes in Bath, with 53 different journeys and 76 bus stops, although it's worth checking how close they are to your place of work and home.

If you're heading to the university (Claverton Down campus, not far from Wessex Water), you'll want to jump on one of the 'U' services. A Unibus is exactly what it sounds like, and you can travel on the U1 between the University of Bath, the city centre and Oldfield Park.

Bath residents in Combe Down, to the south, will need to use the Bathcity Number 2 service, which departs from outside the Hadley Arms and stops at North Parade with about a ten-minute journey.

From there, it's a six-minute walk into the city centre - not a big trek, but less than ideal if the weather isn't on your side!

Walking in Bath

Bath is often described as a city you can walk in, but the reality is that only applies to visitors exploring the attractions within the city centre. There are plenty of places much further out that simply wouldn't be manageable on foot.

If you're working in the city, for example, Oldfield Park is about a fifteen-minute walk, but residents in Widcombe would need to leave over half an hour to walk into the centre. The same journeys take five and nine minutes respectively by car, so it could be better to book a cab!

Booking a Bath Taxi

Taxis might be an easier way to commute into Bath, Somerset, particularly if you live in one of the surrounding residential areas and needed a taxi in Chippenham for example.

In this guide, we've touched on a few of the biggest public transport challenges in Bath and have made it our mission to turn that around with an innovative, modern ride-hailing solution to rival those in any other city.

Ordering a taxi in Bath via SWOOP is easy. Simply order a local taxi via the app and pay your driver direct. All drivers are local authority vetted and can travel anywhere within Bath and Somerset or further afield to Bristol, a Swindon taxi or even major airports.

Download the SWOOP taxi app and give it a try - we guarantee you'll never look back.