General Discussion
Hi,I'm going to be moving to dawlish before the year is out and would like to know how good is the public transport, as i do not have a car,also
how much is the bus fare between dawlish and teignmouth? and how much is the train fare? Also can you get a weekly pass for the bus and train,if you can how much are they?
Thanks Andy.
Hello Andy.First of all the train fare.That I do not know, but if you go to stagecoachbus.com and then click on timetables, highlight south devon and then click go, you will get a list of routes.Highlight 2/2A, click on timetable from May 27th.2013.Timetable will come up.For trains you can go to Networkrail.co.uk and then click timetables.Click on Route list, a route list comes up.Click on Table 135.Table will appear. Or go to FGW website that might be quicker.Train ride is about 7 minutes. Sorry but dont know fare.It cannot be much as dawlish to teignmouth is not far. And you get steamers sometimes.
Andy, we travel to Dawlish every year to spend our summer holidays. The Bus fare between Dawlish and Teignmouth is extremely high for the length of journey. The train fare is £2.40 single or a return for £2.70 (off peak fares) I would suggest as stephen15 has that you visit the First great Western website (www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk) to see if they do a weekly travel ticket. alternatively you should call 08457 000 125 which is the FGW customer service line. Train journey is one of the best in the world - through the 5 tunnels and along the coast. Hope you enjoy Dawlish.
Mike
Public transport in and around Dawlish
Return bus fare Dawlish/Teignmouth is now about £5.00 (Yes, that is £5.00!!!).
£7.50 return fare Exeter/Dawlish.
Take the train - much, much cheaper. However, the trains do not run as often as the buses and seem to have a haphazard timetable. So, it is very advisable to check the timetables before you travel. The other thing is, is that the trains can be quite crowded this time of year ( only two coaches in the tourist season!. Travelled to Newton Abbot by train from Dawlish the other day. Caught a late morning train. Two carriages. Packed like sardines. Reminded me of the London underground in the rushour. Mind you - when we got to Teignmouth loads of passengers got off..........)
Those of us who are lucky enough to live here qualify for a Devon and Cornwall railcard. Costs £10 for 12 months. Entitles the cardholder to a third off off peak fares within the two counties. Also other types of tickets available which give discount travel for groups of people. Check.
The £7.50 bus ticket is a day south west 'explorer' ..allows you to travel all Devon ..so can go on from Exeter to Barnstaple ..or east to Sidmouth, west Bude, Cornwall and south to Plymouth for £7.50 >> fares >
http://www.stagecoachbus.com/south-west-dayrider.aspx
Yes I agree that the explorer ticket is good value for money but only if you want to go a long way/get on and off. (Pretty certain though that there is a rail ticket that allows for on/off travel - think it's called a Day Rover) And I accept that buses go to destinations that the train does not.
However, short distance prices for bus travel are, imho, extortionate.
Hi,Thanks for the replies so far,another question i have is how big is the sainsburys on exeter road and does anybody know how the taxi fare would be back to dawlish from there?
Thanks Andy.
Sainsburys isnt the biggest store that you can get but adequate. I do a lot of shopping there and is far superior to the co-op.
The 'Dawlish Townservice' #186 which is run by Beacon Bus, runs to and terminates at Sainsburys (Mon - Sat) and is a lot cheaper than a taxi, which in my opinion, rip you off for a short distance.
As for Stagecoach Bus vs Trains, the trains are cheaper, faster, and more reliable.
You can get to Exeter in 15 minutes compared to nearly an hour by bus.
Hope this helps.
Hi,Once again thanks for the replies,nobody has tried to put me off from moving to dawlish so it must be a great place to live,i know it's a nice place to visit as i have done on several occasions and is a lot different to where i live now in lovely leeds
Thanks Andy.
It is a lovely place to live, but dont be fooled. If you are moving here from Leeds and are worried about the cost of bus fares, then Dawlish is not the place for you. Here are a few truths you may wish to consider.
No Jobs
What jobs there are are usually seasonal and minimum wage
House prices only one step down from London
Rental property top rate as you would expect
All Fuel and utilities probably the most expensive in the country. Petrol and Water certainly are.
Broadband crap 1meg if your lucky
No cable network
Beware if your not DIY orientated as we have lots of unreliable dodgey so called trades folk.
Poor quality housing being bulit everywhere which in turn will bring many undesirables into town and will definatly over stretch the towns infrastructure. ie, Doctors, community hospital, schools, public transport and road traffic
Most important - Three levels of local authority that dont listen, dont care and couldnt organise a Pi** up in a brewery. Oh and have no money.
Nobody will put you off as we all look foward to taking your money in one form or another, just dont make the same mistake dozens do every year and end up having to go home.
Best of Luck
Hi andylufc.
The first thing negative thing you should know about Dawlish is Fredbasset. Read other topics on this site about any subject you like and he will moan about anything, wind up merchant. Total Tw-t.
I moved here 2 years ago having lived in Wiltshire and prior to that Bucks & Somerset in major towns. It's great, holiday feel 24/7 while getting on with normal life without all the crap of city lfe. No traffic (except for one on going fiasco at the moment) compared to large towns or cities.
There is no less jobs than anywhere else in the country. National problem.
House prices are on par with Wiltshire and nowhere near London prices. Fuel is about the same as most places. I have 5.5 meg broadband. I know some very good tradesman. The council is without doubt the best I have ever known (but with some problems)
Basset obviously has'nt lived anywhere else so can't compare. There is loads to do, good parks, good facilities, brilliant bus service (but expensive), cheap trains, great people (except Basset). Almost a pothole free zone.
Out of season you have the place to yourself, good fishing & everything the sea has to offer. most things at hand if not Exeter or Newton Abbot will have it.
Best place I have lived and the best move I have made.
Now just wait to see Bassets comments and you will see what I mean.
Good luck if you do move and hope you are made as welcome as I & my family have been. Which I thank the people of Dawlish for.
I moved two months ago with a job lined up... In exeter, not a bad commute on a par with nearest large town where I've moved from nothing like city traffic at all, trains have been more reliable than there too so far! Apart from my missing cat it's been fab so far! :) only things I've noticed is shopping options are a lot less varied than I'm use to but even so I've still found everything I've been looking for and although i prefer to shop local, there's always exeter 20 mins on the train! The only other thing is there isn't much choice of places to eat out at night without driving, but still on par with where I was before with friendlier people and much nice surroundings though!
Hi,Thanks Digby for that and also fredbassett for his negative comments,i think he should move to leeds then he would have somthing to complain about,the public transport is not that good and it's not that cheap either, from where i live to the city centre which is 5 mins by bus costs £2.10 one way.If i do move down to dawlish i would use the train i think more than the bus as it sounds cheaper and quicker.Jobs are also hard to come by and the council are hopeless,one thing that i have not seen in dawlish when on my hols is dog sh*t,up here nobody seems to clear it up so you have to be careful where you walk.
Thanks Andy
Digby you are spot on your comments made me smile very good and i am so pleased you are enjoying this gorgeous corner of Devon.
I think you are being to hard on Fredbasset. I think he has some valid points. But then again I make the mistake of comparing Dawlish to where I lived in the USA for 30 years, but that's me, and it's hard to make changes from being able to get anything you want to not being able to get things that I have been used to.
As the saying goes " I've made my bed so I had better lie in it " Don't be to hard on Fred I know how he feels sometimes. He dispices bureaucracy and the stupid decisions made by a local council that don't know thier backsides from thier front. We all know that anywhere one lives there are going to problems, but living in a small town like Dawlish the problems are magnified.
We are very lucky to live in a place like Dawlish it has its problems but you have to decide whether your glass is half empty or half full. I arrived here in the early 80s completely by chance and made a decision to stay it took me 1 hour to decide and i have been here ever since. At the time i hated where i lived and Dawlish was a breath of fresh air nothing has really changed ok ther are less shops and the strand has changed but the quality of life hasnt there are lots of worse places to live so look at the positives and enjoy life.
@Andylufc. it was only a matter of time before fb came on this site and tried to put you off.anyway i have come on holiday now since i was 16( i am now 54), and i love the place. i`ll be back july 4-july 20th. ok i admit it i am a train mad person. i was down here recently looking for a job in and around exeter(i live in winchester). the people here are very nice and they always make you feel welcome. 
Just for your info as you obviously know very little about Dawlish having only been here yourself for 2-years. Im not a born and bred bumpkin with a grudge. I was born not far from Andy in Huddersfield. Here are the following places I have lived and worked in and consider my self to be very lucky to have done so. Manchester, Stoke on Trent, Abingdon, Morecambe, Vasteras - Sweden, Vassa - Finland, Dusseldorf and Saarbrucken - Germany.
You seem to have missed the bit where I said Dawlish is a lovely place to live which it is, if you can afford it, and yes there are plenty of worse places to live.
What I was trying to do was offer some things to watch out for to a fellow Yorkshire man who if worried about the cost of bus fares may find life here difficult, thats all.
As not only a resident of Dawlish but the owner of more than one business in the area I wish I had a pound for every poor couple that I have met over the years that have moved here from the midlands and up north only to find they cannot make ends meet financially and have come in my shop to say goodbye as they have no choice but to go back.
The other point your missing is that my comments only refer to Dawlish itself not Exeter, Newton Abbot or any other surrounding area. Perhaps if you know of any well paid job vacancies with the same benifits as city jobs in Dawlish you could list them on here so we can all apply for them. I have four grown up kids all educated and working in and around and I would guess none of them are on more than £7.50/hour, with no holiday or sick pay, forced to work bank holidays and if the euro working directive of 37 hours/week was in in force they wouldnt be able to manage.
As for being a Tw** perhaps we should meet one day and see if you want to call me that to my face.
Fred
You are quite right I don't know much about Dawlish, I'm learning every day and enjoying what I learn.
Yes you are right again, I have missed what you said that Dawlish is a lovely place to live, for that I appologise.
I have also had more than one business and still have three and all have been very successful, some say I'm lucky, I say the harder I work the luckier I get.
I do realise your comments relate to Dawlish and not Exeter or Newton.
As for the rates of pay and low wages you must be aware that this seems to be a national problem. My 2 daughters are both in work in Dawlish on low pay which is far better than the struggle they had when living in a city.
We need people to take risks get off their backsides and start a business as you and I both have. I started as a one man band and ended up with 30 employees before I sold my last one. If other people did the same that could be 30 people off the streets in Dawlish not sit at home on benefits. I started my first business purely because I didn't know where the next meal was coming from so I had a go. Sadly people have given up and keep reading negative crap that doesn't help anyone.
What I get sick of is all the negative comments that appear on this site when the whole country is suffering. It's about time people realised Dawlish is a good place to be.
With your experience in various places of residence you must have seen the problems with traffic congestion, homelessness, anti social behavior, immigration, £7 or even £8 per day to park your car, potholes like a mine field etc etc.
Manchester or Dawlish that is the question.
I hate all the bullsh-t that comes out of local authorities, there is lots of decisions I dissagree with, the waste of public money, but Fred, life is too short. People can protest all they like they won't change anything.
If it makes you happy yes I'll meet up and call you anything you like, I'll face anybody, but why, what's the point, as I said lifes too short. Nothing to prove.
Lets hope Andy moves down and is successful in what ever he persues. I have been and I hope you have.
Why is it that telling the truth is considered as being negative?
It is an unfortunate consequance but Fred IS telling the truth.
OK, Dawlish IS a wonderful place to live, but what work is there available locally, especially one which comes with a decent wage?
We ALL moan about the water charges, so why pretend it is not expensive, etc etc?
FB was telling the truth and NOT being negative.
No point in 'painting over the cracks' as it will come as a shock when moving here, then you will be asking,
"Why didnt anyone mention that it was so expensive to live here and there are no well paid local jobs?"
By all means Andy, come and live here but be prepared for a bit of a rough ride to begin with.
I hope it works out well for you.
Well I have been to Leeds recently and have not been since 1980s..by its mixed residents is now like being in another country!, at least Dawlish is still Dawlish.
I stuck the negativity and small minded people of Dawlish for 10 years ..but pleased I moved out two years ago.. it was not easy selling the house. You can see how the small shops are sick of it and new traders choose a different town ...HSBC and Barclays got out too,
My tip to Andy is...enjoy the coast and lovely Devon ,...dont get involved in anything and the polotics of the town ..they are not keen on people that move in with ideas.
Andy.
You will find 4 or 5 LUFC fans/supporters frequenting the 'Legion' in Park road, for when you move down. 
Leeds fans are everywhere these days,at the moment i only live 2 mins away from the stadium and i can see the east stand from my back garden.
On another note how much are the the water charges per month on average as everyone seems to mention them,at the minute my monthly water bill is £51.40.
Thanks Andy.
It will depend on the size of the property and whether your on a meter, most new builds are water meters
Dawlish, it's a great place to live. I have a good job in Exeter with an easy 25 minure commute to work along a scenic road. We have a supermarket and the town centre is starting to look great after its revamp. There's a Blue Flag beach and walking on Dartmoor isn't far away. Haldon Forest is within easy reach. And we have a great city, Exeter, on our doorstep with all its work, leisure and shopping opportunities.