This is quite an interesting topic, which I’ve thought about a bit and read the previous posts before I weigh in. I won’t lie, I’m sort-of on the fence with it.
Numerous times I’ve had trips with rail replacement buses. Some good, some awful. A fairly decent one was last year coming back from Paris, the last leg was with WMR who were having a bad day. There would eventually be a train from Birmingham to Worcester, with a replacement bus from Shrub Hill. Badly signed at Shrub Hill, tripped on a pavement and was hurt quite a bit but eventually found the bus. It was good because the minibus was really comfortable and, despite a train somehow being an option again at Ledbury and his boss insisting on dropping us off, the driver kept going and took us all the way.
Most of the time, however, if a rail replacement bus is involved I will look at other options. For example, if Hereford to Shrewsbury is closed the bus is scheduled to take 2 hours. That’s a long and boring journey up the A49, for the cost that TfW ask for these days on that route I absolutely have no interest in paying £31 for a day return. Absolutely not, I will not go! Don’t get me wrong, they usually put decent vehicles on for it, however I just don’t want to do that journey unless absolutely necessary.
Another time the bus put me off was this weekend just gone. I’d looked at the option of going to Suffolk, however it was rail replacement buses from Billericay to Beaulieu Park. Probably not too bad, however I wasn’t willing to pay £54 or whatever it was to go to Ipswich and back on a pair of 720s, then a bus and probably more 720s. Yes I’d have had direct trains on Monday, when I came back, but it just wasn’t appealing in this case. Instead, I had a red pen fest in London.
Do I think it’s a good idea to actively encourage people to use replacement buses, such as in the recent block on the ECML meaning buses ran from Bedford to Peterborough? Honestly, if the price was right, I’d have been tempted. It was not a trip I’d been looking at, so I’ve no idea on the times etc but if it was being sold at a bargain price I reckon I’d have been investigating it. No doubt plenty of people would, with a good price and a well organised operation on the buses.
A bad example of replacement buses for me was getting on for a few years back now, involving a Sunday and having the odacity to wanting to travel for a meet up with a good friend. It was train to Worcester then a replacement bus to Kidderminster, for another train forward. The bus turned up, late of course, and it was some vehicle from Diamond Buses. I had no real issue with the vehicle, it was only a relatively short journey so could be worse.
Well it was, as when we left Droitwich the driver went the way his phone told him to go. Ignoring the diversion sign on the roundabout. I did my best to find roads on Maps I knew would be suitable for a bus, which you’d think his depot team would have figured out in advance, which ended up taking us a long way around but we eventually arrived in Kidderminster. Missed the train by a country mile, of course!
Which does go to show the benefit of using an operator with actual knowledge of the route. A bus depot doing routes more local to Birmingham is not so likely to know roads suitable for buses between Worcester and Kidderminster after all!
I will add that diverted trains are sometimes no more fun than the buses! I once did a 2-car 197 from Crewe to Hereford, diverting via Chester and Wrexham. Absolutely heaving out of Crewe, tipping out significantly at Chester but still wasn’t fun for the long distance passengers crammed in.
As for the replacement buses, I booked tickets for an event at the velodrome in Manchester for later this month. Naively, I assumed it would be a case of jump on the first train of the morning and go straight to Manchester. Well no, this is the last day of a blockade between Stockport and Manchester. My options were train to Crewe, another to Warrington Bank Quay, walk to Warrington Central, train to Oxford Road then another to Piccadilly. Ugh!
What I have done instead is gone for a trip to Birmingham, running the risk of WMR on a Sunday, then XC to Stockport. Also risky but it is what it is. Coming back is also from Stockport, heading first to Crewe then to Birmingham before going back to Hereford. Much cheaper too, it runs the risk of trains not running but I can’t do much else there. I was not paying more than £73 for the hassle going via Warrington!
The reason this is relevant here is that I would go to Manchester on the replacement bus but my slightly cheaper option is to get out at Stockport and walk down the road for a Route 192 bus then head to the velodrome. More frequent and will take me more direct to where I want to go. Granted, if it’s not raining, I can walk all the way to my destination and get most of the way there before that replacement bus will get even close to Piccadilly!
