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Topic: Almost Parliamentary Written Questions (Read 3214 times)
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Lee
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Parliamentary Written Questions are all the rage these days , but unfortunately the House of Commons is in recess. I thought that I would have a go.
To ask the Secretary Of State for Transport , how many car parking spaces are available at Pilning station.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (a) on what basis and (b) when the most recent assessment of how many passengers per day that use Pilning station was made , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , when his officials last assessed the station facilities at Pilning station , and what the results of that assessment were.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , what provision for future railfreight facilities has been made for the Severn Beach area , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary Of State for Transport , how many passengers per day use Clifton Down station.
To ask the Secretary Of State for Transport , how many passengers per day use Filton Abbey Wood station.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , how many car parking spaces are available at (a) Bodmin Parkway (b) Chippenham (c) Southampton Airport Parkway and (d) Tiverton Parkway stations.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , how many car parking spaces are available at Worle station.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , what steps he is taking to ensure that train movements out of Westbury station comply with Health & Safety regulations from December 2006 , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary Of State for Transport , on (a) what date and (b) by which method he was informed of the 1985 re-opening of Melksham station , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , whether the Bristol - Cardiff line has (a) high level tonnage growth or (b) low level tonnage growth projected to 2015 in the Network Rail Business Plan 2006 , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , what provision for future new stations has been made for the Bristol - Cardiff line , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , what discussions that (a) he or (b) his officials have had with Members Of Parliament about the Bristol Showcase Bus Routes Scheme , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State For Transport , what steps he is taking to ensure that railway timetable - related e-mail attachments sent by his officials remain virus - free.
To ask the Secretary of State For Transport , how many extra freight trains are projected to use the Clifton Extension Line (Narroways Hill Junction – Filton West Junction via Avonmouth) to 2015 , and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , what assessment has been made of usage of the Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover ticket , and if he will make a statement.
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Graham Ellis
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Lee, answers to most of those questions would make eye-opening reading to anyone with a bit of background / knowledge. I suspect most of them could be researched online and the resultant picture might show a gloomy prognosis for public transport (especially rail) users in the broad Severn - towards - Solent area. I'm not sure that PWQs are the be-all and end-all of what's needed to provide a practical and positive outcome for public transport users in the region - they help for sure, but my own experience is that both the franchising authority (DfT) and operator are very good at the political answer - hearing the case / question and answering something different. I set out to get the case for the TransWilts service noticed and realistically looked at by decison makers. So far, I can claim an element of success on my first objective, but abject failure on my second - at least that's how it appears if you judge by the retrograde steps in the final timetable, and the fob-off from Derek Twigg that we got recently. I would be very tempted (on PWQs) to ask further about some of the statistical background ... things like Britrail passes. To quote Transport 2000, "The North American market is particularly important and Britain’s railways have successfully marketed specific products such as the BritRail Pass which are sold in North America with the result that when the visitor arrives in the UK they are already largely ‘captive’ to rail." and yet the figures for Britrail journeys don't get included in most data used to evaluate services. The tourist trade IS very important. Quoting T2000 again: What appears to be clear is that the number of tourists arriving by rail is directly related to the quality of the rail connection. Four million tourists a year visited each town. In Stratford, only 153,000 (4%) of all visitors arrived by rail, compared to York, where 840,000 (21%) of all visitors came by rail. - Link - T2000 sourceOn the TransWilts, you have Salisbury. You have Longleat at Warminster. You have Westbury. You have Holt (the Courts). You have Lacock. I don't know their visitor numbers, but I do know of huge numbers of cars coming to each. Another illustration of a "win/win" potential that's being squandered?? |
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« Last Edit: August 05, 2006, 09:54:24 AM by Graham Ellis »
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Lee
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Here is one of the answers.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport , how many car parking spaces are available at (a) Bodmin Parkway (b) Chippenham (c) Southampton Airport Parkway and (d) Tiverton Parkway stations.
(a) 75
(b) 640
(c) 594
(d) 175
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Lee
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To ask the Secretary Of State for Transport , how many passengers per day use Clifton Down station. To ask the Secretary Of State for Transport , how many passengers per day use Filton Abbey Wood station. Clifton Down station : 1) Is unstaffed. 2) Is centrally located near Bristol Zoo & the University Of Bristol. 3) Is on the Severn Beach line. 4) A respectable number of passengers use this station during off-peak hours. 5) Passengers from this station help to pack out trains during peak hours. Filton Abbey Wood ticket office is open from 1615 - 1915 on Mondays - Fridays. The link below describes the station. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filton_Abbey_Wood_railway_stationHere are the latest station usage figures (2004 - 2005) available from the ORR website (link below.) http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1379Filton Abbey Wood 377,552 (year) , 1034 passengers per day. Clifton Down 141,838 (year) , 388 passengers per day. Interestingly , both stations' passenger usage is shown as having declined. |
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« Last Edit: August 29, 2006, 03:01:20 PM by Lee »
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Lee
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To ask the Secretary of State For Transport , what steps he is taking to ensure that railway timetable - related e-mail attachments sent by his officials remain virus - free. I am sure that you are all dying to know the answer to this one (well , ok , im not sure , but im going to tell you anyway.) On leaving the Government Secure Intranet (GSi) , e - mails are certified as being virus - free by a virus scanning service supplied exclusively by Cable & Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. Quote from the DfT : "The MessageLabs Anti Virus Service is the first managed service to achieve the CSIA Claims Tested Mark (CCTM Certificate Number 2006/04/0007), the UK Government quality mark initiative for information security products and services. For more information about this please visit www.cctmark.gov.uk" |
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Lee
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First have an anti - virus policy too :
"Internet email is not necessarily secure. First does not accept responsibility for changes to any email which occur after the email has been sent. Attachments to this email could contain software viruses which could damage your system. First have checked the attachments for viruses before sending, but you should virus-check them before opening."
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