£3–£6 gets you from Stansted into Essex on Arriva 133
The Arriva 133 is a local bus route linking Stansted Airport with Essex towns like Braintree and Basildon, running roughly every 60 minutes on weekdays. Journey times sit around 30–70 minutes depending on how far along the line you go, but this is a slow, stop-heavy service meant for commuters and school runs, not a quick hop to central London.
Expect standard local bus fares in the £3–£6 range depending on distance and ticket type, which is cheaper than the Stansted Express or the big airport coaches. The catch: this is a normal Arriva route that twists through multiple villages, so once you’re past the airport it can feel long and bitty compared with point-to-point airport buses.
Frequency is about hourly during weekday daytimes, with reduced services in the evenings and on Sundays, so a missed bus can mean an extra 60 minutes stuck at the stop. Timetables aren’t built around specific flight arrivals, and regular users say they treat it as “for Braintree/Basildon types getting to work,” not as a precision airport connection.
Most buses on the 133 are older single- or double-deckers with no dedicated luggage racks, so a couple of 20 kg suitcases can clog the front area fast. A lot of riders are staff, schoolkids and shoppers with bags rather than big checked cases, and reviews flag cramped aisles when a few airport passengers drag on cabin bags at once.
Because it is a local route, some intermediate stops are request-only: you need to press the bell well before your stop or the driver may roll past. Regulars often sit near the front so they can get the driver’s attention and hop off quickly at smaller village stops, especially in the dark on winter evenings.
Watch out for patchy punctuality and the odd no-show; locals check real-time bus apps before leaving home and treat the timetable as approximate. If you’re aiming for a specific flight, build at least one full extra 60-minute headway into your plan and have a backup (like a train from Stansted Airport station) in mind.
One practical tip: if you’re new to the 133, confirm the exact stop name in towns like Braintree or Basildon and tell the driver when you board at Stansted; that plus ringing the bell early cuts the risk of sailing past where you meant to get off.