Bus Pass and Replacement Buses?

Just wondering before I pay out for a ticket whether my free bus pass is valid on a rail replacement bus.

TonyR said:

Just wondering before I pay out for a ticket whether my free bus pass is valid on a rail replacement bus.

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No, it isn't in general, unless the replacement bus arrangements involve 'ordinary' bus routes, or it is in an area where use of the railway is included, eg the freedom pass in London.

Likewise £2 fare caps don't apply.

Which specific route are you thinking of?

Depending on where you live your concessionary pass may be valid for use on local trains (and therefore RRB) or within a PTE area

Leicester elderly get half fare and disabled get free fare between Leicestershire stations and between Leicester and Nuneaton, derby or Nottingham

TonyR said:

Just wondering before I pay out for a ticket whether my free bus pass is valid on a rail replacement bus.

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Strictly speaking, you need a valid ticket for the train to use a replacement bus. However it's work checking with the TOC if they enforce this as sometimes people are told by their staff that they don't need a ticket, while others have staff checking tickets at the bus stops and on the buses.

RJ said:

Strictly speaking, you need a valid ticket for the train to use a replacement bus.

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No just strictly speaking. There is no justification at all for not paying for a replacement bus journey (other than the ridiculous situation with Oyster and Contactless where it is valid, and maybe other smartcards).

I agree that the person driving the bus has no role in revenue protection, although I recall some drivers refusing to take passengers without tickets where they recognise that it would harm revenue for the local bus provider.

It is always refreshing to see TOC staff taking revenue checking seriously when bus replacements are in operation.

In my experience, unless it's a big bus operation with RPIs present, there are no ticket checks on RRBs, as the drivers have no training in rail tickets or their validity, and no means to issue tickets to anyone without one.

I remember being on an RRB from Llanwrtyd to Swansea on the Heart of Wales line, arranged at short notice after a train failure. At every stop passengers were offering to pay the driver, who had to reiterate each time that he had no knowledge of train fares nor any apparatus to issue tickets. This is a line with very few ticket offices or TVMs, where many passengers buy on the day from the conductor, so most people travelled free that day.

As long as you get don’t the ridiculous situation that I had at Lymington Pier when they were refurbishing the branch around fifteen years. I only wanted to go up to the Town, but couldn’t buy a ticket because the platform, on which the ticket machine was situated, was barriered off and Wightlink didn’t sell local tickets. The South West Trains employee in charge of the bus, not the driver, couldn’t sell me a ticket but refused to let me travel without one. The bus had to wait while she and I argued: I think that I was polite, if increasingly exasperated, while she was dogmatic and refused to explain beyond repeatedly saying in answer to any point that I made that I must buy a ticket first. I finally said that I would be putting in a formal complaint (having worked for BR and suffered the habitual threats of passengers that is something I am very reluctant to do) and she relented. When we got to Lymington Town she followed me to the ticket machine and watched as I purchased a ticket. Once I had the ticket she didn’t bother to look at it, just joined the waiting bus which left a good five minutes late.