The kind of service shown as cancelled in the screenshot above would often just be provided by buses. SWR never seem to have an issue sourcing large numbers of accessible double decker buses for rail replacements although I don't know if double deckers are options for this route. The issues do seem to be more with routes that need single decker buses or coaches.
Or change the promise and simply indicate that journeys aren't possible, which is probably more practical.
During disruption a few days ago it was explained to passengers that there was a shortage of drivers for replacement coaches, though I don't know if that's the same situation as planned replacement buses.
What's the point of running a service if it isn't possible to travel?
No, just means the railway isn't a seven day a week service any more on a cyclic basis.
I think the previous speaker would be entitled to repeat his remark - may as well just tell the public to buy a car, then. It isn't good enough.
Or come back the next time the trains are running / adjust plans. (To some extent that already happens when there are railway replacement services, else 50 seat coaches wouldn't be able to replace 200 seat trains).
No it doesn't. It makes it a great option when it is running and you accept that one Sunday every 13 weeks it doesn't.
It isn't cyclical, though. Round here - in SWR-land - they've been re-signalling which has involved closures virtually every weekend.
I know the proprietor of one respectable operator whose business model is schools and rail. They were a very regular sight every weekend over a large area of their local TOC’s network, but since Covid they have been able to cover their school work but drivers seem increasingly reluctant to do rail work at weekends now. They also welcome casuals, pay a decent competitive wage for doing weekend rail, and provide their own maps and instructions so drivers aren’t just thrown out there blind, but even then they now struggle to find people seemingly wanting to do rail work. As a result they have a yard full of varied vehicles ready to go every weekend, but just can’t find people to drive them so can’t take on the amount of work they used to. Now this is just one operator in one part of the UK, but it would be interesting to know if this is repeated elsewhere.
The Weybridge - Woking - Basingstoke/Guildford stopping services need to be single deck bus/coach due to low bridges at New Haw and (the former) Brookwood. They were also running fast Woking - Guildford - Basing services with (mainly) coaches, so I guess combined this was creating a big requirement for single deck vehicles. I didn’t see much in the way of local bus companies like Stagecoach today (saw a Falcon Buses vehicle), so I guess maybe they’re focusing on trying to cover their own local stuff at the moment? Seemed to be mainly coach operators from west London or the South Coast from what I saw today.
One Sunday every 13 weeks? Wishful thinking! There are many lines where blocks are far more frequent than that. Unless you're suggesting it's acceptable if the railway simply becomes a 5 day a week operation...
Again, wishful thinking. Whilst blocks are generally nailed down many months, if not a year, in advance, the frequency of changes to timetables during Covid means that the industry has essentially accepted moving to an 8 week notice period for "confirmed" engineering work timetables.
If the current situation is temporary, that's one thing. People can probably accept occasional days of severe disruption.
That's fairly straightforward to answer. The entire bus industry, in common with many other industries, is experiencing a serious labour shortage at present. In that situation, operators of local bus services are (sensibly) prioritising their regular scheduled commitments, which is why you don't see the likes of Stagecoach or First covering rail to anything like the extent they did historically. That in turn puts more pressure on the independent sector, but that sector draws heavily on casuals for this kind of work, and my observation is that the pandemic and the requirements for shielding led large numbers of especially older semi-retired casuals to decide it was a good time to hang up their licence, never to return.
Thank you for this very thoughtful and well worded post and the points you make. Really interesting to hear this first hand experience of the issues.
I have worked both planned and emergency rail replacements have had staff pass comment that it has taken me 45-60 mins to “finally” arrive at a station when disruption has occurred. But when you consider what has likely happened is control has assessed the incident, a decision has been made to request buses, that request has been to their agent, their agent has rung around their supplier operators, those operators have in many cases either dropped what they’re doing in the office and/or phoned their casuals/between-schools drivers at home (as you say, bus companies don’t have loads of drivers sat around on the off chance!), any drivers coming in from home have arrived, walk around checks done, and vehicles driven from depot to starting station… Suddenly, when bus companies are quite often able to be on site in around an hour, their response is actually pretty damn good in many cases!
