Rail Replacement Bus Services?

[TUC]

The bus calls at the stations the train it is replacing would have called at ONLY.

Sometimes the buses can't reach the stations due to narrow roads etc. In these cases, they usually stop on the nearest main road.

An e problem is that all too often there's no indication given at stations as to when this is a problem or where the bus will therefore stop. Even where there are signs they will often state too vague a message such as that the bus will stop at the bus stop outiside the station, the problem being that there are several bus stops on each side of the main road, leaving the passenger to guess which one.

Pretty basic issues that you would think any TOC would be capable of dealing with. Quite why they are often too lazy/thoughtless to do so is a real issue.

 

[trainophile]

The first time I used a replacement bus on Merseyrail the driver didn't say which stations we were stopping at (near). I needed Moorfields, and he had pulled up at a junction for about half a minute, which I assumed was for the traffic lights, only to find as he drove off again that that had been as close to Moorfields as he was going!

An elderly lady and I had to stumble down the bus and ask him to please stop again so we could get off. We were quite a way from the station (it was a Sunday and only one entrance was open), bit of a nightmare as I had to make a Chester connection and they only ran every half hour in those days. I now know the Southport to Moorfields station sequence so would be okay if it happened again.

We were put off a Hereford to Holyhead train at Wrexham General once, due to a problem on the track ahead, and told to catch the replacement bus in the car park outside to Chester. We sat in the bus for about 15 minutes (it was packed), then it eventually started out of the car park and promptly broke down, so we had to wait another 20 minutes for another bus! They had fixed the line problem by the time we eventually arrived at Chester.

Finally, it concerns me a bit that when they use replacement buses they often say no large luggage items can be carried. We're off to Southampton in a few days with very large suitcases so we'll be stuck if that happens. Have to pay for a taxi I suppose. Wonder if we could claim the taxi fare back from the TOC should it happen.

 

[Lrd]

Finally, it concerns me a bit that when they use replacement buses they often say no large luggage items can be carried. We're off to Southampton in a few days with very large suitcases so we'll be stuck if that happens. Have to pay for a taxi I suppose. Wonder if we could claim the taxi fare back from the TOC should it happen.

I was on a train in the Southampton area (Southampton station closed, really can't remember where I was going, or came from) and a fellow passenger asked the guard if he could take a bike on the bus/coach and the guard said it would be down to the driver, most of them say yes, but a few say no.

You should be OK with suitcases though. If not, there are plenty of local buses around that are fairly cheap (I've heard).

Southampton is a lovely place, but of course I am biased.

 

[jopsuk]

I got a bike onto an emergency RRS at Bournemouth by pleading with the driver that I was heading for Scotland and wasn't intending upon returning anytime soon- plus I had a bike reservation for the XC service I should have been on.

Planned RRS I've got less sympathy for people trying to take bikes.

 

[TUC]

Finally, it concerns me a bit that when they use replacement buses they often say no large luggage items can be carried. We're off to Southampton in a few days with very large suitcases so we'll be stuck if that happens. Have to pay for a taxi I suppose. Wonder if we could claim the taxi fare back from the TOC should it happen.

It equally concerns me when posters advising of rail replacement buses say that these cannot carry wheelchairs. Surely just in terms of legal and contractual responsibilities TOCs would need to make provision for this. I know a TOC might argue that if someone rang their disabled passengers helpline they would arrange alternative transport but too often the posters don't suggest this. They just say that wheelchairs can't be carried. To not offer alternatives on the poster is pretty indefensible.

 

[Parham Wood]

I once was in some small town in the South West of Holland on a Sunday morning trying to get to Schiphol for a booked flight home. Unfortunately there was some problem on the line ahead and after a while we were told to go the station forecourt for a bus. Not really being too sure of the geography where I was I did not know to where I needed a bus. ( My rail journey involved a change.) On arriving on the forecourt there were no staff or signs anywhere. There was a very long (200+) queue at one bus stop - no bus and I had no idea where the bus if it arrived would be going. Nothing else seemed to offer any hope of leaving the place. After wandering around fretting about missing the flight and trying to work out what to do - even the car hire was shut, I wandered back in the station to see if I could find someone to ask. A train arrived going vaguely in the direction I needed. The display said it was going only a few stops up the line, but I though it would be better than staying put. It crawled along for a few minutes and then picked up speed, stopped at one station and then kept on going - I was not sure exactly where to! After while it was obvious that it has passed the problem somehow and although not on the direct route I wanted it took me to Amsterdam from where I could get a connect to Schiphol. I even caught the flight, but what happened to those 200 people waiting for the bus I will never know! They certainly did not make the train!

 

[causton]

Sometimes the bus drivers don't know where they are going. (If it is a Sullivans bus no problems as the drivers all know the back roads)
A couple of times passengers (including myself) have had to direct the driver how to get to Brookmans Park or Welwyn North stations! We also once went down a very narrow lane coming out of WGC with low branches in a double decker - going to Welwyn North in a very circuitous route & hitting every tree along the way

Reminds me of bank holiday weekend last year, Notting Hill Carnival, Reg's coaches. FCC times the run between Welham Green and Brookmans Park at 3 or 4 mins. That would be fine by the normal route, except that the railway bridge was closed for repairs so the coaches were taking this route with the same timings! Remember the time Google Maps quotes is for a car, and doesn't take into account the lethal speedbumps along the Brookmans Avenue...
...made up for by the fact Hadley Wood to New Barnet was something like 20 minutes, probably to make up for traffic on Barnet High Street, but the driver went via Cockfosters station and East Barnet to get there just in time for the train!

 

[Deerfold]

An e problem is that all too often there's no indication given at stations as to when this is a problem or where the bus will therefore stop. Even where there are signs they will often state too vague a message such as that the bus will stop at the bus stop outiside the station, the problem being that there are several bus stops on each side of the main road, leaving the passenger to guess which one.

Pretty basic issues that you would think any TOC would be capable of dealing with. Quite why they are often too lazy/thoughtless to do so is a real issue.

We used to have regular replacement buses between Slough and Maidenhead. The trains were usually running but put on the fast lines so the buses called at Burnham (and sometimes Taplow). Unfortunately the buses semed to vary as to which side of Taplow station they picked up at - I managed to determjine which they should but that didn't help! We caught the last "train" into London one night from Taplow wen my wife had an early flight from Luton - we were the only two at the station so waited one each side of the bridge. The bus called at the wrong side and my wife got the driver to wait until I'd scooted across the bridge - if there'd just been one of us waiting at the correct point we'd probably not have seen the bus until it was leaving.

 

[BrummyBoy]

I was told that tickets were being accepted on the 904 but since I had my nnetwork pass (in my student days) I did the sensible thing and got a central connect 904

At least the Central Connect 904 turned up for you, usually it never shows when i need it.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

I was told that tickets were being accepted on the 904 but since I had my nnetwork pass (in my student days) I did the sensible thing and got a central connect 904

At least the Central Connect 904 turned up for you, usually it never shows when i need it.

Neither 904 turns up for me...it's usually a 110!

 

[trentside]

When Lincoln station was closed for re-signalling a few years ago (two summers in a row) all services were provided with replacement buses. Due to the scale of the operation, there were huge numbers of buses and one Crewe based bus company even set up a temporary base in Lincoln employing local drivers to drive a few ex-Cardiff Leyland Lynx. It actually went remarkably well both years - the second (2008) was slightly better on the whole, with more control staff out and about at rural stations etc.

My most recent experience was on a Sunday, when the first Northern service out of Lincoln was cancelled (never found out why). The bus had come from Rotherham, and departed Lincoln some 15 minutes late with hardly any passengers onboard. There had been contradictory information given as to where the bus was to meet the train, some thought Retford and others Worksop - the driver seemed to think he was going through to Sheffield. The journey didn't improve as a woman started pestering the driver about using the toilet - she insisted on checking for one at Saxilby, the driver pulling into the car park and almost getting stuck in the process. She wanted to try the same at Gainsborough Lea Road but was stopped by other passengers. Rather than wait till Retford, she insisted the driver stop at a pub and disappeared for 10 minutes. The coach was now late, so the driver drove like an idiot into Retford, where a number of passengers decided to try for the train. I've no idea what happened on from there, apart from a complaint to Northern who apologised, reffered matters for investigation and sent a complimentary voucher.