"Combined Rail & Bus Tickets" Bath to Radstock/Midsomer Norton

[whole diary]

[mfpa]

First Great Western claim to be unable to tell me which bus operators have agreed to accept their "Combined Rail & Bus Tickets" tickets from Bath Spa to "Midsomer Norton Bus" (XBR) and "Radstock Bus" (XEQ), and on which route numbers.

I cannot find any information about these tickets on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) or National Rail websites, but they come up on <http://www.brfares.com> and on the First Bus website <http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/tickets/bus_rail/combined.php>.

FGW also won't tell me whether their Terms and Conditions for these tickets provide for them to be accepted for boarding at intermediate stops, for example to travel from Peasedown to either Bath or Radstock.

I have asked twice. The first reply took 36 hours and said:-

Thank you for your email received regarding combined rail and bus tickets to Midsomer Norton Bus and Radstock Bus.
 
Please accept my apologies for the delay in reply. This has been caused by an unforeseen increase in the volume of post that which we normally receive.
 
I regret that I an unable to provide any information for the bus routes and time. I request you to please call Traveline on 08712002233, www.traveline.info. They will assist you regarding all public transport route and timetable information, especially buses.
 
Thank you for contacting us.

To which I responded (after checking with Traveline, who say they copied it to the Regional Customer Services Director for First.):-

> Unfortunately, Traveline do not know which bus operators have entered into agreements with First Great Western to accept your "combined bus and rail" tickets from Bath Spa to "Radstock Bus" and "Midsomer Norton Bus," and on which route numbers. They have advised me to address my enquiry to First Great Western.

Traveline also cannot advise me on whether the conditions of sale for these tickets provide for them to be accepted for travel from intermediate stops, for example from Peasedown to Bath or Peasedown to Radstock. Again, they suggest that I should ask First Great Western.

FGW sent an auto-reply saying:-

Thank you for contacting First Great Western.
 
We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to respond fully within 5 working days. However, please be aware that we are currently dealing with high volumes of correspondence and on average responses are taking 12 days...

And today, 24 days later:-

Thank you for your email of 12 August 2014. I was sorry to learn that Traveline were unable to help you with a query and as a result have asked you to contact us again.
  
 Regrettably we are unable to provide specific bus information from this office however PLUSBUS do have a dedicated website with all of the information you require, I do apologise that my colleague did not advise you of this. All the information for services from Bath, including the operators accepting PLUSBUS tickets and their timetables can be found at the link below.
  
 http://www.plusbus.info/bath
  
 Thank you once again for contacting us.

I also contacted First Bus, as their website does not mention the 379 in connection with these tickets,

Yes, it's also accepted on the 379.

Nearly three weeks ago and their website still doesn't say so. They also claim not to know about validity for boarding at intermediate stops.

The ticket is something offered by the train company, and you would
have to confirm this with them as we're unsure.

I followed this up by asking whether they told their drivers to accept them or refuse them if a customer boarded at an intermediate stop, but they have not replied.

Wessex Connect tell me they do not accept these tickets, and BANES council says their contracted services are not required to accept them, it being down to bi-party agreements between FGW and the individual bus operators.

This is all just idle curiosity since First Bus changed their fare structure and Wessex Connect stopped accepting the First Day, First Week, etc. tickets on their council-contracted services out of Bath in the evenings and a lot of peoplr were moaning about it. The fares from Bath to Midsomer Norton shown at <http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=BTH^» (Bath Spa - next trains)&dest=XBR> compare well.

[JayMac]

The only published information I know of which tells you which bus services you can use with Combined Rail & Bus tickets is First Great Western's Network Timetable Book, in the section 'Rail Bus Links', available from larger FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations at a cost of ^4.

In this it says that the buses you can use with a ticket to Radstock Bus (XEQ) and  Midsomer Norton Bus (XBR) are the First West of England services 173, 178 and 184. There is no mention as to whether these tickets are valid from/to intermediate bus stops on these routes.

I can only give my own, anecdotal, evidence. I used to fairly regularly buy a ticket to Bampton Bus on First West of England (now Buses of Somerset) service 25 from Taunton. First have long since stopped serving Bampton from Taunton but the 25 still runs as far as Dulverton. I used to use the ticket as far as Wiveliscombe and had no problem boarding or alighting there. This particular 'Combined Rail & Bus' ticket is no longer listed in the Network Timetable book but is still in the fares database. Another I have used which isn't listed in the Network Timetable Book is Watchet Bus (WCT). Again, with this one I used it at an intermediate destination on First service 28 from Taunton, in this case Bishops Lydeard.

Even this book isn't accurate though. It lists one Rail Bus Link destination as Langport, served from Taunton on service 54. Langport is not the fares database. Bummer for me as it's one I'd use now Mum has moved from Wiveliscombe to and village served on the route of service 54.

[mfpa]

Thanks. Sounds like lack of or unclear information is the standard for Combined Rail & Bus tickets, then.