There I was all packed up and ready to load the trike with the flat rear tyre on the VLine bus at 2.30am this morning and the ‘Coach Captain’ takes one look and says you can’t take ‘that’ bike (referring to my borrowed G7 recumbent trike – contraption) on this bus. I referred to my discussion on the phone with a VLine person who had given me a reservation number: 6610890 and said that it was up to the bus driver’s discretion whether to take the recumbent – presumably allowing for number of passengers and space available in luggage hold etc.
I am a bit….crestfallen, but wait around until all the other passengers have been attended to. By the way, the luggage hold is less than 1/3rd full and there is enough space to fit at least three trikes and any accompanying luggage from three tricyclists.
By the time the driver has attended to all other passengers and gets off the bus to close the luggage door he obviously sees me standing there. Jokingly I say: “It’s a trike with three wheels, not a bike.” To which he says: “No it is not allowed on the VLine bus and that is company policy.” and makes a point of going back onto the bus to show me the apparent policy statement that was apparently issued two years ago that specifies the detail. He might have had a good morning but my borrowed trike wasn’t getting on his service.
I went back to the motel with trike pannier rack in one hand and pannier bag in the other and had some more sleep that was soon interupted by a friendly sms asking if I was on the bus….
The 9.15am Country Link Service with bus to Wagga, required that my borrowed trike would have to fit in a ‘bike box’ for the rail service to Melbourne. In any case, it wasn’t clear whether the bus was going to take the borrowed trike for the first part of this journey. Not going this way either.
Plan C -And Then There Were No Hire Cars Available in Griffith this morning. However I could pay $400 for a suitable vehicle available late in the day to get me to Melbourne… to be continued.
Sorry to hear of your problems. As you know we have a bus that comes up here from Dubbo. Stories & personal observation leads me to believe that these drivers (calling them Coach Captains gives them a perceived status way above what they deserve) are specially bred with a zero level of customer service. Helps country travelers & tourism no end, I don’t think. Hope by now you are home & handed back your fat tyre, sorry, flat tyre.