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April 18, 2008
Population growth, but congested roads
Major development is taking place near our local station - here's a view from the platform on Monday evening showing Spencer's Gate Development, which wasn't there 2 years ago, and which was advertised as being "close to the station"
There's a coupld of things the sales literature didn't say ... that the land that is reserved for an access road from Spencer's Gate to the station was going to have a dirty great fence acorss it to stop people using it, and that in any case most of the trains were just about to be withdrawn. How do people get around? In their cars:
That's simplifying it rather; teh 234 Frome - Trowbridge - Melksham - Chippenham bus does run through the day (and evening, subsidised by the council), but carries few passengers. I counted 3 on the service at about a quarter to 7 on Monday evening from Chippenham. But there were no less that 18 on the train at (schedule) 19:01 that evening.
So a solution that would - in part - help with those congested roads would be the restoration of trains towards a more apporpriate level. There IS a plan in hand for this, but it's 50/50 for whether it succeeds this year - and it needs your support.
If you think that extra trains from here at 08:24, 09:28, 11:17, 12:28, 14:17, 15:28, 17:08 and 18:21 would be a good idea, please have a look here and sign up if youi're happy with the detail too.
Posted by gje at April 18, 2008 04:47 PM