bizarre travel story

My cousin emailed this news story to me last week:

Sydney to Gosford... via Brisbane?
http://au.travel.yahoo.com/special-features/sydney-gosford-via-brisbane/

We've all decied to take the scenic route home every once in a while, but
these six CityRail passengers got a lot more than they bargained for after
accidentally boarding the wrong bus.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the ordeal began on Sunday evening
when the CityRail service to Newcastle, via the Central Coast, was held up
at Hornsby station after an accident. After a two-hour delay, the passengers
were herded off the train and on to coaches hired by RailCorp.

Seven passengers bound for the Central Coast boarded a Pegasus coach.
Unfortunately, it was a vehicle hired to transport passengers from an
interstate CountryLink train which had also been delayed at Hornsby Station.

Among the unlucky travellers were an elderly couple, a teenage boy who was
supposed to make it back in time for a curfew and Jerome Conway, a student
studying at the University of Sydney.

The full extent of
their predicament was revealed shortly after the passengers noticed the
outskirts of Newcastle passing them by.

When questioned, the driver told them they were on their way to Brisbane and
regulations prevented him from diverting from his route.

According to Mr Conway, there were no signs or announcements to indicate the
destination of the buses.

"The driver told us, 'Sorry, mate, too late. You're going to have to go all
the way to Brisbane,' I just wanted to get home to Gosford," he said.

Mr Conway told the Sydney Morning Herald that the driver informed the
passengers about Pegasus's contract with RailCorp, not permitting him to
pick up or set down passengers between stops.

While the bus would make two stops along the way, they were in small towns,
and the passengers were better off enduring the 10-hour bus ride to
Brisbane.

Mr Conway arrived in Brisbane on Monday morning and was told he would need
to pay his own way back to Sydney on that afternoon's train.

A spokesman for Pegasus told the Herald the use of buses as last-minute
replacements for trains often created "confusion about who goes where...
because everyone is upset about having to get off the train".

RailCorp has offered to reimburse the passengers for their return journey
and additional costs.