Yes, I was a victim of a New Year bus replacement horror. Having totally failed to check in advance I found myself using the bus replacement service from Didcot to Oxford. Imagine the clammy tension at Paddington on hearing the news – no train, bus replacement, hours stuck in traffic- aggh! Actually, it turned out to be really well managed. Lots of information at Paddington and announcements on the train (including two extra ticket collectors). The staff on train all repeated information.
It was well organised at Didcot with lots of visible staff. Actively managed – staff made sure each coach was full and got way ASAP. Decent coaches and well organised at the Oxford station end. Clearly what First Great Western and Network Rail have learned during the Reading blockades is sticking. Yes, I would rather have been on a train but this was okay. It’s still odd you pay the same price for a longer journey though.....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good to hear First Great Western was better than the shambles that was Southern's blockade at Redhill
ReplyDeleteReplacement Bus taking 40 minutes to Purley, Arrives 20 minutes ahead of any train departure from Purley.
Fast trains from Purley to London terminated at Redhill and not going further North so only local all stations trains from Purley.
Normal journey time Redhill to East Croydon 12 minutes - on the replacement 1 hour 10 minutes.
Not bad if only a Sunday but this was from 27th December to 2nd January so encompassed three normal working days, so thousands of commuters inconvenienced
Luckily discovered we were allowed to "circulate via Gatwick" so at least found a train replacement that only took half as long
It does show a degree of ineptitude when passengers find a solution that the TOC has failed to deliver. Using that 'circulation' option could have saved the cost of many buses, and thus reduced the cost of the engineering work (and overall cost of running the railway)
ReplyDeleteMaybe they'll get it right next time?