Au Morandarte Flickr IMG 9819 (14799113313) (cropped)

A rail replacement bus service uses buses to replace a passenger train service on a temporary or permanent basis. The train service that is replaced may be of any type such as light rail,

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

, regional rail or heavy rail,

intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

passenger service. The rail service may be replaced if the line is closed because of rail maintenance, a breakdown of a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

, a rail accident or a strike action or to simply provide additional capacity or if the rail service is not economically viable. Terms for a rail replacement bus service include bustitution (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words and bus bridge. Substitution of rail services by buses can be unpopular and subject to criticism and so the term ''bustitution'' is often used pejoratively.An example appears in a 2009 editorial. See:

Examples

Australia

In Australia, a permanent or temporary rail replacement service change is often referred to as ''bustitution''. In November 1941, the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...

introduced its first rail replacement service, which operated a service from

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

to Kojonup via Boddington. By 1949, there were 28 buses, and by 1959, there were more than 50. The Sydney Metro Northwest line used human-driven single-deck buses late at night from Wednesdays to Sundays and operated a red Metro bus-like service with a frequency of approximately every 10 minutes until November 2019. That measure was in place since the line was deemed "ready" 10 months ahead of schedule. On the

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

network, to relieve congestion on the single track Sunshine Coast line, the rail service is supplemented by a bus service operated by Kangaroo Bus Lines on weekdays between Caboolture and

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

as route 649. NSW TrainLink,

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

and

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cros ...

all introduced extensive networks in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the 1970s and the 1980s that replaced regional trains.

Canada

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

, the operator of the national passenger rail network, uses the term "bustitution" to refer to rail replacement with buses.

Czech Republic

Substitute bus transport ( cz, náhradní autobusová doprava) is governed by the Road Traffic Act (111/1994 Coll.), which allows the operator of a national, regional, tram,

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

or special line to operate substitute transport for up to 90 days in the case of interrupted or temporarily-restricted traffic on the line without the requirement to apply for a bus line license and have approval of the line's schedule. The law also mandates vehicles used for substitute transport to be marked as such. In municipal public transport, substitute transport often takes on the number of the line that it replaces, prefixed by the letter X, and the original line is detoured. In cities with trolleybus systems, rail replacement buses also occasionally used for substitute transport and is then called substitute trolleybus transport ( cz, náhradní trolejbusová doprava).

Ireland

As in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, buses have replaced rail services on closed lines. The most recent example can be found in County Wexford. where upon the suspension of rail services between

Rosslare Europort Rosslare Europort ( ga, Europort Ros Láir) is a modern seaport located at Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland, near the southeasternmost point of the island of Ireland. The port is the premier Irish port serving the European Contin ...

and

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

in 2010, Bus Éireann route 370 was introduced. However, the bus takes considerably longer than the train journey and fails to serve

Waterford railway station Waterford railway station (Plunkett Station, ga, Phort Láirge Stáisiún Phluincéid) serves the city of Waterford in County Waterford, Ireland. The station is located across Rice Bridge on the north side of the city. There are two bays at ...

Japan

Busses have replaced rail in Japan when rail service must be suspended because of disaster, accident, economics, or engineering works. Notably, in some cases. those rail lines are closed permanently, and some of the former rail rights-of-way are converted into bus rights-of-way to provide grade-separated bus rapid transit service.

New Zealand

When train services operated by

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

train services are sometimes replaced by a bus, the resulting service is called ''Rail Bus''. Historically,

New Zealand Railways Road Services The New Zealand Railways Road Services (NZRRS) was a branch of the New Zealand Railways Department and later the New Zealand Railways Corporation. It operated long-distance, tourist and suburban bus services and freight trucking and parcel serv ...

replaced many train routes with buses.

Sweden

While the reconstruction of Slussen, the western terminal of Saltsjöbanan, is in progress, trains on line 25 run only to Henriksdal, one station short of Slussen, with the segment between Slussen and Henriksdal served by a replacement bus 25B that is timed to match the train times at Henriksdal. SL line 7 bus

Sometimes, buses can be seen running on line 7, the

Spårväg City Spårväg City is a tram line in central Stockholm, inaugurated in 2010. It is the first tram line in regular traffic in central Stockholm since 1967. The service is run by AB Stockholms Spårvägar for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), using the ...

tram line, even when trams are running normally. In the night after 01:00, there is no service on the Stockholm Metro and the commuter rail, and night buses run along the line instead.

United Kingdom

Au Morandarte Flickr DSC01816 (10522333236)

During the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

's railway rationalisation in the 1960s, known as the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...

, bus substitution was an official policy for replacing train services on closed lines. The policy was largely unsuccessful, however, as the bus services were usually far slower than the train services that they replaced, and many passengers gave up on public transport altogether. Rail replacement bus services have been used to operate

parliamentary train A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act req ...

services. * When North London Railways services between

Watford Junction Watford Junction is a railway station that serves Watford, Hertfordshire. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), 17 miles 34 chains from London Euston and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. Journeys to London take between 16 ...

and

Croxley Green Croxley Green is both a village and a suburb of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is also a civil parish. Located on the A412 between Watford to the northeast and Rickmansworth to the southwest, it is approximately northwest of central ...

were withdrawn in March 1996, to avoid the legal complications and costs of actual closure, train services were replaced by buses. The service was withdrawn when the branch was formally closed in September 2003. * After the withdrawal of

Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division o ...

services between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, to facilitate the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

upgrade at the request of the Strategic Rail Authority in May 2003,

BakerBus BakerBus was the trading name used by the bus fleet of Bakers Coaches, a bus and coach operator based in Biddulph, Staffordshire, England. Formed as a coach operator in 1936, they grew to operate a fleet of around 50 vehicles on local bus servic ...

route X1 was introduced to serve Norton Bridge,

Stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

Barlaston Barlaston is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stafford in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is roughly halfway between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the small town of Stone. According to the 2001 census the population of the ...

and

Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...

stations. When the train service was reintroduced by

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

in December 2008, only Stone regained a rail service, and the other stations continued to be served by route X1. In October 2017, the Department for Transport (DfT) declared Norton Bridge station closed but continued the partial funding of the replacement bus service until March 2019. As of 2019, Barlaston and Wedgwood stations continue to be served by

D&G Bus D&G Bus is a local bus operator owned by Centrebus Group and is based in Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. History D&G Bus was formed by David Reeves and Gerald Henderson in April 1998 initially operating four buses on two routes ...

replacement route 14. The DfT partly funds the contractual service while it seeks a solution to demands for the restoration of the train service. The bustitution existed for 16 years, as of 2019. After the withdrawal of services by

Arriva CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) i ...

between

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and Brighton in December 2008, the only passenger services on three short sections of line between

Ealing Broadway Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

and Wandsworth Road, a replacement weekly bus service was introduced. The service ceased in June 2013, after a formal closure process had been completed.

United States

Rail-replacement bus services occurred on a large scale after the dismantling of the street railway systems of many cities in North America in the mid-20th century.An example from

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, may be seen in a picture caption: Replacement of existing rail services with buses after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

is one of the largest reasons that so few US cities have rapid transit systems. The temporary substitution of buses for trains may be done with

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

's Thruway Motorcoach service. The G Line (formerly the Orange Line) of the

Los Angeles Metro The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angeles ...

runs along a paved closed course on the easement from the original Southern Pacific Railroad Burbank line, which was later used by the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

. It may eventually be converted back to light rail with Measure M funding, but that is not currently scheduled to happen until around 2050.

Singapore

An incident occurred in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

on 7 July 2015 after a mass shutdown on the North South East West Lines after a power system failure. The operator SMRT and the rival SBS Transit did not activate bus bridging but made all buses free islandwide because of the sheer scale of the disruptions. The Land Transport Authority made travel free available for any bus services passing MRT stations that were affected during the train disruptions, and during a massive disruption affecting at least two lines, bus travel islandwide was made free.

Urban transit

Rail-replacement bus services are common among

urban rail transit Urban rail transit is an all-encompassing term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories ...

systems, mainly because of unexpected service disruptions. For example, one of the effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York was that the New York City Subway required replacement bus service for several subway routes. As the subway runs 24/7/365, replacement bus service is also provided when subway lines were closed for regularly-scheduled maintenance and so interruptions in subway service require replacement bus service, even during off-peak hours. Planning rail-replacement services in a high-patronage environment, such as a high-capacity

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

network, requires efficient use and management of time and resources to prevent major travel disruptions. Thats was exemplified by a July 2015 shutdown on the

Toronto subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rail ...

during rush hour from a communication system breakdown in which the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

opted not to use replacement buses, as "it wasn't possible to replace the entire subway's capacity with buses".

References

External links

* * {{Public transport, state=collapsed Public transport Bus terminology Replacement bus service