Missing buses
How to get to and from Colinsburgh or Kilconquhar when the bus is heading the wrong way...
If you are thinking of using the ideas on this page to make a journey that involves changing buses then you probably need to buy a Dayrider Ticket that allows you to get on and off buses at will within a given area and make as many journeys as you like throughout one day?
There is a ticket that will let you take a bus towards Leven and then change at Upper Largo to a bus going towards St Andrews and that's a North East Fife Dayrider which costs £8.50 for an adult day ticket from Sunday 31st March 2024.
If you want to go in the opposite direction and change buses in Elie to get to Leven then from Sunday 2nd June you can use the same North East Fife Zone ticket - as the zone expands to include Leven and Glenrothes once again as shown in the map.
Beware that a number of 95 buses miss out Colinsburgh and Kilconquhar.
Usually there is a bus in the opposite direction at about the time of the missing bus - so you may have to travel in the wrong direction first to get to where you are going - or travel beyond where you want to go and catch a bus back in the opposite direction.
It can be useful to plan your journey on the Stagecoach Journey Planner.
But, here are some of our thoughts on what to do about the missing buses:
95 routes through or bypassing
Colinsburgh and Kilconquhar
Missing Weekday 07:02/07:07 towards Anstruther
There is a 95 at 07:09 from Kilconquhar and 07:14 from Colinsburgh towards Leven.
You should be able to get off the 07:09/07:14 95 towards Leven at Dumbarnie Links and cross the road for an X60 towards Anstruther - from 29th July 2024 you have 4 minutes on the timetable to do this. This X60 gets you to Anstruther at 07:50 and St Andrews at 08:10.
If you are going all the way to St Andrews and miss the X60 connection stay on the 95 probably just to Upper Largo but there is time to go even as far as Leven, arriving at 07:35 where you can change to an X58 departing at 07:45 and arriving at St Andrews at 08:20. If the 95 is running late you will want to change to the X58 by crossing the road earlier on your route (at Upper Largo for example) - and you still arrive in St Andrews about the same time as if the missing 07:02/07:07 had been running...
Missing Schoolday 14:39/14:44 towards Leven
There are buses towards Anstruther at 14:02 and 15:02 from Colinsburgh and at 14:07 and 15:07 from Kilconquhar.
If you get on the 95 that departs St Andrews at 13:25 and only realise that this is the bus that misses out Kilconquhar and Colinsburgh once you are on the bus, then you can stay on the 95 to Upper Largo arriving at 14:37 and cross the road for the 95 at 14:53 and your 15:02/15:07 arrival in Colinsburgh/Kilconquhar. (If the original 95 is running late then crossing the road at somewhere like Dumbarnie Links will save time.)
But if you are travelling from St Andrews you can plan ahead and catch the 13:15 X58 arriving at Upper Largo at 13:38 and cross the road for the 95 at 13:53 and arrive at 14:02/14:07 in Colinsburgh/Kilconquhar. And, even if you wait for the 14:15 X58 from St Andrews you will still get to Colinsburgh/Kilconquhar at 15:02/15:07.
Streetview of crossing in Upper Largo
This is a general rule, that if you don't mind waiting 15 minutes at Upper Largo, you can get to Colinsburgh/Kilconquhar quicker by catching an X58 from St Andrews and changing at Upper Largo than waiting for a direct 95.
If you are starting in Colinsburgh/Kilconquhar and wanted to catch the missing bus towards Leven then it's best to plan ahead and catch the 14:02/14:07 to Elie arriving at 14:13 and cross the road for the 95 at 14:26 - this bus is running fast to get to Leven for 14:47 so that the driver and bus can be used for a local school service in Leven.