Rail Replacement buses cancelled / Northern / Feb 18

[Southern Beau]

Looks as though Northern had issues with replacement buses this morning.
Any idea when this was published on their site?

 

[startingaparty]

Hi,

Firstly, apologise if this is in the wrong forum but timetables seemed appropriate.

I have a season ticket from Adlington (Lancs) to Manchester. I am going to visit a friend tonight and will be staying over and returning tomorrow. I've noticed there are no trains or RRB services serving stations between Bolton and Preston. I checked last night and it was showing RRB stopping but they seemed to have disappeared when I've checked today.

What are my options and are Northern supposed to provide a way to get me to my destination? I can't find a "DO NOT TRAVEL" warning or anything.

 

[philthetube]

Just looked on journey planner for Preston Departures, no cancellations shown.

 

[startingaparty]

I think I've been caught up in this. I've posted another thread in the time-tabling forum but the RRB seem to be serving just between Manchester and Bolton and then express to Preston. Why would that be - the buses seem to be running not cancelled they're now just not calling at all stations. I'm a season ticket holder and would need to get back to Adlington that day. Does anyone know what my options would be - do Northern have provide an alternative?

EDIT: This is the timetable for Sunday 19th February 2023, access on the Northern website here: https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/s...s/N27/2023-02-18-to-2023-02-19-1676650001.pdf

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Are none of the previously planned hourly rail replacement buses from Preston via Adlington (Lancs) at xx28 towards Manchester Piccadilly tomorrow Sunday now no longer running?

 

[startingaparty]

Are none of the previously planned hourly rail replacement buses from Preston via Adlington (Lancs) at xx28 towards Manchester Piccadilly tomorrow Sunday now no longer running?

It doesn't look like it according to the timetable tomorrow. The buses go directly from Preston to Bolton and on to Manchester skipping all the stations in between. I don't know why they'd do this and leave passengers stranded without providing an alternative. There hasn't been any detailed comms as far as I can see or any advice not to attempt to travel. I'm tempted to go down to the train station and earlier and ask the ticket office staff if they have any further information.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@startingaparty . See that you've also raised the query on the parallel thread on here.

Rail Replacement buses cancelled / Northern / Feb 18

Looks as though Northern had issues with replacement buses this morning. Any idea when this was published on their site?

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Southern Beau]

Buses were planned to be running from Blackpool South to Preston both Saturday and Sunday.
Apparently the company due to be running the buses today (Blackpool Transport?) has a shortage of drivers so the whole schedule was shelved for today. I was just trying to work out when this decision was announced?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Feb 2023 ==

Just looked on journey planner for Preston Departures, no cancellations shown.

The RRB were scheduled but have been pulled relatively late on (as per the message on Northern’s site)

 

[30907]

The all-stations bus appears to have been cancelled, leaving the express bus to Lancaster running. The buses are not on journey planners now but RTT conveniently still has them.

I imagine Northern would advise you to use this, then the 125 bus from Bolton Interchange to Adlington. This seems a perfectly reasonable alternative, as it takes the same time and runs half hourly.

They should arrange ticket acceptance but, assuming they don't, I would contact them to claim a refund of the bus fare (or delay repay, if it is worth it).

 

[startingaparty]

The all-stations bus appears to have been cancelled, leaving the express bus to Lancaster running. The buses are not on journey planners now but RTT conveniently still has them.

I imagine Northern would advise you to use this, then the 125 bus from Bolton Interchange to Adlington. This seems a perfectly reasonable alternative, as it takes the same time and runs half hourly.

They should arrange ticket acceptance but, assuming they don't, I would contact them to claim a refund of the bus fare (or delay repay, if it is worth it).

Hi,

Thank you, I will remember the stagecoach bus.

I have just been down to a nearby station on the same route and asked the ticket office staff. They’ve told me they’ve checked a “file” which is separate from the journey planners and they also said that the buses WILL be stopping at Adlington and he thinks it’s an issue with the journey planner and to check again later tonight or in the morning.

EDIT: I've also had a response from the Northern social media team and they have contacted their control team to advise and they'll let me know once they have a response. I'll report back.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It doesn't look like it according to the timetable tomorrow. The buses go directly from Preston to Bolton and on to Manchester skipping all the stations in between. I don't know why they'd do this and leave passengers stranded without providing an alternative. There hasn't been any detailed comms as far as I can see or any advice not to attempt to travel. I'm tempted to go down to the train station and earlier and ask the ticket office staff if they have any further information.

Given the very infrequent buses it looks like they have had trouble getting buses. It's not even hourly.

Is there a service bus you can use?

 

[Watershed]

Hi,

Firstly, apologise if this is in the wrong forum but timetables seemed appropriate.

I have a season ticket from Adlington (Lancs) to Manchester. I am going to visit a friend tonight and will be staying over and returning tomorrow. I've noticed there are no trains or RRB services serving stations between Bolton and Preston. I checked last night and it was showing RRB stopping but they seemed to have disappeared when I've checked today.

What are my options and are Northern supposed to provide a way to get me to my destination? I can't find a "DO NOT TRAVEL" warning or anything.

It looks like Northern are up to their old P-coding tricks again. They have removed the buses from the timetable in a gaslighting attempt to pretend they were never planned. No doubt they will fob off any passengers who ask about alternative arrangements.

They are still obliged to get you to where you're going, and so if they refuse to arrange ticket acceptance on local buses, pay for the fare yourself and then contact Northern to claim it back. You can also claim Delay Repay if you're delayed compared to the replacement bus schedule.

Of course, I'd expect an uphill battle getting either of those - Northern are likely to try and refuse any claim. So if you can get station or ticket office staff to make arangements for you, that's likely to be better from a practical perpsective.

 

[185]

Last night at nearly 2am, Northern sent a 16-seater minibus for 27 passengers, over one hour after their missing train's departure time. After an hour, luckily many had walked off and pooled taxi costs, which brought numbers down, however I have observed NTL's Customer Service Manager refusing on multiple occasions to pay for taxi receipts afterwards. The subsequent abuse toward various other train companys staff is avoidable, simply not on and needs addressing.

 

[startingaparty]

It looks like Northern are up to their old P-coding tricks again. They have removed the buses from the timetable in a gaslighting attempt to pretend they were never planned. No doubt they will fob off any passengers who ask about alternative arrangements.

They are still obliged to get you to where you're going, and so if they refuse to arrange ticket acceptance on local buses, pay for the fare yourself and then contact Northern to claim it back. You can also claim Delay Repay if you're delayed compared to the replacement bus schedule.

Of course, I'd expect an uphill battle getting either of those - Northern are likely to try and refuse any claim. So if you can get station or ticket office staff to make arangements for you, that's likely to be better from a practical perpsective.

I've heard back from Northern's social media team.

They've said they "have spoken to our control team and they have advised there will be an hourly rail replacement service leaving Manchester Piccadilly to Preston via (Adlington) hourly tomorrow starting at 0800. These are being imputted onto the system now so please check in about an hour and you should see these on journey planners."

 

[185]

I would say in recent months, there has been a marked improvement in Northern ensuring last services either run or are at least covered by a bus..
- the truly shocking nouveau practise of p-coding the last services of the night seems to have quietly ended.

That said, I do think their RR contractor should be reviewed - at the time of the overloaded minibus incident, another operator with a missing train in a similar timescale sourced a 44-seat coach to cover one of their services - although, I don't know if Northern only wanted to pay for a 16-seater.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've just read of a Scout Group who were caught out by issues with this bus service today - the railway got them a taxi in the end but allegedly they were waiting around for 2+ hours until they did.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@startingaparty. How did you get on today?

 

[startingaparty]

@startingaparty. How did you get on today?

It was chaotic. There were queues at Manchester Piccadilly for the RRBs and there was no clear signage of what buses were going where; I don’t even think the bus drivers knew either. I couldn’t find a bus going to Adlington so I caught a RRB to Bolton which and changed onto a stagecoach bus back home.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Perhaps busier than on a normal Sunday in Manchester today given that the football was on at Old Trafford.

 

[Southern Beau]

The RRB’s which initially affected me yesterday (Saturday) from Blackpool South to Preston we’re in operation as published today - running hourly alternating to Preston and Blackburn