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August 29, 2006
Bus connections to Melksham from Chippenham
From 17th September, it looks like Melksham will have some morning buses to Chippenham that call at the station there, and later afternoon and evening buses back direct from Chippenham station.
I've long advocated improved rail / bus connections, and I've long lamented the absurdity of the 234 bus service to Chippenham going to the bus station at the top of the town without calling at the railway station at the other end of the town. It's made through journeys in the past a nightmare, and it became all the more absurd when the railway station forecourt was remodelled to provide better services there for rail/bus interchange.
"Three cheers" you might expect me to say. And indeed, I am cheering - but it's perhaps one or one-and-a-half cheers, not three.
It seems that just 3 buses a day (the LAST one at 09:24 in the morning!) from Melksham will go via the station in Chippenham. What about people who want to leave Melksham after a day's work and who currently catch the 17:02 train (typical loading - around 30 people)? And what about those people who arrive in to Melksham at 09:11 in the morning? The first bus from Chippenham station doesn't get in until half past four.
You would think, wouldn't you, that with just three services on offer by road, and two by train, that there was scope for spacing them out ... well - there's a train at 07:17 and a bus at 07:22. Hmm - at least that means that if the train (and remember, our trains have a truely drreadful cancellation record) is cancelled, First can easily tell the bus driver to go via Melksham station. Is this by accident or design? I don't know, but I can tell you that I'm very impressed by how First coordinate things.
What's needed is a regular, connecting service. It's what I've advocated for trains, and buses. The buses DO run a regular timing from Melksham to Chippenham during the day - but it's a local service with no on-going connection with the trains.
I DO wish the new bus service well; I know that in an evening, it'll make return journeys from London much, much easier and it's a necessary part of a truely needed integrated transport system for the area. Alas, I hope it doesn't turn out to be one isolated part of a jigsaw that we've been given, which would fail to build up into the whole picture we need.
P.S. Did you notice how woolly I am about the timings of the new service? A timetable I was given, by First, a couple of weeks ago showed me a better service that the one that I found on the West Wilts amendment sheet I picked up over the weekend.
Posted by gje at 07:12 AM | Comments (0)
A year on - an empty bank holiday
As I write this update over August Bank holiday, we have a sad scene indeed.
Last year at this time, I was newly involved in the plight of the train service through Melksham, and travelling up and down over the holiday, I met numberous users - some local, but many tourists, and it taught me what a useful link the service provided.
This year, our train service has been suspended for 9 days. At the busiest time of year. "We have to replace tracks at Wootton Bassett" says Network Rail ... so "we have to suspect the service" say First. Now I'm sure it is operationally convenient for them to suspend the whole line from Westbury to Swindon, but I don't believe it's necessary - the trains could be turned at Chippenham. A variety of excuses offered (a new one conveniently provided when the falasy in a previous excuse is pointed out) seems par for the course. Sadly, I have long learnt that what I'm told is not necessarily the real situation, or even true
Posted by gje at 06:58 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2006
One year on
It's a year to the day since this web site was launched ... and in that time we've had Nine thousand, Nine hundred and Thiry six different visitors to this web site. We've been in touch with hundred and hundreds of people - on our forum, by email, by phone, by post and in person. I've spoken on the radio, appeared on TV, received excellent coverage in the local paper. Support has come from all sides of the political spectrum, and from a-political bodies too - from small local setups to national campaign groups, from the left and from the right. The Swindon to Westbury and beyond train service was raised by all 4 MPs along the line at a debate in Westminster, and senior politicians have visited us to add their weight to the campaign. Not bad going for a domain I registered for 2 quid for the year, and only possible because I'm pushing a cause with huge interest and support.
During the year, I've learnt a lot. What is costs to hire a train, how train timetabling works, all the various levels of government. I've learnt how the current franchise and regulation system doesn't work (at least in our case) to the benefit of the community that it's supposed to serve - how vested political interests, shareholder's interests, the interests of a civil service that feels that consultation is an evil necessity, and more, have lead to a system that's far from being a level playing field. Putting it another way, "it stinks".
I've also learnt of a train service that's grown from 3,000 to 27,000 ticket sales per annum to / from Melksham, with passenger numbers on the line (for through journeys) also growing at around the same rate, reaching a high of 109,000 annual journeys. That's broadly compatable with branch lines such as Liskeard to Looe and Plymouth to Gunnislake, which - although slashed - will continue to enjoy a service we would envy after this coming December.
I've met individuals - many individuals - who will be seriously inconveninenced by a withdrawal of the train. People who have no car but will have to buy one. People who cannot drive for medical reasons who's journeys will be extended by an hour on the bus. People with prams and luggage and disabillities who find changing at Bath stressful to put it mildly. Visitors to Melksham who cannot hop off a train onto a bus at Chippenham ... where they could connect into a train.
I've learnt of local transport plans, and seen the regional spatial strategy develop. New housing going in right beside the station at Melksham, growth in Chippenham, in Trowbridge, in Westbury ... and I've read the plans that show the growth will be continuing. I've spoken to people on the train, people on the street, people on line. People who may or may not use the train much now, but who WOULD use it that much more if it was reliable, regular,the station was welcoming, and information was easily available. I have every confidence that the 27,000 ticket sales would continue to grown, compound, 25% per annum for the next 5 years given these conditions.
So why, in the face of overwhelming evidence in favour of the service, are we about to loose the majority of services and have the remaining ones retimed away from when they're needed?
1. The same commercial company runs the buses, the trains that are being cut, and the competing trains via Bath. It's a public transport monopoly, and people have no choice but put up with whatever they're given.
2. The government's railway budget is out of control, and the Department for Transport needs its little victories over minnows such as us in order to save face.
3. There's about a dozen extra freight trains a day planned along the single track line in coming years, (it depends how far you look ahead as to how the numbers rise), and there's not the capacity without signalling improvements. Better kill the service now with 109,000 journeys a year that wait until the freight capacity is required - by that time you may be up to a quarter of a million journeys a year and it would be that much harder to kill.
And so, one year on, we have the absurd situation of a real success story that's going to be killed off in a few months time. The major decision maker - the Department for Transport - continues to stonewall requests to reconsider; in a letter as recently written as last Friday, they tell me that the decison was NOT based only on a single survey that's old and questionable, but they don't go on to tell me what (other) data was used as well. From the tone of the letter, it's clearly still old evidence that the author had in mind; no doubt things like the 3,000 ticket sales the previous time the franchise was awarded.
The Department for Transport does also talk of growth assumptions made by the service specifiers in the early part of last year. Again - no details of what those assumptions were. I wonder ... I was always taught that to assume is to make an ASS out of U and ME. I don't know about me, but they've certainly made an ass out of themselves in my view.
My year's registration of the "savethetrain.org.uk" domain that I bought for 2 quid a year ago ... has been renewed. I'll continue to press the argued case for an appropriate TransWilts train service, and in the short term I consider that a service every 2 hours each way is appropriate. With future growth, "appropriate" may well extend to add in stops at Wootton Bassett, Lacock, Staverton / Holt, White Horse and Wilton. Service may grow to hourly, and be linked at Salisbury into the Waterloo to Salisbury service. It's a strong commercial case, both to ptovide the TransWilts service and to bring some real competition in on routes such as Chippenham to London.
Posted by gje at 06:39 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2006
Has our publicity reached the right people?
Sadly, I have to admit that a lot of the publicity from this site hasn't reached the right people.
Three years ago, there were six train services from Swindon
They were to London, to Bristol, to South Wales, to Gloucester, to Southampton and to Oxford. The Oxford service was lost, we were told, because of network overcrowding in the Bristol / Bath area.
The there were five ...
This December, the Southampton service is scheduled to cease - the last through train running at 17:43 on Friday, 8th December.
Then there will be four ...
Now I would not expect every train user at Swindon to realise that they're about to loose yet another service, especially if it's not one they use on a regular basis personally. But I would have expected that user groups, individuals, committees that represent customers to the operators would have been been aware of the proposed withdrawal. Sadly, not the case Incredible though it may seem, although we've had over 9,700 different visitors to this site in just under a year, there are huge gaps in who we have reached - I never cease to be amazed. What it DOES tell me is that this thing is far bigger that I had thought - if 9,700 visitors is poor market penetration, then what could we have achieved with good penetration? And just how many people are going to be effected by the cuts?
Oh - wait - we've already been told. 109,000 journeys per year are curently made on the service that's to go.
Posted by gje at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2006
Flowers for Melksham. Flowers at Melksham.
The train service to Melksham is much valued by the local community. The station may be set in the back of an industrial estate, and it may be pretty minimalistic, but it's cherished and cared for. This year, with the First Group operating the service, you'll see that one of the unpaid friends of the station has carefully planted flowers in First's colours as a welcome to them. I'm told it's no easy matter keeping the flowers up at the station; it doesn't have a water supply and water has to be carried in from elsewhere - perhaps liaising with a local business on the estate at times that they're open, or bringing the water further if need be.
We do care for our train service in Melksham. And we do use it, in ever increasing numbers. There have been reliability issues over the years, and of late engineering works have disrupted the already limited service nearly every weekend - August's no exception with every weekend day effected in some way, and the month ending with complete closure for 9 days.
On current plans, our new train operator will cease running most of our trains in December. They're not being forced to give them up and there's a strong commercial case to run the service - see
We're not taking the planned removal of most of our trains lying down. You'll find activity on this site and elsewhere - including some very high places. Last week, I met our MP for the - let's see - 3rd or 4th time. I also met with some of the folks from the RMT union, and I'm meeting further senior politicians too. Everyone's very much on side to retain / improve the service. Everyone's pressing the case. They and we owe it to the people of Melksham; they care for their service, and if we don't shout about it, it looks like the users who really care for their station and service will be shafted.
Posted by gje at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2006
A desire for honesty
I get very tired of lies. Of the truth being hidden. Of information being published at strategic time like just after the boys and girls we've elected to Westminster are away on their holidays ...
I would actually like to see responses / inputs along the lines of ...
"We've looked at the current passenger traffic level figures supplied by First / the Office of the Rail Regulator / yourself and the growth of West Wiltshire, and in spite of the huge growth of the service shown, we're slashing it now because ...." from the Department for Transport
"We've listened to the views of travellers on the Frome, Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham to Swindon service. In spite of their requests for a peak hour train, we've provided them with a very early morning train and an evening train that do not meet their needs because ...." from First Great Western
A might not like the answers that go in to the "..." sections, but at least we would all know where we stood and we could all look to doing something forwardlooking and practical in terms of "where do we go from here".
Posted by gje at 07:29 AM | Comments (0)