On Trains & Buses

During the summer, it seemed as if most train station ticket offices were set to close. Today, the government abandoned this in the face of public opposition. This is much needed good news and proves that a government seemingly hell-bent on being unpopular does follow the public will at times. If this could be extended to other matters, life might feel a little better than it does right now. As things stand, a change of government still is much needed.

Recently found Busbud, a website for booking express coach and rail services in different countries. Canada is its home country, but coverage includes US and UK, among numerous other places. With all the diversity around the world, this has to be useful for anyone finding their way around it all.

This website may be about public transport from an everyday point of view, but there are those who embark on rail holidays too. Dedicated providers include Rail Discoveries, Great Rail Journeys, Ffestiniog Travel and Rail Europe. Other non-specialists like Inn Travel may be able to help too.

The Virgin Trains brand has not been tarnished by recent troubles on the West Coast Mainline or the travails of the recent pandemic. Still, their non-operation of trains in the U.K. is a loss. However, they still sell train tickets via apps on Android and iOS under the Virgin Trains Ticketing brand. There are no booking fees, and you can collect points for flights and other goodies through Virgin Red.

Update: Some missteps with ticket buying have meant refunds that were processed with the same kind of efficiency that I found when doing the same with Virgin Trains. Some practices never get relinquished, it seems.

This is a little something that I found via Twitter: a ticket booking website for train journeys across France, Italy, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Hungary. It is called Save a Train and has been going since 2016. However, plans to include USA, Canada, Spain, Poland, Russia, Japan, Australia and Czechia in 2021 appear not to have happened yet, and one of those is compromised since 2022 in any case. Otherwise, the recent pandemic will not have helped.

On Friday, Transport for Greater Manchester was notified with 24 hours notice that Little Gem was ceasing trading, letting a lot of bus contracts without service. Thankfully, this does not include services 391 and 392 between Macclesfield and Stockport since these have passed to Go Goodwins. Otherwise, there is a deal of disruption until things get sorted at the start of May, even if other services still operate and may offer alternatives. Hopefully, the introduction of the Bee Network avoids this kind of thing.

After what felt like an eternity, there is better news on the industrial relations front in the rail industry. The Network rail strike has been settled after RMT members accepted the latest offer. Today’s RMT action against eighteen train companies has been suspended, and it is the same for Saturday. Hopefully, this all leads to resolution of these disputes, even if others continue in other sectors.

Not so long ago, I wrote an entry on here about how much more positive things felt in Ireland compared to the U.K. when it came to public transportation. One thing that lay undone from my time in Ireland last August was to add to the Irish Bus Companies collation three new operations that came to my notice during a stay in Cork city. That has happened now and these are Cobh Connect, Cork Connect and West Cork Connect. All are there now for your perusal and for checking out extra travel options.

The website’s British Bus Companies collation is getting some attention at the moment. A lot has changed in the last few years with takeovers, consolidations and withdrawals. Thus, there have updates to make and there may be more to do, even without the continuing upheavals that we are experiencing at the moment.

It looks as if useful services like the Poppit Rocket (405, Cardigan to Newport), Puffin Shuttle (400, St. Davids to Marloes) and Strumble Shuttle (404, Fishguard to St Davids) will not run for the 2023 summer season. These have been operated by Richards Brothers who are cancelling them on 2023-04-05. The first two of these are covered by the Fflecsi scheme but having a scheduled service that does need prebooking is better, even if an app is provided.