On 26/11/2012 15:05, Roland Perry wrote:

How often are there rail-replacement buses in London, rather than
ticket-acceptance on stage buses and alternative rail routes? (Genuine
question).

It sometimes feels like every weekend! They seem to run replacement
buses for planned engineering work but have ticket acceptance when
something goes titsup (hmm, when that happens, is it illegal/uninsurable
for me to get off at the stop nearest I want to be, rather than at a
station?). Bus drivers tend to accept that even if they haven't got a
message, if a train full of annoyed people turn up with the same story
then rail tickets should be accepted.

When there are replacement buses locally I tend to get a normal bus;
there are more options, and if I'm going to have the slow journey time,
I may as well have the more convenient stops. Plus a normal bus will let
me get off near the station with fast trains to London, while the
replacement bus will go past the end of the road to take me to the
station for the all-stations train.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 26/11/2012 17:15, Portsmouth Rider wrote:
"Graeme wrote in message
...
On 26/11/2012 14:52, Portsmouth Rider wrote:
"Graeme wrote in message
...

As an extension of the prohibitions I have noticed bus lanes in various
places now being signed as for buses on local stage services only, ie
private mini-buses and long-distance and excursion coaches can't use
them.

e.g. Bargate Street, Southampton.


That I hadn't noticed, and that's my home territory!

Go to Google Earth, street view, approach Bargate Street from the east side
(from Queensway) and you will see the signs just past Vincents Walk in
Hanover Buildings. Its a NO ENTRY red disk type sign, with EXCEPT LOCAL
BUSES on a plate below it. Blueline can't even go through if not in
service, unless they are going to start service inside the prohibited area.



I'm in town tomorrow I'll look at it in real life :-)

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

In message , at 17:03:22 on Mon, 26
Nov 2012, Graeme Wall remarked:
As I'm only stopping to let someone out, by the time I've seen the bus
coming I'll have dumped the passenger off and be beating a retreat.

mode="stirring it"

If you let a passenger out where you shouldn't be stopped, would you be
insured?

/mode

I would be, because there's no actual prohibition on me stopping.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 13:27:59 on Mon, 26 Nov
2012, Malcolm Loades remarked:

You could always stipulate that the stops must be at marked bus stops.

OK. So you want me to announce to everyone before leaving the station
that I'll stop wherever they wish so long as it is at a bus stop?

I think we've limited this to certain selected bus stops, like in the
High Street of villages we are driving through anyway. National Express
Coaches have such places pre-ordained.

Or if there are only three people on the bus at the time, not be so
pedantic.

Of course it would be totally different if there were only 3 people on
the bus. I'm talking about typical loadings on typical days. Who's
being pedantic?

I'm talking there about being flexible under current rules, and
debunking the "but it'll hold up everyone else on the bus".

I'll leave you with one final thought. If you expect the replacement
bus to stop at the most convenient place for you

Not the most convenient place, but somewhere much more convenient than
the station on the edge of town.

do you expect the same service from the train driver when there's no
need of rail replacement?

No, we've done that straw man already.

--
Roland Perry

In message , at
18:34:04 on Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
How often are there rail-replacement buses in London, rather than
ticket-acceptance on stage buses and alternative rail routes? (Genuine
question).

It sometimes feels like every weekend! They seem to run replacement
buses for planned engineering work but have ticket acceptance when
something goes titsup

That's the difference in the countryside then, there aren't the regular
buses to accept those tickets, outside major metro areas.
--
Roland Perry

On 26/11/2012 20:55, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 17:03:22 on Mon, 26
Nov 2012, Graeme Wall remarked:
As I'm only stopping to let someone out, by the time I've seen the bus
coming I'll have dumped the passenger off and be beating a retreat.

mode="stirring it"

If you let a passenger out where you shouldn't be stopped, would you
be insured?

/mode

I would be, because there's no actual prohibition on me stopping.

There would be if the bus stop was in a bus lane, a situation I see
practically every day.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

On 26/11/2012 21:03, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
18:34:04 on Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
How often are there rail-replacement buses in London, rather than
ticket-acceptance on stage buses and alternative rail routes? (Genuine
question).

It sometimes feels like every weekend! They seem to run replacement
buses for planned engineering work but have ticket acceptance when
something goes titsup

That's the difference in the countryside then, there aren't the regular
buses to accept those tickets, outside major metro areas.

For "countryside" read "outside London"...?

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In article ,
(Portsmouth Rider) wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at
16:56:23 on Sun, 25 Nov 2012, Portsmouth Rider
remarked:
Tough.

Yes, we get the message. It's tough being a rail passenger. Tougher
than it need be because of the jobsworths in charge.

On yer bike!!
(but not on a rail replacement bus.....)

)

I've taken my bike on rail replacement services (coaches) at least twice.
Once was an OHLE failure in front of the train I and my bike were on so they
had no real option and the other was when I could only get home from London
that way when something over-ran and I missed the last train from King's
Cross. FCC staff told me I couldn't get home unless I cycled from Royston.
Fortunately NXEA were more helpful and took my bike from Bishop's Stortford.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 13:27:59 on Mon, 26 Nov
2012, Malcolm Loades remarked:

You could always stipulate that the stops must be at marked bus stops.

OK. So you want me to announce to everyone before leaving the station
that I'll stop wherever they wish so long as it is at a bus stop?

I think we've limited this to certain selected bus stops, like in the High
Street of villages we are driving through anyway. National Express Coaches
have such places pre-ordained.

Or if there are only three people on the bus at the time, not be so
pedantic.

Of course it would be totally different if there were only 3 people on the
bus. I'm talking about typical loadings on typical days. Who's being
pedantic?

I'm talking there about being flexible under current rules, and debunking
the "but it'll hold up everyone else on the bus".

You are not debunking anything..

You are just posting the same erroneous arguments repeatedly and being told
the same correct facts repeatedly; ignoring what you are told by people who
have been in the industry for years and know what they are talking about.

The same approach you have to the Highway Code, in fact - if you don't like
it, you ignore it.

You can have the last word. It will probably be wrong.

In message , at
22:02:29 on Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Arthur Figgis
remarked:

That's the difference in the countryside then, there aren't the regular
buses to accept those tickets, outside major metro areas.

For "countryside" read "outside London"...?

There are plenty of buses in several major cities outside London. You
could easily use stage buses from Nottingham to Beeston, for example, up
until mid evening, anyway.
--
Roland Perry