Replacement bus - should TOCs keep empty seats next to 1ST passengers?

[OLJR]

In my time I have taken quite a few replacement bus services, particularly on the Liverpool Street to Norwich line on a Sunday. Sometimes the ride could be more than an hour.

Most of the time the first bus would go full and the second bus almost empty So my strategy was to wait and get on the second bus! Sometimes though I had to take the last seat on the first bus and the second bus stood waiting for the next train!

So I was just thinking...

Do you think that TOCs should guarantee that all 1ST passengers on a replacement bus will have an empty seat next to them and hire as many buses as necessary to provide the required capacity?

 

[Trainfan344]

I do hope you're not serious :P

 

[higthomas]

Perhaps they should have a coach like this?
Perhaps people might start looking forward to a replacement bus?

 

[IanD]

They should provide chauffeur driven limousines for 1st class - 1 for each ticket holder.

 

[ACBest]

Serious point though, 1st Class passengers have been known to get on a rail replacement bus and ask where the 1st class section is! :roll:

 

[Busaholic]

No, I think what you should get is red carpet placed in front of your seat and be personally conducted to it by a flunkey in top hat and tails, who, when you have sat down and got comfortable, will proffer sweetmeats.
Alternatively, you could just ask for a downgrade on your ticket to 2nd class for the duration and be given a refund for that element.

 

[trentside]

Serious point though, 1st Class passengers have been known to get on a rail replacement bus and ask where the 1st class section is! :roll:

"Sorry Sir/Madam, you're just going to have to tolerate the great unwashed".

 

[Gemz91]

What if I'm a first class ticket holder who likes sitting next to other people to talk to? Can I have first pick of who I sit next to instead?

 

[GatwickDepress]

When the coach pulls into the services for fuel, a white-jacketed maître d appears for first class passengers and takes sir or madam's order: freshly-picked Mini Cheddars for an aperitif, a Pepsi Lite - 2014 vintage - and of course, the exotic Ginsters pasty with unidentifiable meaty bits.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I've seen people with 1st class tickets demand a taxi instead before now and cause a right scene until they do. EXTREMELY rare though. It's not exactly a problem, is it?

 

[Fincra5]

Hahaha.. I can't take the idea seriously.

Even a 1st class ticket doesn't guarantee you a seat.. i'm yet to see a 1st passengers not get a seat in 1st and then demand a Standard Class passenger get out of their seat.

 

[Tetchytyke]

the exotic Ginsters pasty with unidentifiable meaty bits.

Standard class passengers have to have two Mingsters pasties.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Standard class passengers have to have two Mingsters pasties.

Surely that's explicitly forbidden in the European Convention on Human Rights!

 

[PermitToTravel]

Doesn't at least one TOC actually run first and standard class RRBs?

 

[trainophile]

Surely that's no different from buying a First Class ticket for a two-leg journey, one of which is on a Pacer!

On a slightly related matter... if there's emergency bustitution part way through your journey and you have a large suitcase, which is normally not allowed on rail replacement buses, what are you supposed to do? Pay for your own taxi?

 

[jopsuk]

Talk nicely to the bus driver. I've managed to get a driver to take a bike on an emergency RRS in the past.

 

[ECML180]

The coach company where I work has been asked to provide a 'First Class' coach for rail replacement work before although I can't remember who for or how long ago this was. This was as we owned a pair of 32 seat coaches (mostly around tables) in a standard size coach making it very spacious and fancy! It was full leather with sockets etc and was probably better than most first class punters were used to, so I don't see why it isn't possible to have first class coaches on a busy route!

 

[radamfi]

What is outrageous is when coaches only suitable for carrying young school children are used. It is debatable whether 3+2 seating is acceptable on trains but I don't think it should even be legal to use such coaches to carry adults or more fully grown teenagers. The seats clearly simply aren't wide enough.

 

[yorkie]

Surely that's no different from buying a First Class ticket for a two-leg journey, one of which is on a Pacer!

If the timetable/itinerary shows 1st class as offered, and a replacement coach (or train) does not convey 1st, a (pro-rata) refund of the difference in fares would be offered, as detailed in the NRCoC.

However if this was planned, it's a case of the person concerned needs to decide whether or not the additional cost of 1st class is worth it when not all the journey will be in such accomodation. Possibly not! If cheaper to "split" the journey into a combination of standard and first class tickets then that is one way round it.

 

[Flamingo]

I've seen people with 1st class tickets demand a taxi instead before now and cause a right scene until they do. EXTREMELY rare though. It's not exactly a problem, is it?

I've had that.

 

[GodAtum]

From my experience, I have had about 3 replacement taxi services on a weekday evening from Marlow to Maidenhead in a year. My ticket wa sa 1st class to Paddington.

 

[Blindtraveler]

The last 2 bustitutions I've had have been thanks to Scotrail and have been vast improvements on booked traction. The first being a really rather nice executive coach complete with tables, carpets and amazing seats on an ABD>DEE Sunday Afternoon non stopand the second a Volvo B12m with refurbed interior incl leather head rests on a Perth to Avymore stopper a year ago. Booked traction for both trips is a 170.↲

 

[GarethJohn]

Yes why should us Standard Class have to resort to sitting next to those snobs?
Does First Class mean no one sits next to you?
If it was the Train that broke down and the next available had no First Class or was full would they get a specially laid on 1st Class train?
If they're not happy then they should work harder and buy themselves a Helicopter.

 

[gordonthemoron]

it would be nice if they had enough busses (TPE for example), Turn up before time, join end of queue, bus fills, next bus in 30/60 mins

 

[cf111]

I've seen people with 1st class tickets demand a taxi instead before now and cause a right scene until they do. EXTREMELY rare though. It's not exactly a problem, is it?

I've seen a Guard being screamed at for exactly this at Glasgow Queen Street before. I admired his restraint.

Like Blindtraveler I often find ScotRail's replacement coaches better than the trains!

 

[Blindtraveler]

it would be nice if they had enough busses (TPE for example), Turn up before time, join end of queue, bus fills, next bus in 30/60 mins

I think youve hit the nail on the head there, its matching supply with demand and thats something I tend to find TPE Consistantly rubbish at! People on here often bash Northern for just about everything but if its a well orgonised RRB Opperation your looking for I can find little fault in the ones I've experienced. ↲

 

[sor]

Perhaps they should have a coach like this?
Perhaps people might start looking forward to a replacement bus?

First actually put on a coach that was almost as good, during the Dawlish fiasco. They used it on the direct early morning service from Bodmin to Tiverton. When I used it were was about a maximum of 5 others on it. The late-night return coach from Tiverton was quite a bit busier but not cramped by any means, I don't remember having to share a seat. The coaches were supplied by Truronian so I guess it was just shovelling even more of NR's money into First's pockets. Won't complain though

The spacious leather seats, tables and dim lighting were much appreciated. As was the train-beating arrival time in Tiverton and Bodmin (just over an hour both ways vs about 2 hours by train). I don't think the Plymouth-bound coach was anywhere near as nice.

 

[GatwickDepress]

The last 2 bustitutions I've had have been thanks to Scotrail and have been vast improvements on booked traction. The first being a really rather nice executive coach complete with tables, carpets and amazing seats on an ABD>DEE Sunday Afternoon non stopand the second a Volvo B12m with refurbed interior incl leather head rests on a Perth to Avymore stopper a year ago. Booked traction for both trips is a 170.↲

I managed to get three entirely different levels of RRB in what would normally be one direct journey on a 377 from Brighton to Ore a few months back.

The first leg from Lewes to Polegate was on a relatively comfortable if draughty Brighton & Hove Scania Omnidekka, the second leg to Hastings was one of Go-Ahead London's stiff-seated single deckers complete with warnings from the driver not to put an Oyster card near the reader, and the last leg from Hastings - Ore was an absolutely lovely modern coach with plush seats and interior, and the driver stopped anywhere anyone wanted to get off!

 

[talltim]

In the 2007 floods, EMT were running RRBs instead of the Norwich-Liverpool trains (I think they were bypassing Sheffield). All trains stopped running, but the coach still did. Very slowly, because of the traffic, but it got me home. Pity my house flooded...

 

[CC 72100]

What is outrageous is when coaches only suitable for carrying young school children are used. It is debatable whether 3+2 seating is acceptable on trains...

I agree - the up-seated school coaches are really only useful for one purpose - as school buses. By this, I would also exclude school trips of any reasonable distance.

I understand that one was recently used at a university open day for people using a university-organised park & ride at one of the open days my brother attended. That can't be comfortable... or practical.