My wife and I will be doing our pilgrimage starting in August 2014. My wife has issues with her legs and may not be able to complete sections of the camino. We are starting in Pamplona and hope to make it to Santiago in 40 days. Is there a bus that makes regular stops along the
Camino Frances? Are there bus stations in virtually all villages and towns? You guidance is much appreciated.
Generally speaking, almost every village has bus service. The caveat is that a lot of the more remote villages have bus service once per week.
Larger centers are transportation hubs. It is likely that getting to the next village involves backtracking to a transportation hub, using train or bus, then going onward to the next hub and then backtracking to the destination. It requires some knowledge of geography as some hubs, such as Lugo and Palencia, are not on the camino route.
Example is Rabanal. It requires using the 3 times weekly bus to Astorga, then travel to Ponferrada, then backtrack to Molinaseca, the logical stage of walking from Rabanal. I've found the bus company for Rabanal to Astorga along with a phone number, but no schedule other than information posted on this forum (yet).
Pamplona to Logrono has service provided by Estellesa.
Logrono to Burgos has service provided by Autobuses Jiminez.
Castilla Y Leon has the lowest population density in Spain and transportation service is correspondingly sparce. ALSA provides service to many (but not all) of the towns from Burgos to Ponferrada. Many of the villages don't have service.
Most of the villages from O' Cebreiro to Santiago have once a day service by a local bus company. The bus company usually doesn't have a website. Look to the Concello or Ayuntamiento pages for each village, usually the bus schedule is listed.