Jane's Midlife Journey

Bournemouth Bus Rally is an annual celebration of all things bus which takes place in Kings Park, Boscombe on the outskirts of Bournemouth. There are around 50 vehicles in attendance for visitors to admire, plus heritage rides around Bournemouth and stalls selling mainly bus related products.

How to get to Bournemouth Bus Rally

Kings Park is 2 miles north east of Bournemouth along the A338.

By Bus

There are several buses which stop nearby: Buses No 22 and X3 stop at Kings Park. Buses, 1a/1b,/1c and m2 stop at the Sovereign Centre. This is a slightly further walk, but these services are more frequent. In addition, the organisers run a feeder bus service from the station. This is likely to be on a heritage bus, so much more fun than the dull old m2…

The nearest train station is Pokesdown, around a 15 minute walk away. Turn left out of the station and most of the walk will be through the park.

Parking

There is some free parking in Kings Park and on surrounding roads. Plus paid parking in Kings Park Car Park. Parking costs £1.40 for one hour. Further details can be found here.

Times

The rally takes place on a summer Sunday and runs from 10 am until 4 pm.

• In 2025, the event took place on 6 July.
• In 2026, the date will be 5 July.

Price

The rally is advertised as free to enter. Souvenir programmes cost £5 and you are very strongly encouraged to buy one. In theory, you can take a heritage ride without a programme, although when I attempted to board a bus, I was informed that this wasn’t the case and denied boarding.

Buses

Basically, it’s a load of buses in a field. Some old, some less old. There were some small ones too.

Heritage Rides

Theoretically, the heritage rides are free, however, in 2022 I didn’t purchase a programme (they only accepted cash and I didn’t have any), so was denied boarding. In 2023, I came armed with cash, but a bus had broken down across the car park entrance, so rides were cancelled. In 2024, it poured down with rain so I stayed at home. I was hoping 2025 would be fourth time lucky, but it rained again.

There is no prior information about what routes are operating and when. For this, you need to purchase a programme on the day. I thought this was rather strange for transport nerds. Aren’t they really into timetables and such like?

Unable to ride on a bus, I had to make do with wandering around the field looking at the old buses and taking some photos of said old buses. Then I went home again. On my bike, which is a lot less polluting than riding round Bournemouth for no particular reason on an old bus spouting clouds of diesel into the environment.

Stalls

There is a small collection of stalls selling model buses, bus paraphernalia etc.

Classic Cars

New for 2025, a display of classic cars, courtesy of Classic Cars on the Quay.

Bournemouth Bus Rally for Children

One year, I heard the following conversation between a child and his father:

• Child: “Can’t we do something fun?”
• Dad: “We’re not here to have fun, we’re here to look at buses.”

If your child is into looking at buses, obviously the rally will be a lot of fun. Otherwise, there was a toy stall (selling mainly buses), a duck game and an ice cream van. Oh, and a rather sinister mascot…

• Updated July 2025

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.