Journey involving rail replacement bus from Ockley

[Capvermell]

On a related note not far away services from Dorking to Horsham are being replaced on a Saturday and either for one or two whole weeks during August by Rail Replacement Buses due to works on the embankment near Ockley station that I live close to.

Having recently had a problem with my car that has put it out of action and needs bodyshop work I am having to use the train quite a bit (I live 0.75 miles on foot from Ockley Station and would like to be clear where the rail replacement bus for Ockley Station stops and whether its in Ockley Station Approach or down in Coles Lane that Station Approach joins or out on the A24 Dual Carriageway about a quarter of a mile from the station. From memory of a rail replacement bus from Epsom to Ockley late one Friday night a year or more ago I think it goes to Ockley Station Approach itself rght outside the station but would like to be sure about that. The letter we had from Network Rail about the embankment works and the effect on the train service being suspended did not seem to properly clarify that point.

I mention this because Three Bridges is not far from here so many of the same people in the local area are likely to also be reading this thread.

 

[Hophead]

Replacement Bus Stop information can be obtained via National Rail or, as a somewhat more convoluted process via Southern.

On Southern's website, select Travel Information, then Station information and find a station. So far, so straightforward. Now it starts to get complicated......

Expand the "Other Transport" section and click on the "here" hyperlink in "Bus Service Note". This will open a National Rail PDF detailing the local bus options and helpfully identify the location for the replacement buses. In Ockley's case that is the station forecourt. In your case, it would obviously be helpful if the railway could permit travel on the 93 bus, which is considerably more convenient for most.

I've verified that convoluted route to the replacement bus data on two different stations, so I hope it works for all. Just why it has to be so difficult to find out such information, I have no idea.

 

[JonathanH]

Having recently had a problem with my car that has put it out of action and needs bodyshop work I am having to use the train quite a bit (I live 0.75 miles on foot from Ockley Station and would like to be clear where the rail replacement bus for Ockley Station stops and whether its in Ockley Station Approach or down in Coles Lane that Station Approach joins or out on the A24 Dual Carriageway about a quarter of a mile from the station. From memory of a rail replacement bus from Epsom to Ockley late one Friday night a year or more ago I think it goes to Ockley Station Approach itself rght outside the station but would like to be sure about that

The time I travelled from Dorking to Horsham, the replacement bus went southwards after Holmwood on the A29 from Beare Green and then on the road past Ockley Station rather than simply going down the A24 so the stop should be at the station. Warnham stop is on the A24.

 

[Capvermell]

Replacement Bus Stop information can be obtained via National Rail or, as a somewhat more convoluted process via Southern.

On Southern's website, select Travel Information, then Station information and find a station. So far, so straightforward. Now it starts to get complicated......

Expand the "Other Transport" section and click on the "here" hyperlink in "Bus Service Note". This will open a National Rail PDF detailing the local bus options and helpfully identify the location for the replacement buses. In Ockley's case that is the station forecourt. In your case, it would obviously be helpful if the railway could permit travel on the 93 bus, which is considerably more convenient for most.

I've verified that convoluted route to the replacement bus data on two different stations, so I hope it works for all. Just why it has to be so difficult to find out such information, I have no idea.

Hophead,

Thanks for indicating where to get hold of this information re the Ockley replacement bus and that it is in the Station Approach at Ockley, even though I believe its at the end of the station road out on the Main A24 at Warnham Station (as there isn't enough room for a bus to turn round at the station even though there would be on the entrance to the station on the other side of the railway but that's not accessible from the A24). As Southern's phone helpline with Teleperformance can often take several hours to answer (and even then usually by rude, bored and totally disinterested staff that Teleperformance seems to have an unerring knack of hiring) I had little hope of getting the information out of them.

Stuck as I am without a car for a little while I have to say that the rail replacement bus service makes a dire service even worse as the replacement buses don't seem to make any effort to connect properly with the trains departing from Dorking and Horsham that their rail equivalents would have covered. The 93 is a slow and tedious bus full of pensioners that I personally hate getting and basically haven't done ever since I managed to get a late evening train service created south of Dorking in December 2006 out of the previously out of service Dorking to Horsham stock train movement. Having said that the 93 does stop quite a lot nearer to my home on the Clarkes Green Roundabout and I am rapidly realising one can't carry even a very small light trolley shop at a supermarket on foot. I suppose home supermarket delivery is the only answer on that one but I'm not used to shopping that way. Realistically one can't survive at this location without a car at the weekend without stopping doing things one would normally do or incurring vast extra taxi fares as unfortunately Southern have got away with removing the Saturday evening rail service south of Dorking that they ran for many months under the full COVID timetable despite my best efforts at lobbying them at the time. Having said that the COVID timetable involved a shuttle train service from Dorking to Horsham that involved a further long delay at Dorking whereas now through trains are running again south of Dorking. I just don't see why they can't keep the Dorking to Horsham shuttle train service on Saturday evening rather than run nothing at all. Ditto a Dorking to Horsham train shuttle on Sunday would be far better than nothing at all. Also we don't need an hourly service and two hourly would do perfectly well for those of us stuck who are stuck without a car either temporarily or permanently.

The time I travelled from Dorking to Horsham, the replacement bus went southwards after Holmwood on the A29 from Beare Green and then on the road past Ockley Station rather than simply going down the A24 so the stop should be at the station. Warnham stop is on the A24.

It isn't possible to turn right off the A24 Dual Carriageway going South in to Coles Lane so going down the A29 would be an alternative to going down the A24 to Clarkes Green, round the roundabout and back to the station but the bus ought to stop outside the station in the Station Approach as there is plenty of room to turn round at that time of night when almost no cars are in the pay daytime car parking spaces.

Of course during the forthcoming two week long Blockade of the line the suspension will be in the day but there are usually almost no cars parked at Ockley in the day, especially since the Nimby who lives in the Station Approach with the large police person cut out in his window managed to badger Southern in to quite unnecessarily bringing in car parking charges (this was because being a NIMBY he was sure the odd car parked there at the weekend were people flying out of Gatwick even though they weren't and anyone doing that would park near Ifield station). And now since COVID almost no one is parked there due to the triple whammy of less passengers due to COVID, the £3 daily parking charge and there now being plenty of free space to park on the street near Holmwood Station.