A reminder of just HOW inappropriate our current service is ... I was writing to someone about my travels in the last seven days:

"My last six journeys in and out of Melksham were by road - two by bus to 'connect' with a train, two by bus all the way, and two by car because public transport was UTTERLY impractical for the journey!"

Although the forum here has been quiet for a month, that's not to say that everything has been quiet.   There are a lot of general topics (and quite a bit that references the TransWilts) on "The Coffee Shop" at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop ... and there have been meetings, and are meetings to come, behind the scenes.   

You'll have noticed that I quoted the word 'connect' when talking about my recent journet to Melksham by train and bus.     The train from London is scheduled into Chippenham and 20:45 .. the bus leaves at 20:44.    So I (and my fellow passengers) had to arrive on the previous train and hang around at a buffet-closed Chippenham station.  The bus arrived (from Chippenham BUS station) completely empty, and a handful of us got on ... just one passenger got off prior to Melksham.

If the bus had properly connected (i.e. 10 minutes) and was shown on station departure boards:
a) I would have been home 20 minutes earlier
b) There would be a lot more passengers, meaning it needed less subsidy!

If there had been a connecting train ...
a) I would hev been home about 40 minutes earlier
b) Passenger count would have been much higher. I am not going to speculate on pricing effect - not done my sums