FAQ's

Will I be able to buy a rail ticket on the bus when the new timetable starts next week?"
No, there will no longer be any facilities on the X66 buses to buy combined rail and bus tickets.

Will the buses still be branded rail-link buses?
No, it was hoped that the buses could be branded with a logos that indicates the connections with the trains, but this idea has been withdrawn

Could I buy a Rail-Ticket on the Old Rail-link Bus Service?
The answer was yes, but the reality was that we are lucky if one of the three buses running this route actually carries a working ticket machine. StageCoach boss Andrew Dyer blamed the bus drivers at the public meeting for not making the machines available. The official answer from SWT is that you should be able to buy your rail ticket on the bus but the drivers have to collect and return the ticket machines from the office in Winchester each day. Problems appear to arise because the office closes before the last rail-link buses run in the evening so to avoid having ticket machines unaccounted for over night drivers feel pressured the return them when the office closes which means they can not get them in time for the early morning runs. The other problem is that the ticket machines are often broken when they are available.

Does not being able to buy a rail ticket on the bus reduce the official figures of rail-link passengers?
SWT says not, but if you can only buy a bus ticket on the bus the only real record anyone can have is that you are a bus user only. There is no way of monitoring where you go once you step off the bus. You might immediately go and buy your rail ticket but there is no way of knowing, or even of recording, that you have got to Winchester Station on the rail-link service.

How can I find out about the Rail-link Service?
At the moment if you ask the National Rail Enquiries website for times and prices from Waterloo to Romsey it will send you via Southampton Central Station. This route is more expensive and takes alot longer than using the rail-link bus from Winchester. None of the websites that offer train routes and prices flag up the alternative option of taking the rail-link bus from Winchester. The rail-link service is the best kept secret in Hampshire. We have even had emails from people who have only found out about the service because of our campaign to save it and they live 200 yards from a rail-link bus stop! Publicity for this service is almost non-existent. As you approach Winchester on the trains from Waterloo there is an announcement that passengers for Hursley and Romsey can alight at Winchester and take the rail-link bus, but this is 50 minutes too late as you have inevitably brought your ticket in Waterloo via Southampton Central because that is the only route you will have been told about.

How much does it costs to take the Rail-link Service?
A very reasonable £5.25 return from Romsey to Winchester. If you compare this to the cost of parking in Winchester all day, which is approx. £6.50, plus your fuel, car tax, insurance and running costs, you can see that the rail-link service not only saves you money but you are not adding to the commuter congestion that brings Winchester to a stand still every morning and evening. If you are a regular traveller you can buy a weekly ticket for £17, there really is no contest, its cheaper than travelling by car, its quicker and cheaper than going via Southampton Central and you are doing your bit for the environment too. We have also heard this week that if you buy your the Bus Rail-link section of your overall ticket in Winchester Station, or indeed further along the track the bus section reduces to under £5.

How many people really do use this service?
SWT say that only 60 people a day use this service but at the public meeting they had to admit that the 60 figure was based on calculations done over 18 months ago when they decided to axe the service. A recent snap-shot survey by HCC showed that more than 60 a day used the rail-link section of this service and on just one bus during this survey period that our own monitors were on, there were 45 people. We have asked SWT to disclose their records and findings relating to these 60 passengers but they have refused.

How can the working group monitor the rail-link service between now and July 2008?
We can't. SWT have offered to fund 3 additional morning and evening buses on the X66 service between now and July 2008, and we are expected to monitor those buses to ascertain the viability of the service. These 6 buses are not a rail-link service because they do not link up with the trains, which will immediately reduce passenger numbers because commuters priority will be to get to work and with this limited service they will not be able to do this so will resort to getting in their cars. As a result SWT and Stagecoach will get the answer they want, that these buses are under used and not worth retaining.

SWT say the existing rail-link service looses them over £100,000 a year is this true?
We only have their public relations persons word for this because we have not been shown any figures or studies to support this claim. We have been told that the Stagecoach X66 service is financially viable so we can not understand why the additional rail-link buses are not.

Have SWT looked at any ways of reducing costs in order to keep the service going?
SWT have not offered any explanation for this, except that they are a train company and not a bus company. Save Our Bus campaigners have offered several solutions as to how they could reduce costs and increase sales to keep the service running: