The buses used to have to be manned by an Aslef member (driver) and RMT (guard). The ASLEF guy just used to sit reading a paper all trip as he wasn’t qualified to drive a bus. However, as complaints were made by the Unions about the dangerous driving and speeding of many coach drivers, and coupled with the fact most RRB take longer to complete the journeys than normal trains, the railway staff who used to get trains to work were late in and late getting home, or it had knock on effects with the rosters for other services. Therefore, it is now normal for the train operating companies to lay on special taxis for their staff rather than letting them use the RRB, and during Covid the Unions banned its members from using RRBs completely.
9B Stockport Edgeley, 9F Heaton Mersey