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Bus Replacement/ Additional Not Running to Time

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SteveP29

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Came home from Blackpool on Monday.

As you may know, the Rebellion Festival was on over the weekend there (would have loved to have seen some of it, but at £38 for a day ticket, no ta)

Anyway, on Monday everyone was leaving, so the queues at Blackpool North were massive.

The 11:03 to Liverpool and the 11:08 to York were both 2 car DMU's and as you can imagine, filled very quickly.

As we were to change at Preston, either of these trains would have done us.
As we didn't arrive early enough (we were at the station at 10:45), we couldn't get on either train.

We were told there was a coach in the car park that would take anyone going to Preston, so we boarded.

The trains would have taken 24 minutes and if we'd caught the 11:08 as planned, we'd have had 20 minutes to spare in Preston.

As the bus took an hour and 5 minutes to do the journey (it went straight to Preston, not stopping at the Layton, Poulton le Fylde and Kirkham and Wesham stops), we missed the 11:53 Virgin Pendo to Waverley and had to wait till 12:58 for the next Edinburgh train (which was a TPE Class 350)

Station staff at Preston were unaware that this bus had been laid on and were only able to advise of the next train to Edinburgh

After asking Northern Rail (on Twitter) why the bus took so long and not yet having a reply after they said they'd look into it, is there anything else worth mentioning to them?

We were only inconvenienced by having a less comfortable train to travel on from Preston to Edinburgh and that we were an hour and 10 minutes later in arriving there, but some people may have missed connections elsewhere/ meetings etc and it has to be said, what is the point of putting on a replacement/ additional bus if it can't keep to the train timetable?
 
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Welshman

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I'm afraid that due to speed limits, traffic congestion, road limits, etc, buses can very rarely match the journey times that trains can offer.

At least they put on a coach - without that you would have had to take your chance with the 1139 or even the 1203 trains!
 
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najaB

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...and it has to be said, what is the point of putting on a replacement/ additional bus if it can't keep to the train timetable?
Well, for one thing people get trains because (generally speaking) they're faster than road transport. ;) But, in all seriousness, I'm surprised that the bus took so much longer than the train over that distance - there must've been some traffic disruption. At over an hour's delay, you might be entitled to a Passenger Charter / Delay Repay compensation if Northern operate the scheme, unless they argue that the demand was unexpected.
 

Adam0984

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Unfortunately Northern have completely knocked off the Blackpool to Man Vics meaning the line is a train down to Blackpool which would have relieved some capacity with the people for stns to Man Vic conveyed on the York for a replacement bus. Northern could have done to keep the Man Vic train running as far as Preston especially with it been summer and busy.
 

Rail Ranger

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It is sometimes necessary for passengers to direct the drivers of rail replacement buses. Northern don't normally have a member of staff on board. Coach drivers these days often rely on satnav (with all its shortcomings) and many are unaware of the location of rail stations.
 

ashworth

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Unfortunately Northern have completely knocked off the Blackpool to Man Vics meaning the line is a train down to Blackpool which would have relieved some capacity with the people for stns to Man Vic conveyed on the York for a replacement bus. Northern could have done to keep the Man Vic train running as far as Preston especially with it been summer and busy.

It's even worse than that in the mornings during the peak time for visitors leaving Blackpool with cases etc. There is also no 0944 TPE service to Manchester Airport at the moment which means, with no 0920 or 1020 to Manchester Victoria, there is a 2 hour gap without through trains from Blackpool to Manchester. Even services as far as Preston for connections are very sparse It's just 0903 to Liverpool, 0908 to York and then a 1 hour gap until the 1003 to Liverpool and 1008 to York.

I was there for the first week of the Chorley Blockade staying in Blackpool with friends and using a 7 Day NW Rover. There were huge queues most mornings for the 1003 Liverpool and 1008 York both of which were only 2 car trains. I would have thought Northern could have managed a 3 car 158 for the York at such a busy time. On Thursday 29th July the 1003 to Liverpool was cancelled and there was chaos on the 1008 to York. I just managed to squeeze onto the 1008 York and stand because I had no luggage but many with cases and pushchairs were left behind. Just about everyone was left behind at Poulton Le Fylde and Kirkham and there were quite large crowds waiting at Poulton with lots of luggage.
 
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Qwerty133

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Hopefully the staff left room on the trains for passengers at smaller stations, where the coach didn't call. personally I think they should've been sending all passengers travelling just to Preston to the coach to allow passengers for smaller stations/ with connections to get on the train.
I say all this because when I experienced something similar the staff boarded the train first come first served, even though 90% of the passengers were only travelling 2 stops. If the staff had been more active in sorting the situation, the bus could have gone direct to where everyone was getting off, and not me much slower than the train, however it had to go to every station for the whole route as there were passengers for every station on the coach, who could've been on the train if passengers for the station where most people were travelling to were denied access.
 

John @ home

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We were only inconvenienced by having a less comfortable train to travel on from Preston to Edinburgh and that we were an hour and 10 minutes later in arriving there,
Before we can advise the amount of any compensation payable for the delay, we need to know the origin, destination, type and price shown on your ticket(s).
 

30907

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Well, for one thing people get trains because (generally speaking) they're faster than road transport. ;) But, in all seriousness, I'm surprised that the bus took so much longer than the train over that distance - there must've been some traffic disruption.
Delays on the way out of Blackpool in such circumstances aren't surprising.
 

Haywain

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After asking Northern Rail (on Twitter) why the bus took so long and not yet having a reply after they said they'd look into it, is there anything else worth mentioning to them?
I would have thought that if anyone could explain why the bus took so long it would be those travelling on it, rather than someone on a Twitter feed. The distance is about 21 miles, so it was never likely to take less than 45 minutes given it was town centre to town centre, and wouldn't take much to stretch that.
 
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