Peak District PlusBus

[lyndhurst25]

Has this changed recently? The National Rail website says that it is available from Matlock, Buxton, Hathersage and Glossop stations.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/prbbff5bfbee4348975a0f2e74aa4541.aspx

However, the PlusBus website only mentions Matlock and Buxton. Unhelpfully the link to the area map is broken.
http://www.plusbus.info/glossop

Ominously, brfares.com isn't showing GLOSSOP+BUS or HATHERSAGE+BUS as destination options.

Have the Glossop and Hathersage options been removed? I was planning on using the £2 July and August offer to use this ticket from Glossop.

 

[alistairlees]

Looks like they have been removed...

 

[lyndhurst25]

That's a shame. I wonder why? I'm also wondering if the bus validity area has also changed and specifically if it still includes Glossop. I'll have to email PlusBus to see what's going on as the map on their website is broken.

If train tickets to Glossop are no longer allowed, but buses from there are, my backup plan would be to buy an unnecessary somewhere-close-to-Matlock to Matlock single online. This may possibly allow me to buy the £2 PlusBus at checkout, depending on how well the booking engine has been written.

Hang on, I've had another thought. if you buy a child train ticket does the associated £2 Web Offer PluBus ticket say "Child" on it? Maybe that's a money saving step too far...

 

[BlueFox]

Unhelpfully the link to the area map is broken

There's a map on the National Rail website. It might not be up to date though.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/promotions/Zone map for Peak District.pdf

 

[lyndhurst25]

There's a map on the National Rail website. It might not be up to date though.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/promotions/Zone map for Peak District.pdf

That map's got Glossop and Hathersage stations on as interchanges, so could be out of date. I'm thinking that if they've changed the interchange changes, then they may also have changed that bus validity area as well. I've just sent an email to PlusBus to ask them for clarification about Glossop and Hathersage, along with a current bus map.

 

[CyrusWuff]

There was a general tidying up of some of the "duplicate" PlusBus locations a while back (PTE areas being particularly affected) to free up NLCs. I'm pretty sure a brief went out at the time along the lines of "customers holding rail tickets affected by this can still purchase PlusBus add-ons by choosing an appropriate railhead (e.g. for Acocks Green use Birmingham Stations, for Irlam use Manchester Stations, etc).

 

[lyndhurst25]

There was a general tidying up of some of the "duplicate" PlusBus locations a while back (PTE areas being particularly affected) to free up NLCs. I'm pretty sure a brief went out at the time along the lines of "customers holding rail tickets affected by this can still purchase PlusBus add-ons by choosing an appropriate railhead (e.g. for Acocks Green use Birmingham Stations, for Irlam use Manchester Stations, etc).

Interesting. However, I can't get online sites to offer me a PlusBus ticket if I buy a rail ticket to Glossop, but they will if I buy a rail ticket to Matlock. Unfortunately the £2 PlusBus summer offer is for online purchases only. Maybe Glossop PlusBus is still available to buy from stations but if it is then it would be for £6.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There was a general tidying up of some of the "duplicate" PlusBus locations a while back (PTE areas being particularly affected) to free up NLCs. I'm pretty sure a brief went out at the time along the lines of "customers holding rail tickets affected by this can still purchase PlusBus add-ons by choosing an appropriate railhead (e.g. for Acocks Green use Birmingham Stations, for Irlam use Manchester Stations, etc).

Makes sense, but it isn't going to work for online purchase?

 

[Haywain]

However, the PlusBus website only mentions Matlock and Buxton. Unhelpfully the link to the area map is broken.
http://www.plusbus.info/glossop

The "Interactive Street map" link still works and connects to a map which clearly shows that Glossop and Hathersage are still within the PlusBus area.

 

[lyndhurst25]

The "Interactive Street map" link still works and connects to a map which clearly shows that Glossop and Hathersage are still within the PlusBus area.

So it does. Thanks. The PDF maps are better for printing out to show to doubting bus drivers though. Using the interactive map I can't zoom in far enough to get the word Glossop to appear, without Matlock being off the edge if the screen.


Have minor stations like Irlam and Acocks Green ever been official PlusBus interchange stations? Taking a the South Yorkshire PTE area as an example, the only official PlusBus interchanges have, AFAIK, always been just Sheffield, Meadowhall, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster. If you were travelling by train to another station in South Yorkshire then you couldn't officially buy a PlusBus add on. Online sites certainly won't let you. Maybe the instructions that CyrusWuff is recalling are about station staff being allowed to show come common sense and bypass the rules, allowing them to issue PlusBus tickets if travelling by train to a station inside the PlusBus area that isn't an official interchange station. Quite how station staff are to know which stations are in each PlusBus area is another matter. Do they have access to the maps?

I'm still waiting for a reply from PlusBus re. Glossop as an interchange station.

 

[Haywain]

Using the interactive map I can't zoom in far enough to get the word Glossop to appear, without Matlock being off the edge if the screen.

I was able to get Glossop station on the map, and move it (the map, not Glossop!) around to show Matlock station.

 

[lyndhurst25]

Maybe you've got a bigger screen than me?!

Thinking about the way PlusBus is programmed into the fares system and the inflexible concept of interchange stations. Why not just have a single PlusBus destination for each area e.g. SOUTHYORKSHIRE+BUS? Then you could program fares to that destination from all stations in South Yorkshire only. That would:
- free up NLC station codes.
- allow travellers to use PlusBus if not travelling to/from one of the interchange stations.
- remind bus drivers that the ticket is valid over the whole county. I have had bus drivers in Rotherham saying that a Sheffield PlusBus ticket is not valid.
- lets station staff know exactly which stations are in a PlusBus area without having to consult maps by there being no fare in the system for stations outside an area.
- help to stop the bug in online booking engines that allows you to buy a PlusBus ticket at an interchange station when travelling from another station inside the same PlusBus area. (some may think that would be a bad thing).

 

[A Challenge]

Here is a copy of the map as displayed at http://plusbus.bushub.co.uk/maps/buxton

 

[lyndhurst25]

Lovely. Thanks. Screenshot taken.

 

[BlueFox]

The pdf on the Plusbus site is working now.
http://plusbus.info/sites/default/files/pdfs/Peak District.pdf

 

[lyndhurst25]

Yes. I noticed that too. Just after I emailed them. They haven't replied about why Glossop and Hathersage got the chop as interchange stations though.

It seems like that the rule that you can only buy a PlusBus ticket from an interchange station in combination with a rail ticket to/from a station outside the PlusBus area is now only enforced for PTE PlusBus county areas e.g. South Yorkshire. For the Peak District PlusBus area, a single rail ticket from Matlock Bath to Matlock, both of which are inside the area, will allow you to buy the PlusBus ticket online. That's what I'll have to buy to use Peak District PlusBus from Glossop.