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March 08, 2006
A whole pile of responses
I have in my hand ... a grain of sand.
Is it a pile of sand? No - it's just a GRAIN of sand. One grain can't make a pile.
Let's add a second grain. Is that a pile? Clearly not. And how about with a third grain? It's very hard to draw the line, and it's very hard to say "THAT is a pile but THAT wasn't" at any time you add a grain.
Seven responses to a government consultation concerning the withdrawal of train services from Swindon to Southampton, and the knock on effect on Melksham in particular which loses most of its trains, can't be considered to be a significant pile but then it didn't make the grade because meny of us weren't even aware that the consultation was happening.
Now, with just a little bit of local publicity, there's been many more responses to First Group's consultation on the detail of the plans - I know personally of around 40 people who have responded in the last 48 hours. THAT is, by any sensible measure, is much more significant. And I suspect it's just the tip of the iceberg, for why should people tell me that they're responding?
Many, many thanks to everyone who's heeded the calls from me, from other active groups, and from First for inputs to the current timetabling exercise. I don't know whether it will lead to any better timetable but it very well might, and I'm sure it won't lead to a backward step from the draft!
Photo - public information from National Institute of Standards and Technology
Posted by gje at March 8, 2006 05:13 PM