The 28 bus to Minehead and Butlins is an appalling advert for Taunton and Somerset. The brown and ochre Quantock Line bus is designed for hop-on/off town travel, with very limited legroom and unsuited to a journey of 90 minutes, with luggage. I've viewed the bus stop on Station Road, the one nearest the train station, and estimated that 40 people, with luggage, were waiting to be taken to Butlins. Those lucky enough to board the single decker would most likely have stood all the way.

Anecdotally, elderly shoppers say that they avoid travelling by 28 on Mondays and Fridays, when the service is at its busiest, and, on such days, when the bus to Minehead is full and standing, it can be difficult to get off in Taunton.  It does make me wonder why the service is said to run at a loss. If the Somerset Bus Partnership was the organisation that got Buses of Somerset to run an express service to Butlins, they are to be congratulated.  Trying not to be entirely negative, I must say that the bus drivers do a good job in the circumstances, and the holidaymakers, who board their bus for Butlins, after a long wait, are remarkably calm and good natured.

Thank you Grahame and LiskeardRich for your replies.  The mechanism for getting a wheelchair user into the coach was unwieldy and certainly delayed the coach's departure but the worst part for me was waiting at a bus stop, with no shelter or  information available, for the coach to turn up.  I felt very much out on a limb.  By contrast, our larger train station is a haven, with a waiting room, toilets, electronic displays and STAFF.

I don't think I've read on this forum about National Express's wheelchair space on its long distance coaches, and, as importantly, the lift from the ground to the somewhat elevated aisle of the coach.  I think it would otherwise be 4-5 steps to climb.  We used National Express a year ago, instead of the train, and I have to say that all went well.  The platform lift emerges electronically from under the bottom step and 2 (or 3?) guard rails are unfolded.  The wheelchair passenger is pushed on to the platform, which rises slowly, and once in the coach, the driver pushes the passenger into the space and buckles him up.

I was reminded of this yesterday, when I phoned our local tourist information centre, which is an agent for National Express, to enquire about the wheelchair space.  "Oh, there's nothing like that on National Express!"  The Falcon service, from Plymouth to Bristol Airport, also offers the same lift and space, although we have never used it.

I heard a similar story from Sir Tom Shakespeare, an academic, who writes and researches on disability, and who is himself a wheelchair user.  He said on a Radio 4 programme how he is often last to be taken off the plane, having to wait 45 minutes or so, and how his wheelchair is damaged from being in the hold.  Frank Gardner, the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) correspondent, is perhaps better known for writing of his dire experiences when flying solo.

I'm surprised that no one has replied to Grahame's post, which may indicate that the majority don't need a printed timetable, as they use the app on their smart phones.  (I don't have a smart phone.)  Does the ending of printed timetables by First, West of England mean that they will no longer be posted in bus shelters or on bus stops? 

My local operator is Buses of Somerset, part of First Bus.  I consult its website at home but, in its wisdom, its timetables show only Main Stops and don't offer the alternative of All Stops, which is needed for planning a journey.  Try to look up its social media pages for alterations to service, and Facebook cannot be accessed without logging in and Twitter gives limited time for scrolling.  I don't want to have Twitter or Facebook accounts, and should I need them just to view information? 

Lastly, my current bugbear.  The 28 timetable (Taunton to Minehead service) on Buses of Somerset's website shows that the bus calls into Taunton Station, South Side (sotajgad stop) to pick up rail passengers going to Butlin's.  This has not been true for months, since last year in fact.  However, if you use, on the same website, the Plan a Journey facility, you are directed, correctly, to walk to the stop on Station Road.  I suspect that the Journey Planner is using an App, whereas the pre-set timetables are relying on an older platform.  It is all very frustrating.

That's a relief.  I've seen before that warnings have not been removed, once the work in question has been done.

I was about to book tickets to and from this station, when I checked station facilities on the National Rail website.  It says:

The lifts are out of order between Platform 1/Station entrance and Platform 5 and the rest of the station until further notice at Exeter St Davids station.

See (Exeter St Davids - next trains)/details.html" target="_blank">https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/EXD/details.html.  Is this true?  My husband is a wheelchair user.

Well, the Disabled Railcard was delivered today, nine days after it was supposed to have been dispatched.  The envelope isn't franked with a date to confirm this.  Husband and I are pleased to have it (the card covers the two of us) so will cease our whingeing.

Many thanks to those who have replied to my query.  I did phone Passenger Assist at Great Western Railway and Cross Country, the belt and braces approach, to ask about excessing.  Both told me to do it on the train via the train manager, should the Disabled Railcard not turn up.  GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) couldn't tell me what type of fare we would have to excess to (an anytime single?) and XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) said it couldn't be an advance fare, which our current tickets are.

I don't have a smart phone to have downloaded the railcard to, on the grounds that we are not out much to need one, but perhaps I shall have to reconsider my possibly pig-headed stance.

 

My husband's (plastic) Disabled Railcard was dispatched on Saturday 25 September and has not arrived by today, Friday 1 October.  I phoned Disabled Railcard this afternoon to be told to wait seven working days, not five as stated, and to phone back on Tuesday 5th.  We travel on Monday 11th.  I was also told that if a replacement were sent by Special Delivery, it would be at my expense, and I think the cost was £6.85.  You can imagine that I was none too pleased.

The railcard might turn up tomorrow, and the problem will be solved, but does anyone have any suggestions to make, while I wait for Tuesday?

Thanks, Bob.  I suppose it's a toss up between booking early to get a cheap fare and waiting for the amended timetable, with details of direct trains going via Bristol Parkway, to be published.

We are meeting a friend in Bristol in August, during the disruption at Temple Meads Station.  She will be travelling from London Paddington on Monday 16 August, and reservations are already open for week commencing 2 August.  I think, in order to get a cheap, advanced purchase ticket, that she will have to book early and assume that her journey will be OK.  Do you think it best to book a direct train, which means that the journey from Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads will be by replacement bus?  On the way back, on Thursday 19th, should she aim for the same direct journey?  I wasn't sure if the disruption between Bristol and Bath would have a knock-on effect at Bristol Parkway (delayed train up, missed connection etc) and if it would just cause complications to go via BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains).

Isambird's experience as a wheelchair traveller and Grahame's as his companion prompt me to write about our experience of the same (husband in wheelchair, self as travelling companion). Overall our journeys have gone well, although they were only short and direct ie to Bristol and Torquay from Taunton. I am more than happy to let the platform staff push my husband up steep ramps or battle their way through a crowded vestibule. Most of the problems encountered are outwith their control - the locked, accessible toilet; luggage left in the wheelchair space; high spring tide at Dawlish, causing the whole Cross Country train to be transferred to a Great Western; one ramp at Taunton, when two wheelchairs were to be loaded into first class and standard, causing the train to leave five minutes late. In the face of such difficulties, they are (as are we) uncomplaining and resilient.

One peculiarity of the booking system is that it can't print tickets (well, as far as advance, XCountry is concerned) with the correct seat numbers for a wheelchair user and companion so you have to refer to the Passenger Assist email for verification.   

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Would the situation be different if for instance one of the connecting passengers was in a wheelchair ... ?
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I can confirm that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) did hold a train on Sunday to allow my husband in a wheelchair to board.  On the 6th, a person was hit by a train in the Exeter St Thomas area and services up to Taunton were subject to long delays.  Quoting from Realtime trains, our Cross Country train (service to Aberdeen) arrived into Bristol Parkway at 12.15.  The GWR Paddington to Swansea service, which we were changing to, arrived, slightly late, at 12.16.  It should have stopped for two minutes but the platform staff, who were all the time in mobile communication with ?, whizzed us over, and the train departed at 12.20.  The wait, otherwise, would have been one hour.  We had also booked Passenger Assistance through the normal channels.

Once on the train, the manager announced that the service had been delayed at Reading or thereabouts AND by a passenger transferring platforms to this train so our card was well and truly marked.  Then, further announcement that we should make ourselves known to the TM^‡(resolve) (so that we could be helped at Swansea).  We were lucky and couldn't have got a better service.

There was further slow running into Wales but the train still arrived at Swansea only one minute late.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.  They were all instructive.