Ticket Checks on Rail Replacement Buses

[34D]

I have driven RRB for Virgin and Northern and was told to have nothing to do with tickets - and rightly so as I would not have had the knowledge to do so.
However, most passengers boarding the coach would wave a ticket at the driver and my guess is that the number actually travelling without a ticket would be pretty small? I wouldn't have thought it was worth the hassle of having sufficient staff for the TOC's to check.
I can say that RRB passengers were deffo the most grumpy set of passengers I carried and who can blame them, having been shoved off a train service onto a coach which was going to take a lot longer?
As an aside we were not allowed to drop passengers anywhere except the station which used to upset a few heading for Kendal as an example, as we drove straight through Kendal to the official stop at Oxenholme. If you broke the rules you got put off the job.

I've also driven them in various parts of the country. Agree that we don't usually get involved in tickets, though on the late-night ones asking to see a ticket is one way of keeping the drunken blokes off.

Regarding stopping, if people ask me to stop early, I usually say that we can only stop if someone feels ill and needs air. I'm not one for driving straight past where people want to be just to be a jobsworth.

I once had an FCC RPI accompany me on a journey. I think she was off-duty but still wanted to check/sell tickets.

I've also had TPE staff count passengers onto my coach, selling tickets as needed.

One ticket seller had a passenger offer two tenners (for a £12 fare) say to the drunken guy that he hasn't got any change but will let him travel for £10.... Guess what no ticket, and tenner in his own pocket.

 

[WestCoast]

Not usually but I do remember having my ticket checked by First Group Rail Replacement Coordinators (?), which was replacing a Virgin Trains service.

Perhaps more unusual was my experience last year with a Northern Rail replacement bus between Hebden Bridge and Halifax after a derailment. The driver checked tickets and made announcements about the stopping pattern of the service and how to check for further disruption very much like a guard would do. The coach was unmarked, but the driver must have worked for a TOC in some capacity.

 

[DJ_K666]

If what my father has previously told me is anything to go by - and bearing in mind he has driven countless RRBs and been Controller a fair few times so it must have something in it - drivers aren't allowed to check so it's up to the TOC(s) involved to do it, meaning that if they don't bother no-one will.

Your father is absolutely correct. I am a bus driver in Brighton and we all regard ticket checking as a conductor's job, after all, you don't show a train driver your ticket...

Having said that there are usually people at Brighton who check the tickets of the passengers. The rest of the time I just wave people on at the intermediate stops (if there are any, I usually go for non-stop or semi-fast runs if I can). Not sure if it's a case of us not being allowed to check, we just aren't required to.

 

[Clip]

Ive caught them often between Margate and Ramsgate/Minster and not had me ticket checked once.

 

[talltim]

As an aside we were not allowed to drop passengers anywhere except the station which used to upset a few heading for Kendal as an example, as we drove straight through Kendal to the official stop at Oxenholme. If you broke the rules you got put off the job.

On the day of the floods in 2007 I managed to get home from Sheffield to Chesterfield on scheduled RRB service (IIRC it was due to the tunnel refurb) The trains has all stopped running an hour or so before, but me and two guys caught the bus. It wasn't too bad until we got to Chesterfield, but then we had to guide the driver and the traffic was at a standstill. After moving 100 metres in an hour we persuaded the driver to let us off on a roundabout, he was not happy about it! I'm still greatful that bus was running, although my house had flooded when I got home

 

[Matt Taylor]

I've often done ticket check for passengers boarding RRBs at Havant, most people usually have tickets surprisingly though!

 

[lincolnshire]

When I have traveled on rail replacement services, I think you will find most people have valid tickets, but if there is no booking office etc at departure station how can you buy a ticket and if there is a machine on the platform its not much use when the coach picks up sometimes 100m + away from the station as is the case at some rural stations which have access problems.

You never know who is going to turn up when its rail replacement, at Hull a few weeks ago a Northern Revenue Protection person would turn up and cheeck tickets and sell tickets, as most rail replacement staff are not trained in ticket checking etc ( as tickets is a minefield even to the day to day staff ).

Not sure exactly but I think you will find that the replacement coach service is in directly paid for by Network Rail and all costed into the engineering works.
So yet again the tax payer is paying for the cost of this wonderful privatized railway and the private Network Rail Company.

 

[reb0118]

I could be wrong but is it not the case that Network Rail compensate the TOCs for loss of revenue during engineering works - so in essence NR pay for your travel.

Secondly I can remember as a TE many years ago performing revenue duties on RRBs - the driver was a great big bear of a man - "any problems son an' ah'll jist pap them oaf the bus". And he did to a few folk that didn't want to pay! However these days it is not thought safe to perform revenue checks on board as the bus moves - in case of sudden braking &c. Checking at intermediate stations en route could be time consuming and as the bus normally takes longer than the train this would further penalise passengers - with the potential to miss connections down the line. A balance has to be struck.

 

[lincolnshire]

I think that you will find that when they did the West Coast Line upgrade, that Virgins contract was suspended and they was paid by Network rail to run the service during the Line,s upgrade instead of them having to pay to use the line.

Someone on here will give us the full answer to this and rail replacement, as to who is paying for the services.

 

[hozza94]

I have never been checked on numerous SE or DLR RRBs. Seems train companies don't bother particularly.

 

[trentside]

I don't know if things have changed in EMT land, but replacement buses from Market Rasen = free ride. No rail staff on the bus and no ticket issuing facalities at the station. Yes you could buy at Lincoln upon arrival but I never saw anyone bother.

When the re-modelling works were going on at Lincoln, I used to use Saxilby a lot and would always purchase my onward ticket at Gainsborough. I'd always ask for this from Saxilby, but on quite a few occasions was sold a single from Gainsborough to Retford and thanked for my honesty!

The last time I used an EMT replacement bus, I had my ticket checked by some sort of official - I couldn't be sure who he was as he had no uniform on, and was just carrying a clipboard.

A more recent experience onboard a Northern RRB the bus driver was actively telling passengers not to purchase tickets. As I already had, I complained to Northern about this and various other things this maniac driver had done (including a near head on crash with a truck) and got a complimentary travel voucher!