Worst train/bus connections

[al78]

The worst train-bus connections are those where the bus station has been put at the opposite end of the town to the rail station.

Alas, Taunton falls into this category. It is the best part of a 30 minute walk, and although town buses were frequent once upon a time, they no longer are.

This is why I have a folding bike, so I don't have to deal with this sort of nonsense.

 

[Andyh82]

People think the closeness of the bus station and the rail station is the be all and end all, but not if the rail station is badly sited and moving the bus station there would mean they'd be together but now both badly sited.

 

[sheff1]

People think the closeness of the bus station and the rail station is the be all and end all, but not if the rail station is badly sited and moving the bus station there would mean they'd be together but now both badly sited.

If a bus route is likely to be of particular interest to rail travellers the problem can be overcome by either:

(i) routing the bus from the bus station via the rail station - as in done in Taunton with the Minehead service, or

(ii) starting the bus back from the rail station as, for example, with Alfreton to Matlock.

The main issue in my experience is that option (ii), in particular, is not consistently used.

 

[Taunton]

I can't remember how far back the Minehead buses have diverted via Station Road in Taunton, it's been a long time and I think may pre-date the closure of the BR Minehead line in 1971, in that certain services at least, such as winter Sundays when the branch was closed, did used to do it. I also think that at the time rail return tickets were "interavailable" to use on the bus.

However, only Minehead did it. The parallel service to Wiveliscombe did not, even after the closure of the Barnstaple branch. This used to carry just as many passengers out of Taunton. The greatest value would be the one to Wellington, the largest town around with no station.

Alas my old Western National timetables from those far-off days are long gone. I do remember the Minehead bus timetable long indicated that if the last bus of the day, about 2230, got to the cinema at the start of Station Road before the last film of the evening had finished, it would wait until everyone had come out - I bet that doesn't happen any more.

 

[12CSVT]

One of the more frustrating Train / Bus connections out there has to be at Wareham whereby - certainly for Saturday's, the Bus departs at XX:24 while the train arrives at XX:27.

I presume you mean the no. 40 to Swanage. Hopefully this will be remedied once Swanage Railway start running through trains later this month.

 

[northwichcat]

288 Manchester Airport to Altrincham bus and the rail service between Altrincham and Chester.

Going towards the Airport the train arrives in Altrincham at xx:59 - 1 minute after the hourly bus departed for the Airport.

Going away from the Airport the bus arrives in Altrincham at xx:50 or xx:54 - sometimes as little as 4 minutes after the hourly train departed for Chester.

 

[HowardGWR]

288 Manchester Airport to Altrincham bus and the rail service between Altrincham and Chester.

Going towards the Airport the train arrives in Altrincham at xx:59 - 1 minute after the hourly bus departed for the Airport.

Going away from the Airport the bus arrives in Altrincham at xx:50 or xx:54 - sometimes as little as 4 minutes after the hourly train departed for Chester.

To which destinations /from which origins would the bus company lose traffic? In other words, which towns run a direct bus to the airport that competes with rail via Altrincham?
It seems to me that this would possibly provide the answer to an otherwise seemingly ridiculous situation you have outlined. One would think that this would be a juicy campaign for a local councillor, but my experience is that they are only interested in road building.

 

[Busaholic]

I can't remember how far back the Minehead buses have diverted via Station Road in Taunton, it's been a long time and I think may pre-date the closure of the BR Minehead line in 1971, in that certain services at least, such as winter Sundays when the branch was closed, did used to do it. I also think that at the time rail return tickets were "interavailable" to use on the bus.

However, only Minehead did it. The parallel service to Wiveliscombe did not, even after the closure of the Barnstaple branch. This used to carry just as many passengers out of Taunton. The greatest value would be the one to Wellington, the largest town around with no station.

Alas my old Western National timetables from those far-off days are long gone. I do remember the Minehead bus timetable long indicated that if the last bus of the day, about 2230, got to the cinema at the start of Station Road before the last film of the evening had finished, it would wait until everyone had come out - I bet that doesn't happen any more.

I was in Minehead during the summers of 1966 to 1968 and remember the last bus to Watchet(?) also waited for cinema kick-out: always run by a crewed bus too!

 

[bussnapperwm]

I remember a good (good!) few years ago you could get an Alton Towers bus service from right outside Derby station which got you to the park for around opening time and was there around closing time to take you back to Derby, was an excellent service and not even that expensive from what I remember either, does that no longer exist?

X52, once a day, decker operated by Notts and Derby

 

[northwichcat]

To which destinations /from which origins would the bus company lose traffic? In other words, which towns run a direct bus to the airport that competes with rail via Altrincham?
It seems to me that this would possibly provide the answer to an otherwise seemingly ridiculous situation you have outlined. One would think that this would be a juicy campaign for a local councillor, but my experience is that they are only interested in road building.

From Northwich and surrounding villages it would be the most sensible way of getting to the Airport at any time while the 288 bus service is operational.

From Knutsford Mon-Sat daytime there is the alternative of getting the 88 bus to Wilmslow and getting the train to the Airport from there. However, the last bus to Wilmslow is 18:35 Mon-Fri, 17:35 Sat and there's no buses at all on Sunday. However, the 288 service between Altrincham and the Airport keeps running until around 22:30 and runs on Sunday as well, while trains between Altrincham and Knutsford run 7 days a week and run until 23:45 Mon-Sat.

From Chester the journey time to Manchester Airport via Altrincham would be 1 hour 20 plus the connection time, so it's not competitive with rail even if some direct services between Chester and the Airport didn't exist, due to how frequent Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport services are.

I did think about feeding that back to TfGM (who contract the service after Arriva withdrew their commercial operation) but given how slow TfGM are at responding and that 56 days notice has to be given to the TC to change a bus service it's too late for them to get the peak summer demand for this year and by next year the Mid-Cheshire rail timetable should have been recast so the connections may become better even if the bus timetable doesn't change.