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October 25, 2005
The storm's eye?
These are the weeks during which the Department for Transport will be going through the three bids for the Greater Western Franchise, and deciding who's going to be awarded the service for the next seven years.
To some extent, we're at the "eye of the storm".
I've corresponded with all three bid teams and had replies from the top ponchos (at least, they're signed by the top ponchos!) and done my best to contribute a strong and argued case for Melksham without sending so much correspondence that it get to the stage of "it's that Graham Ellis from Melksham AGAIN", and without stretching any point beyond what is reasonable.
I've corresponded with my MP and he's duly acknowledged and asked the Department for Transport for further information and passed my point on; I await a substantive reply but really I should allow a little longer for that.
I've corresponded with the Department for Transport (mostly a one way traffic, I regret to say - but then thay say that they can't even acknowledge every letter on a subject if they get a flood) to make them aware of the TransWilts line and Melksham, and new data that wasn't available at the time that the Invitation to Tender was issued.
I've generated local interest; there's been 12000 "Save the Train" / "Melksham Station" leaflets printed and posted through almost every door ... to the extent that I've nearly run out. We've had a couple of meetings and a Kiss and Ride and last Saturday I could be seen walking through the town with a mask and a "Save the train" badge.
Now, really, we need to see who's going to be running the service.
Last Saturday in town, rumours were rife. Someone told me he had it that the First group were hot favourites, and someone else said that he had it on good authority that Stagecoach had good as won it. I don't know; I do know that we should be ready, as we come out of the eye of the storm, to congratulate the successful bidder and see how we can work best with them in the interests of travellers from Melksham, and travellers who want to go across Wiltshire - Chippenham to Salisbury, Swindon to Trowbridge, and so on.
Posted by gje at 07:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2005
Warminster Bus Running Day, 2005
We attended the Warmister Bus Running day today - a huge number of veteran and vintage buses dating back to 1948 running a variety of routes centred on the town. Great time had by all.
I'm all for integration of transport and for modernisation. The bus pictured here was from the old route 50 which started in (?) Bath then ran through Melksham, Devizes and Shrewton then ot to Salisbury. A route that's no longer operated ... although many of the sections are. Perhaps that's due to changing demand.
When I was in town yesteday, it stuck me the number of people who wanted to discuss the train with me and the points they came up with. So MANY people tell me that they would use the train if it was more frequent and regular; "hourly" seems the key. Alas, that would require some forward thinking and perhaps a trimming of the route to Chippenham-to-Westbury if it was to be serviced by a single train, or for it to run up from Salisbury which would be far more logical in terms of providing the increased frequency that's needed on Salisbury to Westbury too, and the through service.
Like I say, great time had by all today. Buses from all around; we joined the Bristol Omnibus at Westbury station to feed into the even, seeing various rail replacement buses there including one from a company in Ledury. I really wonder at the effectiveness of using such distant suppliers, but no doubt someone knows what they're doing
Posted by gje at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
The system is overcomplex - no wonder some odd things happen
I travelled one stop on the train - from Keynsham to Bristol - yesterday morning. The tracks over which I travelled are owned by Network Rail - that's a government owned sorta-quango that's set up in such a way that its assets don't actually appear in government stats. I bought my ticket from Wessex Trains - they're a part of the National Express group. I travelled on a train operated by South West Trains - they're part of the Stagecoach group. And I arrived at a station at which my ticket was checked upon exit by First Great Western. The whole shooting match is administered by the Department for Transport who have taken over in the last few months from the Strategic Rail Authority, and the whole shooting match is regulated by the Office of the Rail Regulator.
I dread to think how much of my 3 pound fare for the six minute ride was spend in allocating my payment around between the 10 names I have quoted.
And I think it's little wonder that with such an overcomplex system that services being specified for the future are being criticised as inappropriate in Bicester, in Cornwall, in Westbury, and in Melksham.
Posted by gje at 06:08 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2005
A case of the tail wagging the dog??
Is the service level requirement set by the passenger requirement, or by the number of trains that happen to be available? Outside the current franchise, but I was on the South West Trains service from Keynsham into Bristol Temple Meads at 07:44 this morning. Full, standing, and indeed standing so close to one another it was almost uncomfortable.
Is it possible that some of the current problems / reduced specification is due to the lack of equipment due to no-one having the foresight and/or motivation and/or responsibility to make sure that there are acutally enough trains / seats to go up and down the line?
Posted by gje at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Kiss and Ride report
Perhaps it's not every eveyone's ideal Tuesday Morning, but I really enjoyed being at the station as the 06:56, the 07:45 and the 09:12 went through - meeting commuters, handing out coffees, and discussing the use and future of the service. Many thanks to Wessex Trains for giving their permission for the event (as promised, we left just a dry patch on the platform), and to all the people who came along to help or simply to offer their support.
The lull between the trains
I've never seen the station car park at Melksham full to overflowing before!
Posted by gje at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2005
Ready for Tuesday
This will sound like a well worn record KISS AND RIDE - TUESDAY ....
Under normal circumstances, I would have to explain to the wife when I'm pictured in the Melksham Independent News with a lady who's not my wife kissing me. Fortunatley, these are not normal circumstances as the shot was actually posed by my wife, who's the photographer.
Come along on Tuesday morning - early for your train, or between trains if you're not travelling, and I'll tell you the full story.
I also have new handouts ...
Quick Timetables for Melksham to Bath and Bristol, and Melksham to London
Some facts and figures ... and some addresses to write to
Pocket timetable - Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Salisbury of the sort that really should be easily available but apparently isn't. Oh - and the rear of the page tells you all about the Santa special.
Posted by gje at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
Bump from Glasgow
I want to remind you of the "Kiss and Ride" Next Tuesday Morning. We'll be serving teas and coffees to commuters and we'll have some new quick reference timetables, lists of addresses and other publicity pieces and really useful information to hand out. They're currently in draft form ...
The term "bump" is a techical one to bounce a subject up to the top of the pile on a diary such as this ... and if you wonder about the Glasow reference ... I'm giving a course in Glasgow today, and posting this from my hotel room in the City.
Posted by gje at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
New stats prove it - the service IS used
Delighted to see that people are writing to the MPs and Department for Transport ... that's from personal emails copied to me. Excellent.
Case made even stronger by new statistics from the Office of the Rail Regulator this morning - see stats page
Please excuse my language here ... Jesus! if an increase of traffic by over 7 times in five years isn't enough, what do the Department for Transport want? Blood??
Posted by gje at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Tracking codes for TransWilts stations
These days, all stations have 3 letter tracking codes that you can use when calling up information online or on your mobile phone. Here they are for the "TransWilts" line ... with links to the current train running and station information databases
SWI - Swindon --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
CPM - Chippenham --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
MKM - Melksham --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
TRO - Trowbridge --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
WSB - Westbury --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
DMH - Dilton Marsh --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
WMN - Warminster --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
SAL - Salisbury --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
DEN - Dean --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
DBG - Dunbridge --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
ROM - Romsey --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
SOU - Southampton Central --- Links - Train Running and Station Information
Posted by gje at 02:05 PM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2005
Try the train on 18th October
Tuesday, 18th October is Kiss 'n' Ride day!
We're handing out hot drinks (teas and coffees) to anyone joining the 07:45 to Chippenham and Swindon and the 09:12 to Trowbridge and Westbury.
Why slog into work by car that day? Get your partner to drop you off at Melksham station, and let the train take the strain. Or drive yourself to the station - there's free partking available.
Return trains from Wesbury and Trowbridge arrive in Melksham just after 5, and from Swindon just after 6 that evening.
This day is being run with the help of the Melksham Rail Development group and Wessex Trains
Posted by gje at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2005
And more train users ...
A busy week for me - an Apache Tomcat course to present on Monday and Tuesday, and a Python course (that's a programming language) on Thursday and Friday contrived to fill my time.
Fairly typically, there were two or less customer cars parked at our training centre each day, even though we had seven trainees on the first course and six on the second. Why so few cars? Because people prefer to use the train ... or have to use the train because they don't have a car, or can't drive.
Friday evening ... we wrap up the course at 16:30 and run a lift to the station for three trainees; that's two journeys, Melksham to Derby and one journey, Melksham to London. I was at the station early; I don't know how many others came along from elsewhere to board, or how busy the 17:02 (a threatened service) was. I do know that one of our trainees had arrived at that time on Tuesday and told me that there were between 10 and 20 passengers.
Posted by gje at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
Six NEW factors why the TransWilts train that serves Melksham should be enhanced and not cut
1. Ticket sales from and to Melksham station (served only by trains on that route) rose from 20390 in 2003-2004 to 27485 in 2004-2005 - that's a 35% increase in tickets
2. Weekend and offpeak use of the line has increased. As a long standing user of this service, I have felt that it has been getting busier. When I became aware of the proposed new frachise service level, I noted down some current figures and can tell you that weekend services I have used in the last couple of months have conveyed 35 and 22 passengers respectively.
3. The local transport plan for Wiltshire puts this line at the heart of its rail strategy. "The Swindon / West Wilts / Southampton service should be developed as it has considerable potential to help relieve local transport and environmental problems". It is my understanding that this strategy was being revised at the same time as the franchise bid levels, and so it may not have been considered when the levels were being set for the bid requests.
4. Consultations and Invitation to tender for the franchise were concurrent activities, so there was little or no stakeholder input into the proposed service levels. (Indeed, there were discussions held as to how consultations might be minimised) Such input has now become more available and should be considered. The fact that no input was received at a time that no input had been requested cannot be used to draw the conclusion that the local community does not care about the rail service! See next point.
5. I became aware as a private individual, and operator of a local business in Melksham, of the proposed level of service from a newspaper article in August, and it came as a surprise. In order to gauge support along the travel corridor of the railway, I wrote to the local paper and put up a web site (ref 6). In the following month, some 500 different people visited the web site and some 60 went to the trouble of completing forms of support to add their name to the cause. A meeting called with little publicity - and by me as a private individual - drew some 30 people to a meeting with a similar number of apologies received.
6. Business and housing development in Melksham, the removal or reduction of medical facilities at the intermediate towns served and their concentration at the end of this railway line, and the building of the County record office at Chippenham (as an offshoot of the council which is based in Trowbridge, also on the route) are all recent factors that will lead to a continued growth of use of this railway service over the next year ... and beyond should the service still be offered.
*** All of the above came to light AFTER the Strategic Rail Authority drew up their Invitition to Tender with the through services on the West Wilts route totally withdrawn.
*** These are additions to the other good reasons already listed for saving the service - see main web site
*** There IS a variation mechanism in place under which the Department for Transport can vary the level of service to be provided at the preferred bidder stage, or after the award
Posted by gje at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2005
Tuesday, 18th October - Kiss and Ride day
On Tuesday, 18th October, we'll be serving coffee to commuters and others leaving on the 07:45 from Melksham to Chippenham and Swindon, and on the 09:12 to Trowbridge and Westbury.
If you're a commuter, but you're not a regular user of the line, please come along and try it that morning.
There's plenty of space to get dropped off at the station - let your partner keep the car for the day rather than fighting your way up the A350 into Chippenham, along the M4 to Swindon, or into Bythesea Road in Trowbridge (yes, I'm encouraging county workers ;-) ).
There's also parking at Melksham station ... and (you won't hear this very often) ... it's FREE.
If you're not a commuter but know someone who is ... please tell them too. The more the merrier - it's NOT just by invite. The train is there for all to use and we should all use it when appropriate!
Posted by gje at 07:21 AM | Comments (2)
October 02, 2005
Quotes from Government
I've spent much of today preparing an argued case to have the level of service on the Swindon (Melksham, Trowbridge, Salisbury) - Southampton route reconsidered at the time that the Greater Western Franchise is awarded and beyond. We've got a good case, I feel - six very good factors for them to consider which have arisen AFTER the invitation to tender was prepared, rather than asking them to go over ground on which they've already taken a position.
The web ... and freedom of information ... are a marvellous source of data, though it can take many hours to find things. And sometimes you find some real nuggets!
"DfT has asked for proposals on how consultation on forthcoming Franchise Specifications may be minimised ... " Oh - wow. I think that says that they want to set up the new franchises with as little possible outside input as they can get away with ...
"On GW, XXX noted that consultation being conducted concurrently with issuing of ITT would be unpopular with stakeholders, although some consultation was already being carried out through the Great Western RUS. It was agreed that simultaneous consultation and issuing of the ITT was the only viable option remaining. If any substantial changes became necessary as a result of consultation they could be implemented either at the preferred bidder stage or through the variation mechanism after the start of the franchise." And I think that says that they're issuing the invitation to tender even though the consultation process as to what should be in it isn't complete. But never mind, there's a mechanism to alter it later if that has to be ...
Actually, I'm heartened by the quotes. It gives me high moral ground (at least) to say "You didn't consult properly" and "it's not too late - you CAN take your customers into account; you DO have a mechanism". But at the same time, I'll admit to sitting here for a minute or two, open mouthed, when I found http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_foi/documents/divisionhomepage/041078.hcsp
Posted by gje at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2005
Would this government close a station completely?
Yes, they would.
Yesterday was the last day of services at Etruria station, near Stoke on Trent.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said that the decision had been made to allow faster journey times for other passengers, claiming that few journeys started or ended at the station. The pressure group Transport 2000 said it had been well used until services were drastically cut 3 years ago ... full official story
Posted by gje at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)