Hi, we're utterly open to the whole line / use - indeed you'll find me talking a lot about Swindon to SOuthampton and TransWilts.   True, the seed for the campaign was Melksham.   And if you ask (as I did) for statistics for journeys on the line as a whole, the office of the rail regulator will say "all we have is figures for ticket sales at Melksham ...." so it goes full circle.

In practise, it's much more complex even than that; many travellers make connections and other services will be effected - in other words, the income lost by the railway would be more that just the fares on th elocal train.   But, alas, many of the users aren't the letter writing / compaining sort who will write to the powers that be, or attend meetings that much.   I suppose it's people who inclinded to be articulate have probably enough money to own and run a car .... that's a dreadful, sweeping generlisation of course and a very tough point to make and remain p.c.

Alas, a few half-hours spent letter writing, the odd evening attending a meeting to be addressed by an MP, could have saved so many hour-and-a-half commutes from Trowbridge to Swindon in the future.   From Trowbridge, there IS the alternative bus service (49) although it takes twice as long as the train, and you can make the journey by rail but change in Bath - not always a good connection and a nightmare with children / luggage / if disabled.  There's an argument that says that the TransWilts train for the Trowbridge - Swindon traffic is duplicating other public transport alternatives and is not vital - however, your commnets about the car / road option confirm my view that few people do, in fact, consider "bus" or "via Bath" viable.

I and one or two others have taken time to travel on the trains, hand out flyers, keep people informed about what's going on and ask them to write, to come along on occasions, etc.   The response has been grattifying in terms of the immediate personal contacts; people have changed from an "I don't want to talk to you" attitude as we say our first word or two into "I utterly support you and tell me more" and yes please do give me information.  It's hard to tell just how many letters have been written as a result, but I know that very few people have attended meetings.  I'm disappointed, but shouldn't be; with a marketing campaign, a 1% or 2% response may be considered good.  For a train load of 40 people, that translates to perhaps 1 person following up on average.

For every person who buys a ticket to / from Melksham, another 3 ride the train and stay on at Melksham - the journeys made are around 109,000 per annum (figures from First's new area manager).  And those are figures very much in line with what I had surmised.  Finding those people AND OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN PUT OFF AND WOULD USE A SERVICE isn't straightforward - it's like hunting a needle in a haystack, and a rusty needle too - one that hides in the straw and doesn't stand out to say "here I am".   If you've anything magic - anything like a magnet that you can use to filre the straw and pull the needles to our attention, I would love to know.