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Title: Express A4 bus route (Wiltshire Whippet) Chippenham to Bath Post by: Lee on February 08, 2021, 08:32:50 https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/complementary-travel-and-transport-schemes
Quote Express A4 bus route (Wiltshire Whippet) Traditional park and ride (P&R) services are usually based at large car parks, located at a city’s periphery, offering direct bus services to the city centre. This model can result in increased vehicle mileage outside of the city, as new car journeys to P&R sites are created by passengers who would have otherwise used public or active modes of travel for the whole journey. Furthermore, providing P&R at the edge of towns and cities for those who have cars abstracts passengers from traditional rural bus services, rendering them unviable and ultimately leading to a reduction in bus access to the city centre. We have commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of a Chippenham to Bath, West of England style metro bus system with Wiltshire Council. This could offer smaller local or ‘pocket’ park and rides along a transport corridor, linked to the bus network and cycle routes. The service would provide local towns and villages along the route with linkages to other key destinations in Bath, such as The Royal United Hospital and Bath’s Universities. Lots of interesting questions here including: - How frequent would the buses be? - Who would operate them? Would it be Faresaver, or could First make a dramatic return? - Where would the local Park & Rides along the route be situated? - How big is a "pocket" ? - Does this mean the prospect of a controversial Park & Ride for Bathampton/Batheaston is finally dead? - Which cycle routes would the bus route link with? - Could what would by necessity be a fast, direct route end up actually taking passengers from existing bus routes along the corridor, causing "abstraction by accident" ? - What would this mean for the prospects for future railway stations at Corsham and Bathampton? - Will grahame and Billy the dog be approached to oversee and lead the scheme? And many more, I suspect ;D Title: Re: Express A4 bus route (Wiltshire Whippet) Chippenham to Bath Post by: grahame on February 08, 2021, 18:45:16 Here's a comparison of bus journey times into Bath from Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham - Wiltshire towns that are about 12 to 15 miles out to the east or south east:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/intobath.jpg) All 3 towns have 2 buses per hour (the table shows the current Monday to Friday services that arrive into Bath between 12:00 and 12:59. Notice how long the buses from Chippenham take compared to the buses from Melksham; if the bus from Melksham is only 15 minutes slower than the drive, and the bus runs every half hour, the bus can become an attractive option for those who have a choice. From Chippenham, with the bus taking nearly three quarters on an hour longer each way, it is not that same attractive option. Abstraction would not be "accidental" - it would be expected - for Chippenham - Corsham and Corsham - Bath journeys. But then at "normal" times there are 3 x x31 per hour and they could be replaced by 2 x x31 and 2 x Whippet - 216 minutes of running only going up by perhaps 10 minutes, with a Whippet taking 40 minutes. Linking cycle routes into buses in interesting for local 'hubs' and is going to require security at the hubs that people are really confident in, or cycles routinely acceptable on the buses. When we ran a hotel here in Melksham, we got lots of guests staying with us to visit Bath. Very, very common question was "which park and ride should we use" and our answer was "Ours - leave your car here and catch the bus just outside". And it worked very well indeed.. A couple of provisos - services on the bus has been reduced to 2 per hour from the 3 or 4 it was in those days; that's OK, but it shouldn't drop further. And Sunday and evening services are so thin that the "park and ride - here!" advise as to be tempered with "if the times can work for you". Title: Re: Express A4 bus route (Wiltshire Whippet) Chippenham to Bath Post by: grahame on February 08, 2021, 19:07:38 Following up ... TRAINS into Bath during that hour.
From TROWBRIDGE at 11:47, 12:09 into Bath - 22 minutes at 12:17, 12:35 into Bath - 18 minutes From MELKSHAM at 11:31, change at Trowbridge, 12:09 into Bath - 38 minutes From CHIPPENHAM at 12:09, into Bath at 12:20 - 11 minutes at 12:42, into Bath at 12:54 - 12 minutes From Melksham, journey planners tell us the next train is the 12:32, with a connection into Bath at 13:51 - a journey time of 79 minutes. Yuk! Now in practice the 12:32 from Melksham is said to be in Chippenham at 12:41 and the train at 12:42 from there would get you into Bath at 12:54 - that's just 22 minutes from Melksham. Problem - this is a connection that sometimes works, sometimes (today was one) fails completely and on other days seems designed to make the blood boil - with the doors of the train to Bath closing as the doors on the train from Melksham open ... This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |