Brighton mainline this weekend, 21/22 March

[Skimpot flyer]

Thameslink say they are running rail replacement services between Brighton and Three Bridges, but the journey planners only show me the journeys via Littlehampton and the Arun Valley?? Anyone know how to get the bus info, please?

 

[MrJeeves]

GTR are doing their standard thing of trying to make everyone use the railway service instead of the replacement buses.

They do this by putting buses from Three Bridges to Preston Park in, and Balcombe to Brighton. In reality, these are one bus from Three Bridges to Brighton rather than two separate buses, but journey planners won't know that!

A search on the forum's site with "via Haywards Heath" will do the trick:

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets.railforums.co.uk

You get the choice of a bus to Brighton (not two buses!) , or a bus to Lewes and train to Brighton.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So, this weekend, rail replacement buses are running at approx half hourly intervals and calling at all the intermediate stations between Brighton and Three Bridges with an end-to-end journey time of around 90 minutes depending, of course, on the traffic?

 

[Skimpot flyer]

Thanks for that.
So there are no fast buses from Three Bridges down the A23 to Brighton?
Might as well get the train than mess around with a bus calling all stations

 

[MrJeeves]

So there are no fast buses from Three Bridges down the A23 to Brighton?

I'm not sure. There aren't in journey planners, but last time there was replacement buses there were fast buses which were not in the timetable.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

I'm not sure. There aren't in journey planners, but last time there was replacement buses there were fast buses which were not in the timetable.

Which brings us full circle… why aren’t they advertising them? Faced with a massive detour or all-stations buses, some revenue will surely be lost, as some users will use National Express or Flixbus?

 

[RJ]

I'm not sure. There aren't in journey planners, but last time there was replacement buses there were fast buses which were not in the timetable.

Was this the same occasion where the diversionary Dorking to Horsham route was closed at short notice due to a landslip a few weeks ago? If it was, they might have been laid on for this reason?

 

[MrJeeves]

Was this the same occasion where the diversionary Dorking to Horsham route was closed at short notice due to a landslip a few weeks ago? If it was, they might have been laid on for this reason?

Good point, maybe that was the case.

The Southern website is actually rather explicit:

On these dates, replacement buses will run between:
[...]

• (And only at the start and end of the day when direct trains via Littlehampton are not running) Three Bridges and Brighton

https://www.southernrailway.com/service-updates/service-updates/brighton-main-line-engineering-work

Perhaps no direct buses at all this weekend, then!

 

[Skimpot flyer]

I’ve travelled this line on many occasions when RRBs have operated and trains have run via a turnaround at Littlehampton.
Can’t ever recall them not running buses direct to/from Three Bridges.
They have to commandeer the large station car park anyway, to run buses to Lewes and to stops on the mainline. This seems daft to not run a mix of stoppers and fasts

 

[MrJeeves]

Just for the sake of completing the thread, I can confirm there were no (unadvertised) direct buses between Three Bridges and Brighton today.

The RRB system was very efficient, and buses departed more frequently than journey planner timings state.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

Just for the sake of completing the thread, I can confirm there were no (unadvertised) direct buses between Three Bridges and Brighton today.

The RRB system was very efficient, and buses departed more frequently than journey planner timings state.

In my experience, they always do. What would be the point in holding a bus that is already full to capacity until some arbitrary departure time? Nobody else could board, and queues would become unmanageable very quickly!

 

[The exile]

Which brings us full circle… why aren’t they advertising them? Faced with a massive detour or all-stations buses, some revenue will surely be lost, as some users will use National Express or Flixbus?

Viewed the other way round, the crowds trying to use a limited number of RRBs might be more manageable. Buses don’t grow on trees.