World’s longest bus route, 20,300 miles from London, England to Calcutta, India!

Earlier today, my casual scroll on twitter brought forward this gem from yesteryear – The world’s longest bus route, which ran between London, England and Calcutta, India, a whopping 20, 300 miles! And if that wasn’t mind-boggling enough, the bus route was only part of the journey which continued all the way to Sydney, Australia! Wow.

World’s longest bus route: London-Calcutta-London

The longest bus route in the world spanned 20,300 miles, across 11 countries (at the time), and was covered 15 times between 1968-1976, on a luxurious Double-Decker bus nicknamed ‘Albert’. The trip from London to Calcutta cost £145 for the overland portion of the full itinerary to Sydney, Australia. The route from one such odyssey in 1972-73;

Overland:

London (England)
Dover (England)
Zeebrugge (Belgium)
Antwerp (Belgium)
Frankfurt (West Germany)
Munich (West Germany)
Salzburg (Austria)
Vienna (Austria)
Zagreb (Yugoslavia)
Belgrade (Yugoslavia)
Sofia (Bulgaria)
Istanbul (Turkey)
Ankara (Turkey)
Trabzon (Turkey)
Tehran (Iran)
Mashhad (Iran)
Herat (Afghanistan)
Kandahar (Afghanistan)
Kabul (Afghanistan)
Rawalpindi (West Pakistan)
Lahore (West Pakistan)
New Delhi (India)
Agra (India)
Allahabad (India)
Banaras (India)
Calcutta (India)

Connecting flight to Rangoon, Burma,  then a combination of train, ferries and streamers to Perth, Australia

Rangoon (Burma)
Bangkok (Thailand)
Penang (Malaysia)
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Singapore
Perth (Australia)
Sydney (Australia)

High Road Oz states that Albert completed 4 trans-Australia crossings and 15 overland adventures between India and Britain between 1968 – 1976;

ALBERT’s first journey departed from the GPO in Martin Place, Sydney, on Tuesday 8th October 1968, arriving in London 132 days later on Monday 17th February 1969..

..Over the years ALBERT made more than 150 border crossings without ever being held up for serious scrutiny, nor was a bribe ever proffered to smooth the passage; this at a time when other vehicles were all too often seen marooned at check-posts with neither body panels nor owners.

The bus earned universal respect as a friendly ambassador to all countries visited and was always welcomed and smiled upon by officials and the countless friends made along the way for whom the name A-L-B-E-R-T was one they could read, remember and say – in any language!

Here is the picture of one such incredible tour from ’72-73, courtesy High Road Oz;

Passengers at Victoria Coach Station, London, boarding the first run of the world’s longest coach route, between London and Calcutta, 15th April 1957. The journey to Calcutta takes five days and the single fare is 85 pounds. Passengers include two ex-firemen emigrating to Australia, as well as Indians and Australians returning home. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Other sources confirming the world’s longest bus route;

• Shutterstock Images of London to Calcutta bus trip from 1957
• The New York Times Archives

The currently active longest bus route in the world pales in comparison, only 3,850 miles connecting Lima, Peru and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

So glad I came across the London-Calcutta route, a hat-tip to the real road warriors!