Travel Log Newsletter www.travelloglewes.co.uk

Travelman says “Happy new year”

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION- USE YOUR LOCAL BUSES MORE!

You know about the 28 and 29 services to , Ringmer and Tunbridge Wells.

But less well known are the other services running from Lewes. As usual it is a case of use them or lose them. Taking one more bus journey a week instead of using the car would boost the environment and support your local service.

Here are timetables for your local services

Wallands Bus Service Other services in town Mon-Sat Lewes town Sunday service 121 and Newick 122 Barcombe 123 Kingston and Newhaven 125 Alfriston and Eastbourne 143 Laughton, Hailsham, Eastbourne 166 Plumpton, Haywards Heath 167 Ditchling, Burgess Hill

If you are travelling just in Lewes ask about the Lewes day ticket on your first bus. It may be cheaper than a return ticket. The ticket is valid on all these buses in Lewes town and also on the 28 and 29.

WINTER WALKS

Some not too muddy walks you can do using the bus or from the front door, to walk off the Xmas pud:

Lewes Town walk A tour of the historic market town of Lewes, taking in the usual sites,and some less well known ones. This walk can be combined with any other route starting or finishing at Lewes. 5.47 Km / 3.40 Miles

The secluded Balsdean Valley 9.4miles 15.1km There can be few places where you can be so cut off so near to big towns and cities as Balsdean and Standean Bottoms and there can be few places where you can get such panoramic views in all directions, sea, downs and towns.

Newhaven Panorama Fishing boats, a historic fort, cliff walks, sea views, wildflowers plants, downland views, secret woodland, an historic village and a giant cockroach. This walk round Newhaven's harbour and surrounding countryside has it all. 6.5 miles

RAIL FARES RISE

Just to completely rub our noses in it, rail fares are going up on 3rd January. You can avoid the increase by buying your tickets on the 1st or 2nd of January. You may wonder why the government has authorised this increase. You may remember that one of the advantages touted for privatisation was that, instead of public bodies raising money in order to improve services later, private companies would raise money on the open market to fund improvements and only increase charges when the improvements had been made.

BETTER COMPENSATION

You can now get compensation if your train is 15 minutes late or more compared with the standard timetable (not any reduced timetable that may be in operation- which means that you really should be claiming for most journeys you try to make.

Details on how to claim at http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/customer-services/delay-repay

You will know that the government refunds money paid out by Southern. MP Maria Caulfield has received a letter from the government which denies that Southern charge a fee for administering the refund.

GOVIA MAKES ADDED PROFITS FROM REPLACEMENT BUSES

When was rail minister, he introduced legislation to stop rail companies profiting from substitute buses by hiring firms that they owned to run the bus services. But according to this statement from the RMT, this safeguard has broken down

“RAIL UNION RMT has condemned the fact that Southern owners Go-Ahead – operators of the worst performing rail service in Britain – are set for a taxpayer-funded Christmas Bonus from 's recently announced rail replacement bus stunt.

Parliamentary answers have revealed that Southern owners Go-Ahead are set for the Christmas bonus by using its bus division to lay on rail replacement services promised by the Prime Minister in a PR stunt which does nothing to solve the current safety dispute but which throws more taxpayer money at this failing outfit.

In response to a parliamentary question, Rail Minister Paul Maynard, has confirmed that the government is actively progressing Theresa May’s strike breaking proposals. He said:

“my officials are closely liaising with the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the bus and coach trade body, to determine how bus and coach operators can best assist with providing alternative transport.”

Go-Ahead is a leading member of the Confederation of Passenger Transport and are responsible for numerous bus services in and the South. In December 2014, two months after the start of the GTR franchise, a company called “Go-Ahead London Rail replacement Services” was “contracted with Govia Thameslink Railway to provide rail replacement services”.

Go Ahead owns Brighton buses, Metrobus and a number of London bus companies. Look out for the Go Ahead logo on your replacement bus.

IF YOU REALLY HAVE TO GET TO LONDON

I have updated my article on how to get to London if you really have to on days when there are no services running through Lewes

1). VIA TUNBRIDGE WELLS Bus 29 half hourly in the day (hourly in evenings and Sundays) direct to Tunbridge Wells station, Journey time 1hr 5min- 1hr 20min (longer in rush hours) Last bus to Tunbridge Wells 21.00 Mon-Sat 18.41 Sundays

Last buses FROM Tunbridge Wells 19.07, 20.07, 21.07 22.37 Mondays to Saturdays 20.04 Sundays.

Trains to and from Tunbridge Wells- four an hour off peak. More in rush hours. Less on Sundays. Typical journey time 58 minutes.

London stations London Bridge, Waterloo, Charing Cross or Cannon Street

Typical overall journey time 2hrs 15 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes.

2). BUS TO BRIGHTON AND THAMESLINK TRAIN Buses 28 and 29 up to every ten minutes (half hourly evenings and Sundays) Get off at St Peters church and walk up the hill to the station

Last bus FROM Brighton 00.30 from Churchill Square Monday to Saturday, with extra bus at 01.36 on Saturdays. Sundays late buses are at 21.05, 22.05 and 23.20.

Journey time 35 minutes off peak, 45 minutes rush hours, Allow a further 10 minutes to walk to/from the station.

Thameslink train services are scheduled to run four times an hour taking between 1hr 15 minutes and 1hr 35 minutes. London stations London Bridge OR Blackfriars, City Thameslink Farringdon and Kings Cross.

Thameslink services may be very busy. Typical overall journey time between 2hrs 15 minutes and 2 hours 45 minutes

3). BUS TO BRIGHTON AND COACH TO LONDON

Buses 28 and 29 up to every ten minutes (half hourly evenings and Sundays) Get off at the and walk a couple of minutes to Pool Valley coach station.

Last bus FROM Brighton 00.30 from Churchill Square Monday to Saturday, with extra bus at 01.36 on Saturdays. Sundays late buses are at 21.05, 22.05 and 23.20. Journey time 37 minutes off peak, 47 minutes rush hours.

National Express coaches run about every 20 minutes and take about 2 hours 30 minutes to get to London Victoria.

You need to book the coach in advance at http://www.nationalexpress.com/rail-disruption.aspx Typical overall journey time between 3hrs 15 and 3hrs 45 minutes.

You may be able to cut down the time to about 3 hours or less if you get one of the two coaches that leave Brighton/Sussex Universities at 13.00 and 16.00 The return journey from London on these services is at 16.00 and 21.00. The 21.00 is scheduled to take only 1hr 45 minutes to but the 28/29 service is quite sparse by then. (17 and 47 minutes past the hour from Sussex Uni till 00.47)

4) USING THE 166 BUS FROM LEWES TO HAYWARDS HEATH

On Mondays to Fridays onlly the 166 bus leaves Lewes bus station for Haywards Heath at 7.35, 9.55, 11.55, 14.30, 15.55 and 17.35, passing the High Street, Western Road and Nevill Green and taking about 45 minutes to get to Perrymount Road, beside Haywards Heath Station.

From there a Thameslink train could get you to London in about 55 minutes, so with good connections you could get to London in less than 2 hours. However, coming back is not so easy, because the buses are every two hours. Get off at the wrong time at Haywards Heath and you could have a long wait.

Buses leave Perrymount Road at 8.45, 10.50, 12.50, 15.50, 16.50 and 18.20 for Lewes, again Mondays to Fridays only.

The service is run by Compass Bus, who are not accepting Southern tickets on this route. Compass are not running the 166 on Boxing Day or the 27th December or on Monday 2nd January, but are running normally on other days

GETTING THE TIMES: Get Brighton bus times at http://www.buses.co.uk/# These are the live times, which can differ quite considerably from the timetables, which you can find at http://www.buses.co.uk/servicelisting.shtml Get Thameslink and other train times at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

MARIA CAULFIED’S LETTER

Kevin Frowd has forwarded to me a letter that Maria Caulfield has been sending out which is critical of Southern management.

“I am contacted by hundreds of residents everyday regarding this dispute and I know that it is having a terrible impact on individuals and families, as well as consequences for local businesses. As a regular commuter myself I know all too well how frustrating this is.

I have been speaking behind the scenes with both Southern Rail and the RMT union to bring them together for talks. At the moment, however Southern are refusing ACAS mediated talks. Southern are insisting that trains should have the option to operate without a second person on board, in exceptional circumstances, and are refusing critical safety training for the new on board supervisor role.

I am very disappointed that despite spending many days of work trying to bring the two sides together Southern are refusing to do so. The RMT have been much more reasonable in my dealing with them and are willing to enter talks without making any preconditions.. “

PASSENGERS WITH DISABILITIES AT UNSTAFFED STATIONS

Kevin has also obtained information about the treatment of passengers with disabilities at unstaffed stations like Cooksbridge, Glynde, Plumpton etc. Southern say:

” if there is an occasion where there is no second member of staff available and cancelling the train would inconvenience many passengers - including those with disabilities - then we may run it in service. In that case, if a passenger needs to get off at an unstaffed station, staff assisting the passenger will discuss with them the most appropriate plan and provide options, for example travelling on the next train that has a second person on board or providing a taxi transfer. If the passenger wants to get off at a staffed station, the procedure is that staff will contact the destination station to make them aware.

If a passenger needs assistance getting on a train at a station which is not staffed from the first to the last train of the day, and is on a route where we’ll be moving from purely conductor operation to OBS operation, our team in the Control Room will be contactable via either the Help Point and/or a Freephone number advertised at the station. In the same way that our station staff provide options, in the event that the required train is running without an OBS , our staff in the Control Room will discuss with the passenger the most appropriate solution, for example, travelling on the next train that has a second person on board, or providing a taxi transfer to the nearest staffed station or end destination station.”

Can you imagine how this might actually work in practice? Travelman thinks this breaches disability discrimination law.

AND ON THE BUSES

Cllr Rosalyn StPierre writes:

“Brighton & buses have a space for wheelchair users in which the passenger has to face backwards, against the direction of traffic. The wheelchair is then fixed to the back with the passenger facing into the bus without any bar or similar to hold onto. Many wheelchair users have in addition to mobility problems, medical conditions which impact on their chest area. So with any braking they are more likely to be thrown forward. I understand that at least two passengers have also written to the company saying how travel sick they become in more that the very shortest journey. Those living along the rural sections of the routes face long journeys as do those coming into Lewes from Ringmer.

Brighton and Hove were originally very sympathetic and gave passengers who had complained a letter to give to drivers allowing them to travel forward. However, a letter was issued on 26 November informing wheelchair passengers that following meetings with the engineers to see if the attaching harness can be modified to allow forward facing, “despite our best intentions to ensure you could travel and exhausting all avenues we have been reliably informed that under present circumstances this would not be possible.”

To be fair to , they have agreed to pay a taxi fare for a limited time for my resident.

I am discussing this with ESCC but I would appreciate feedback from other wheelchair user bus passengers.

GOT SOMETHING THAT OTHER PEOPLE OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT?

Send it to me at [email protected] Deadline for each issue is the 25th of the month before.

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