In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 13:30:27 on
Fri, 23 Nov 2012, Paul Scott remarked:
I've been on replacement buses where the driver has asked if anyone
does actually wants to go to a particular station itself, or can the
bus drop off on the main road/village centre/etc to save a slow trip
along a narrow dead-end lane to the station and back.

Hopefully on a set down only service, or the driver knew by other means
no-one was waiting at the station?

I'm less sanguine about it. Bus replacement services rarely appear to
expect to pick passengers up at rural stations, merely deliver
passengers who embarked at a nearby big town. One way you can tell is
that the pick-up point is often some way from the rural station (eg
at the other end of the road to the station), and no-one bothers to
say exactly where it is.

The rail replacement bus picked me up on the main road near a station in the
Pennines one snowy December. There was one other passenger already on the
bus to the other small station the other side of the Standedge Pass we were
both going to.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

When I went to work in the morning everything was fine. By the
evening, trains were cancelled and buses put in place.

I saw a sign at Cambridge station a few weeks ago advertising "A road
replacement bus service".

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 23/11/2012 16:24, Mike Bristow wrote:
In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:
There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding here. I'm not asking
the bus driver to vary his route to drop me off, merely to let me off
the bus at a point closer to my actual destination than the station.

This will cost all the other passengers on the bus about a minute,
for the bus to slow down, stop, and for you to gather your bits and
depart, and for the driver to set off again and get back to linespeed.

But what is the overall effect if it means large numbers of passengers
can get off where they want to be, without needing a slow crawl to a
station and then a walk back to the spot the bus just passed?

If 10 people for the centre save a few minutes each, is that always
worse than the people staying on the bus losing the minute?

I realise a replacement bus company isn't paid to think about
passengers, but the railway companies might consider what passengers are
trying to achieve with their travel.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Arthur Figgis wrote:
I realise a replacement bus company isn't paid to think about
passengers, but the railway companies might consider what passengers are
trying to achieve with their travel.

Then contact the TOCs and let them know your opinion. Then they may
change the rules. Until then, we're all stuck with the status quo.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 23/11/2012 13:59, Portsmouth Rider wrote:

general public are not carried:

Erm...

the only passengers who should use it are
train passengers as directed by the railway people,

But there is no train!

(railway people? What railway people?)
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 23/11/2012 13:59, Portsmouth Rider wrote:

general public are not carried:

Erm...

The general public are, in this context, those who have not bought a
ticket to ride on the service operated by the TOC.

The passengers on the rail replacement service are those who have paid
the Train Operating Company for a ticket to ride from station A to
station B by the route specified on that ticket. They are a sub set of
the set called the general public.

the only passengers who should use it are
train passengers as directed by the railway people,

But there is no train!

(railway people? What railway people?)

Train passengers in this context are those who would be travelling on
the train, were it running. The "railway people" are the staff of the
TOC who are charged with supervising the replacement rail service.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 23/11/2012 15:35, John Williamson wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:22:06 on Fri, 23 Nov
2012, Graeme Wall remarked:
I believe bus replacement services have designated "bus stops",

No, they just stop on a country road somewhere near the station.

They stop at the point designated by the Train operating Company. This
is the only point approved by the insurance company.

Is the insurance thing really true, or is it like the common idea that
you should never clear snow off a path or give someone first aid? ISTR
that the often quoted idea that if a someone who hasn't bought a ticket
is killed then the transport company and/or its insurers can have no
liability is not actually true.

Is there any exemption if something unusual happens - the bus station
burns down, the bus conks out, a mad axe-murderer gets on-board?

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 23/11/2012 15:48, John Williamson wrote:

problems (For example, someone misses an important appointment that they
would otherwise have attended) arise because of this, you can be sued by
the TOC for damages.

Cite?

And why would the TOC sue?

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 23/11/2012 13:55, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:46:22 on Fri, 23 Nov
2012, d remarked:

Its not like bus stops have raised platforms.

Guided-bus stops do

Some non-guided ones have raised bits of curb.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:48:30 +0000
John Williamson wrote:
And while we hear of stupid payouts in courts like that one in the last few
days for the idiot who hurt her finger, I'm pretty sure most judges and
juries
are fairly sensible and would see the drivers point of view.

The judge and jury might, The compensation lawyer certainly won't. In

The parasite doesn't decide the outcome, the jury does. Now I'll admit there
are plenty of muppets who serve on juries and plenty of stick-it-to-the-man
types who'd agree to giving anyone compensation if it would cost a company
some money, but most people are pretty sensible otherwise it would happen
all the time.

of carriage which you agreed to when you bought the ticket, and if any
problems (For example, someone misses an important appointment that they
would otherwise have attended) arise because of this, you can be sued by
the TOC for damages.

Well considering they don't take names and addresses when you get on a
rail replacement bus I wish them good luck with that!

B2003