Quote from my full report on meeting attended last night

Thirdly, Transport. And, no, I was not the first one to raise this!  Major concerns at Corsham as to the access to major new employment areas.  Major concerns about removal of X4 / X5 bus services, and concerning the virtual elimination of bus services to Mere.  And, yes, I did ask about practical services to and from Melksham, and linking Chippenham to Trowbridge and Salisbury for those who don't have cars or who (more and more) prefer the greener alternative but don't have the time to spend on the remaining buses.

The (proposed?) budget for public transport for the next year is 17 million pounds. According to Sandra Schofield, the chief financial officer, that amount is a political decision. The lion's share of that budget is for getting school children to and from school; most of the rest is bus projects / support. The rail support budget is zero. "You know that already" says Dr Robinson rather testily; actually, I didn't - I know it was zero this year.

There's certainly unrest even in those parts of the Wiltshire that rely on the buses at the moment - seeing cuts and reductions of useful services.   With new regulations that put up the cost of operating buses on routes over 30 miles, and with buses filled at times with passengers who are paying nothing themselves, and for which the bus company is paid only a half of what they would normally sell a seat for, the costs for the companies are going up and they're cutting back.   This isn't just a Wiltshire issue - I have heard the same for Exeter and Torbay areas and for Cornwall.

One solution would simply be to let the services fold, giving pensioners in many areas a free pass on nothing. That's against the County Council's objectives.  A second solution would be for the County Council to support buses more financially - but their chief financial officer already described the bus public transport budget as being "a very high amount" so I don't think they're inclined to go that way.   A third solution would be to encourage the use of buses for the shorter / radial journeys, with Gateway connections in to railheads for longer trips.   The railway lines are already there (even if the trains are lacking in one or two places) and you'll end up with a more efficeint system for the economy of the area, and a system that people will actually use.  Alas - I don't see the council going for this one as - although they are the transport authority - they don't have final say on rail so it would mean supporting something that wasn't a part of their own kingdom.


It was interesting - very intesting - to be reading elsewhere about just how low a proportion of people will cheerfully use a bus rather than a train; I know that I have seen it and estimated that the drop off in traffic is around 80%, but perhaps the figure could be still higher.   On that same basis, a properly integrated / spec'd system that took advantage of both would be much more efficient that the current movement towards long distance travel using a series of slow and always-more-infrequent buses with changes at Marshfield, Warminster, Pewsey and the like.