Stoke-On-Trent - Stafford Rail Replacement Service

[dmacw]

I have a 'West Midlands Day Ranger' today, and whilst at Stoke-On-Trent I saw a bus service on the departures board.

Upon further inspection it was heading to Stafford and was calling at Wedgwood and Stone. It's listed on the departure boards on the NRE app. I looked online and saw it was run by Baker Bus. The timetable states 'valid rail tickets are also accepted on the X1'. I tried to board, and showed my 'West Midlands Day Ranger'. The driver was having none of it and said only rail tickets that states 'Plusbus' were accepted.

The X1 timetable is listed in the timetable book for the line (Timetable 4)

My question is, should my ticket have been accepted ?

 

[All Line Rover]

Yes. I would complain to London Midland.

 

[dmacw]

Yes. I would complain to London Midland.

Reassuring response time from their website,

Customer Relations correspondence dates

If you have contacted us and haven't yet received a response, rest assured that we will be in touch as soon as we can. We aim to respond within 10 days however, during times of high demand we may not be able to reply as quickly as we would like.

We are currently processing correspondence which we have received on the following dates:
Delay Repay (paper form): 8 February 2013
Delay Repay (website & iPhone App forms): 18 February 2013
Complaint emails: 17 January 2013
Complaint letters and comment forms: 22 January 2013

Last updated: 24 April 2013

http://www.londonmidland.com/contact/contact-us/

 

[bb21]

LM are not really famed for the speed of their responses unfortunately. Not a recent thing.

 

[telstarbox]

Yes. I would complain to London Midland.

Why not complain to Bakerbus instead so they can tell their drivers?

 

[martinsh]

Well according to the Plusbus website, the Stafford Plusbus is not valid on Bakers anyway !!

 

[dmacw]

Why not complain to Bakerbus instead so they can tell their drivers?

I've put in a complaint to London Midland and Bakerbus.

London Midland sent back an automated e-mail straight away.

Bakerbus acknowledged the e-mail, and have said they will investigate.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I've had the following reply from Bakerbus,

Thank you for your recent email regarding the X1 service.
I am sorry to hear that there has been some confusion with the bus/ rail tickets. Unfortunately we are unable to accept rail tickets unless they do state ‘PLUSBUS’ on them or if there is a problem with the trains and London Midlands have asked us to act as a rail replacement service. You can buy PLUSBUS tickets from railway stations. If you have anymore questions or I can help anymore please feel free to email me again. Thank you.

That's me told then.

 

[RPI]

I've put in a complaint to London Midland and Bakerbus.

London Midland sent back an automated e-mail straight away.

Bakerbus acknowledged the e-mail, and have said they will investigate.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I've had the following reply from Bakerbus,

Thank you for your recent email regarding the X1 service.
I am sorry to hear that there has been some confusion with the bus/ rail tickets. Unfortunately we are unable to accept rail tickets unless they do state ‘PLUSBUS’ on them or if there is a problem with the trains and London Midlands have asked us to act as a rail replacement service. You can buy PLUSBUS tickets from railway stations. If you have anymore questions or I can help anymore please feel free to email me again. Thank you.

That's me told then.

So even Bakerbus management don't know what they're talking about!

 

[Polarbear]

My understanding is that the purpose of the X1 service was to serve the local stations between Stoke & Stafford that were "temporarily" closed during the WCML modernisation?

It seems that both LM and Bakerbus may have forgotton this as if that reply is correct, those stations will surely have officially closed & I've certainly seen nothing to that effect.

This could open a rather large can of worms...!!

 

[embers25]

Given their own website says the service is London Midland sponsored I've emailed them pointing this out and I'll let you know the response I get as last time I used a Great Escape on them I used it twice and the first bus had no issue but the second took a lot of persuading and I put it down to a rogue driver but maybe not. I'm sure LM would love to know they are paying for a bus no-one can use!

 

[furlong]

I'm sure LM would love to know they are paying for a bus no-one can use!

X1 timetable leaflet

The X1 passes near to Rail Station
VALID RAIL TICKETS ACCEPTED

 

[embers25]

I agree that their timetable says they are valid but their operations administrator just replied to me saying yet again that only plus bus is valid and NOT rail tickets. I've sent them the link to their own timetable and also the screen shot from the LM ticket buying website and challenged her to double check. I've also pointed out PlusBus would not be valid Stafford to Barlaston for example. This is all very poor.

 

[Swirlz]

This, too:

 

[michael769]

I agree that their timetable says they are valid but their operations administrator just replied to me saying yet again that only plus bus is valid and NOT rail tickets. I've sent them the link to their own timetable and also the screen shot from the LM ticket buying website and challenged her to double check. I've also pointed out PlusBus would not be valid Stafford to Barlaston for example. This is all very poor.

I'd put in a complaint to the ASA concerning misleading advertising in the timetable if I were you...

You might also with to complain about the matter to your Traffic Comissioner, public contact details are:

Nick Jones
38 George Road
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 1PL
Phone: 0300 123 9000

 

[telstarbox]

The poster on its own doesn't explicitly say that tickets are valid on the bus service, just that a bus service exists.

 

[michael769]

The poster on its own doesn't explicitly say that tickets are valid on the bus service, just that a bus service exists.

But the timetable does - in 5 different places.

 

[embers25]

Baker Bus are adamant and have again responded it is now stand alone and tickets are not valid any more. I pointed out even their timetable says they are but they insist they aren't!!! As far as I knew if this bus stops then LM MUST provide an alternative or else full closure procedures must be done. I've sent them a screenshot from LM showing that they sell X1 tickets still despite Bakerbus not taking them!!!

 

[bb21]

I think this matter is now beyond the stage of communicating directly with the operator. You should escalate the matter further seeing that Baker are obviously not going to budge.

 

[embers25]

To be fair to them they did say they will investigate further so I having given up yet...after all they aren't SET or EMT and everyone makes mistakes that after investigation they fix. I've also tweeted LM to see what they say now too.

 

[Swirlz]

I wonder if it would be cheaper to run a taxi on demand, rather than pay £x /pa to a bus company? I wonder if their franchise specifies the number of services that must call at these stations, or whether they can get away with running a taxi once a week on a Sunday morning, in one direction only.

How many rail passengers really take advantage of the replacement bus services?

 

[All Line Rover]

How many rail passengers really take advantage of the replacement bus services?

Probably none. But then there would be far more passengers if the railway station was open for use, so it isn't an excuse to formally close the station.

 

[pjnathanail]

Probably none. But then there would be far more passengers if the railway station was open for use, so it isn't an excuse to formally close the station.

How hard would it be for the stations to be opened?
The Crewe to Euston LM stopper could call there.

 

[Crossover]

How hard would it be for the stations to be opened?
The Crewe to Euston LM stopper could call there.

It would depend on pathing and if there is space on the mainline to allow such a service. Either way, I can't see both Wedgewood and Barlaston both being reopened given the distance between them is so short

 

[martinsh]

How hard would it be for the stations to be opened?
The Crewe to Euston LM stopper could call there.

I believe the LM Crewe - Euston stops for about 5 mins in Stoke both north and southbound (blocking any other services) so pathing can't be a problem. Stopping at Barlaston would just reduce the Stoke stop to a minute or so.

 

[Crossover]

I could have sworn when I passed through the other week that the platform of the first station SB after Stoke had had the platform resurfaced. I may be losing it, mind, or could there be grand plans...

 

[Tomonthetrain]

This is what NRE say about Barlaston BRT

Train services do not call at this station. Transport is provided by Bakers Coaches, calling at Orchard Place until further notice. Telephone Helpline 01782 522101.

 

[185]

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/posters/STA.pdf

"Valid rail tickets are valid on BakerBus X1 between Stoke and Stafford."

....so they are already being paid to accept rail tickets.

-------------------

Edit: ORR and Staffordshire now aware.

 

[embers25]

Baker Bus just called me and confirmed upon rechecking that tickets are valid and they are very sorry for the confusion and offered a refund to me of any extra tickets I'd had to buy so you can't say fairer than that. Apparently a couple of new drivers weren't aware and actually other drivers have confirmed tickets being used regularly and so clearly it is a used alternative. Anyway case closed, no-ones perfect and at least both LM Twitter and Baker Bus now agree with tickets will be valid.

 

[bb21]

Baker Bus just called me and confirmed upon rechecking that tickets are valid and they are very sorry for the confusion and offered a refund to me of any extra tickets I'd had to buy so you can't say fairer than that. Apparently a couple of new drivers weren't aware and actually other drivers have confirmed tickets being used regularly and so clearly it is a used alternative. Anyway case closed, no-ones perfect and at least both LM Twitter and Baker Bus now agree with tickets will be valid.

Good result.

I guess they have to live up to their prize-winning reputation.

 

[dmacw]

Baker Bus just called me and confirmed upon rechecking that tickets are valid and they are very sorry for the confusion and offered a refund to me of any extra tickets I'd had to buy so you can't say fairer than that. Apparently a couple of new drivers weren't aware and actually other drivers have confirmed tickets being used regularly and so clearly it is a used alternative. Anyway case closed, no-ones perfect and at least both LM Twitter and Baker Bus now agree with tickets will be valid.

I have also had a second e-mail, after they received another query on the matter. (thanks embers25) They've said the ticket should have been accepted, and will refund any bus fare paid (I didn't pay for the bus in the end, I took the train to Stafford and didn't go to any of the places en route like I had planned)

Obviously I'm pleased the issue has been solved, but if the office don't know what to accept, then how are the drivers?