So the councillor says financing the trains is too expensive and buses more economical.  The bus department says financing the buses is too expensive too... so much for the Key Bus Route Network.  The letter is from the Passenger Transport Unit at WCC (Bus Network Manager).

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Thank you for your email - apologies for the delay in replying but we are currently very busy dealing with school transport issues that have arrsien during the new school term..

The Wiltshire Key bus route network is the name given to the existing main bus services that operate between the Wiltshire Towns.  On these services we try to ensure that buses run at least once per hour during the daytimes on weekdays and that if these services serve a City or large town, that evening and Sunday services are provided whenever possible.  We are also gradually upgrading the bus stops and bus shelters on these routes and encouraging the operators to use modern low floor buses.

The buses to Devizes from Salisbury & Chippenham are part of the key bus network and until recently were designed to connect at Devizes with through fares available (the idea of a through service was investigated but proved to be too expensive).  However despite these connections having been in existance for 3 years, the number of passengers travelling from Salisbury through to Chippenham (or vica versa) was minimal, possibly because the total journey time was almost 2 hours and because (apart from the Record Office), there is very little in Chippenham to attract people from Salisbury.  In addition, residents in Chippenham have traditionally preferred to shop in Bath and Swindon which are considerably closer and quicker to get to.

Unfortunately for financial reasons, the timetables for both these services have to be geared around the needs of school and College students and so when the start and finish times at Devizes School were altered, the Chippenham service had to follow suit, making the connections with the Salisbury service much less attractive.  We will be looking at whether we can retime the Salisbury service during 2008 but unfortunately with the small number of passengers using the previous connections, we regret that this cannot be a high priority.

With regard to other ways of getting from Salisbury to Chippenham, the train is still the quickest option depending on the connection times in Bath.  Alternatively, you might wish to use bus service X4 (or the train) to travel from Salisbury to Trowbridge, then take buses 234 or X34 to continue on to Chippenham.  However, this option is still likely to take about 2 hours.

I am sorry that I cannot provide you with a more positive solution to your problem, but if you would like me to send you timetables for any of the services listed above, please email me your postal address.



Regards
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