12 hour Public Transport challenge

Objective Travel on as many different types of public transport as possible within a 12 hour window, starting and finishing in the same location.

Ground Rules For the purposes of this challenge, I set myself a few basic ground rules:

• The transport must run to a timetable
• It must be open to the general public and shared with strangers
• Private‑hire options such as taxis, e‑bikes/scooters don’t count

Mode 1: Floating Bridge from Cowes to East Cowes

My journey started at 06:30 in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The chain ferry is very unreliable, even needing another boat to push it at times, but this morning the trip went without a hitch. Journey time: 5 minutes
Cost: £1.50 (return)

Mode 2 - Double decker bus from East Cowes to Ryde

Not the most frequent or scenic bus ride on the island, but it avoids an unnecessary trip to Newport. There is not much traffic about at that time of the morning in the school holidays, so despite the driver stopping for a few minutes to catch up on the gossip with a woman sat waiting by the road, we arrived into Ryde right on time. Journey time: 27 minutes
Cost: £3.00

Mode 3 - Hovercraft from Ryde to Southsea

This was my favourite part of the journey. I’d not been on a Hovercraft before, and had always wanted to. I was struck by how there was no real difference between being on the land and the water. We did seem to bob about off southsea for a bit. I arrived in time to watch the flight before mine depart, and got covered in sand that was kicked up by the fans as it left. I’ll be finding it in my bag for several week left. Journey time: 10 minutes
Cost: £26.70 (including bus)

Mode 4 - Single Decker bus from Southsea to Portsmouth and Southsea Station

The hoverbus meets the hovercraft right next to the landing area. When I first read about the hoverbus, I had something more futuristic in mind. It stops at Portsmouth Harbour first, but I opted to ride it further into the city to use Portsmouth and Southsea instead. Journey time: 13 minutes
Cost: Paid for as part of hover fare

Mode 5 - Train from Portsmouth and Southsea to Gatwick Airport

Portsmouth and Southsea is a two level station, with trains to the harbour leaving from the higher platforms. The staff were handing out free water, which was a welcome touch. It has been almost a decade since I last caught a Southern train in this part of the much, and I don’t think they have been refurbished since then. Due to a track safety inspection outside of Horsham we picked up 8 minutes of delay that put me behind schedule. I knew that bagging the next mode of transport would be tight. Journey time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Cost: £21.20

Mode 6 - Automatic People Mover from Gatwick South Terminal to Gatwick North Terminal

I wasn’t sure whether to count this as a mode, but it does run to a timetable. Being very short on time due to my late arrival, I had to run through the terminal and along the travelator. I got a few suspicious looks from the people boarding when I didn’t get off at the other end. Journey time: 6 minutes
Cost: Free

Train from Gatwick Airport to East Croydon

By the time I made it back to the platforms, I had missed the train I’d planned to catch, but was in time to get a late running Thameslink that departed 7 minues later. I still think of these as being “new” trains, even though they have been in service for several years now.
Journey time: 15 minutes
Cost: £6.08

Mode 7 - Tram from East Croydon to West Croydon.

The tram stop is right outside East Croydon station, making this an easy connection. I was still running behind schedule at this point, and nearly caught the wrong tram, as mine pulled into a different platform to what the display said. I’d built in a 15 minute buffer at West Croydon station, so I was hopeful that It’d still get me there in time for the Windrush Line departure at 11:46. If you are not trying to add transport types, there are faster ways to travel between these two stations. Journey time: 8 minutes
Cost: £1.75

Mode 8 - Overground from West Croydon to Shadwell

I caught the Windrush line service that I’d originally planned with just over a minute to spare. The train itself was fairly empty, and it was an easy enough hop along to Shadwell. Journey time: 35 minutes
Cost: £2.30 (includes DLR)

Mode 9 - DLR from Shadwell to Royal Victoria

The interchange from Overground to DLR is straightforward and well signed. Unfortunately, in my haste to get to the platforms, I missed the oyster reader at ground level, and had to dash back down the stairs again to touch in. I also got on a train headed to Woolwich Arsenal by mistake, but I noticed in time to make an unscheduled change at poplar.
Journey time: 16 minutes
Cost: £2.30 (includes overground)

Mode 10 Cable Car from Royal Victoria to North Greenwich

The cable car is well signed from the DLR, and is hard to miss. This is more a tourist attraction than transport method, meaning that the staff do their best to ensure each group has their own car. This is great for selfies, but not so much to sticking to my timetable, and due to the number of people staying on to ride back to North Greenwich, I was waiting to board for a bit longer than I would have liked. I didn’t really enjoy the ride. It wasn’t so much the height, as the fact that the thing swayed quite a bit every time I moved. Journey time: 7 Minutes
Cost: £7

Mode 11 Catamaran (Uber boat) from North Greenwich to Canary Wharf.

I made the Uber Boat just in time, with the gangway being raised as soon as I boarded. The outside space was all full and inside was unbearably hot, but it does have a bar. Journey time: 22 minutes
Cost: £5.90

Mode 12 Underground from Canary Wharf to London Waterloo

A bit of longer walk here to transfer from the river to the tube, but it’s almost a straight line and pleasant enough. The Jubilee Line was very busy, to the point that I thought I might not make it off at Waterloo for having to clambour over mounds of luggage. Journey time: 9 minutes
Cost: £2.90

Train from Waterloo to Southampton

I made it to Waterloo in time to catch a Southampton bound train that left half an hour before the one I’d planned but instead opted to pick up some lunch and cold water. The free cider they were handing out was a bonus. The 14:35 left right on time, and the conductor had a great sense of humor which made the journey go more quickly. Somewhere between a Cross Country service not getting out of the way at Basingstoke and the volume of people heading to Winchester for a festival we picked up 10 minutes delay.
Journey time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Cost: £20.90

Mode 13 Car Ferry from Southampton to East Cowes

My train was never going to link up with the Quay Connect bus to the port, so I opted to walk to town quay instead. Red Osprey is quite an old boat now and due for replacement, but the seating is comfortable and at this time of year it’s nice to be able to get out on deck. It’s Cowes Week this week, so the harbour was extremely busy, and some yachts seemed to be straying a bit too close for comfort. The captain made liberal use of the horn. Journey time: 1 Hour
Cost: £13.20

Floating Bridge from East Cowes to Cowes

It’s a short walk from the ferry port back to the chain ferry and I just made it (I was the last person let on). I stepped off in Cowes at 18:09, having gone everywhere and nowhere at all. Journey time: 5 minutes
Cost: £1.50 (return)

Statistics

Time elapsed: 11 hours 39 minutes
Total time on transport:6 hours 48 minutes
Total cost: £112.25

Bonus badger

Can this be Beaten?

Yes. Red Funnel are shortly going to run electric hydrofoils in place of the RedJet, which would be an easy new boat type. I didn’t spend much time planning, and as such the route that I took was not the most efficient. A lot of wait time could be trimmed away.

I’ve counted some things as being distinct transport types that others might merge together. You might not want to count the overground if you see it as being branded mainline rail, or think that both bus types are essentially the same. This was just a bit of fun, and I went with what made sense to me. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how to best to define things if you want to give this a go yourself.