Great Western Coffee Shop

From  The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42749973)


Follow the link above for the BBC web site article. Also
Press Release from BBC is at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/bbc_buss_2018.pdf
Data tables at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/bbc_bus.tsv
Talk about this on BBC Wiltshire this morning at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05wfph8 (yours truly at about 1hr 50mins)

Wiltshire Council is headed by a cabinet of "top ponchos" who are elected members - and the cabinet member for highways, transport and waste answered some questions on that show.  She described Wiltshire as a "huge rural area with a dispersed population", which rather took me aback. True, Wiltshire has huge swathes of open countryside like Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs, but 2 out of every 3 residents live in a market town of considerable size, and those towns are growing at a considerable rate, moving us to being an even more urban society.

But then it struck me.  ByBrook; Sherston; Downton and Ebble Valley; Roundway; Brinkworth; Nadder and East Knoyle; Urchfont and The Cannings; Ethandune.    These are the wards represented by our cabinet - and all the territories of the landed gentry, tweeds, Range Rovers, hunting shooting and fishing.  Not one from Chippenham or Trowbridge, Salisbury or Melksham - the four largest urban areas in the county.  None of the big towns is represented at the top table ...

"Top ponchos"?

Really? Have the honchos not paid the heating bill for their meeting rooms and council chamber?  ;D

Or even leaky roofs in councils :-)

They're quite handy....I took one to Twickenham last week and it kept me dry on the way back to the pub.

Many a true word spoken in jest - from The Wiltshire Times (http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/15996259.Christie_Miller_Sports_Centre_in_Melksham_could_close_early/)


The roof leaks - there's buckets all over the place and there's a fear that the lid will blow off.   Oh - and it's all stuffed full of asbestos

Deleted as already posted elsewhere ::).  Moderators: Please delete this topic.



Admin note: Topics now merged, to avoid also deleting subsequent relevant comments. CfN.  ;)

Complete 28 page press release article was based on, and data tables - see thread (here) (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=19357)


Interestingly, here (in Wiltshire) the stated aim for our local council is to try to protect the vulnerable groups - and this results in a thinning out or removal of services for those who are not currently vulnerable.  Supported services outside the pensioner-to-shops-or-medical are most likely to be removed - and (ironically) that can turn people who aren't currently vulnerable into vulnerable ones - thinking especially of people who can no longer get to and from work ... and become unemployed.  It's very shortsighted - decisions often seeming to be based on costs and savings this year in a system that requires medium and long term planning and working between all parties.

I have a theory that the decline in bus services is largely due to creeping "elfansafety" and political correctness.

Within living memory, running a rural bus service was a relatively simple and low technology affair, well within the capabilities of either the local authority or a local businessman.
These days it is a hugely complex affair, requiring a well paid manager simply to deal with form filling and compliance issues.

Ever growing provision is needed for those with special needs, which whilst commendable in helping the disadvantaged to participate in their community, adds to cost and complexity.

Bus travel around here has subjectively got worse. Growing traffic means slower and less reliable journeys, arguments involving multiple over sized baby carriages cause more delay, add to the mixture a few disruptive "special needs" kids who scream or shout for the entire journey and it is less attractive than in the past.

The 28 bus between Minehead and Taunton is unusable by most local residents on Butlins days since each vehicle will be full from the beginning of the route, with no question of anyone being able to board en route.

And of course strangers or visitors can not readily use the buses because many of the bus stops are not marked.

So what you want is a bus YOU can use at the expense of the disadvantaged in society.

"Special needs" kids who scream and shout (a really crass statement) do so because of their disability. Keep them off the buses eh?

We have legislation for inclusivity for a reason. To give the less able the same chances as the rest of us.

You make good points regarding the disadvantaged in society, but unfortunately the numbers of special needs passengers, many of whom occupy multiple seats, are leaving less and less room for ordinary fare payers.
Seating capacity has already been reduced by adding wheelchair provision and baby buggy space.

Some cynics might also suspect that in some cases "special needs" is a politically correct term for what used to be called badly behaved.

And..?  What is wrong with them occupying those seats?

Bus coverage comes down to the willingness of the local authority to be pro active and work with operators to make an area attractive.
A senior figure at First bus reportedly said recently they are only investing where council partners also put in the effort. Cornwall and Bristol are key examples, Cornwall the biggest story, where we hadn’t seen a modern fleet of buses since the VRs. Now we have first Kernow operating 30 new deckers in late 2016, with another 21 double deckers and 20 single deckers due in the next 3 months (relayed to me by a driver friend, from a staff notice board a couple of weeks back).
Cornwall council have supported and invested in all of their partner operators getting modern contactless ticket machines, even the smallest independents (Aline torpoint, hopleys) now have contactless payment facility in place. Compare that to across the Tamar and stagecoach have nothing in place for non cash payments!
Go ahead (Plymouth Citybus) clearly want a slice of the pie and are gradually creeping west, and now have outstations in Par and Bodmin.
Credit in Cornwall goes Bert Biscoe is Cornwall council officer for transport, he campaigned tirelessly for better transport for all. It is well known he doesn’t drive so probably has great empathy to the bus and rail network daily.

I guess as a society we’ve largely moved on and are more sympathetic to those with learning disabilities or other mental/physical issues than might have been shrugged off in the “they’re just badly behaved” era.

Anyway, I wouldn’t have thought buses would have been of any interest to you with their lack of a buffet or Pullman, inadequate luggage space, lack of toilets and annoying tendency to be fitted with bus style seats...

Whilst I prefer trains to buses, especially if a restaurant be available, I do have to use the bus to get to Taunton station, if not willing to pay about £50 for a taxi.
Also for local shopping or leisure travel, though I prefer the West Somerset Railway services to buses, when possible.

Not many rural routes have a problem with overfull buses. 

The 28 bus between Taunton and Minehead is often, by common sense standards, overfull.
There might in fact be room remaining in theory, but it would be a very brave passenger indeed whom suggested that children should stand, babies should be held in the mothers lap, and that even special needs passengers should occupy but a single seat.

In practice, one wheel chair user with carers/helpers, and a few oversize baby carriages, and half a dozen elderly customers with shopping trolleys mean that the bus is full. Despite probably only carrying a dozen or so fare paying passengers.

It's often VERY spiky.  Wiltshire experience is that there may be 5 buses a day but a single service - the first one after 09:30 - takes most of the traffic.  A rail quote from my inbox this a.m. - "Counts a few years ago showed that nearly 70% of all daily footfall from there was trying to cram onto the 08:07" and that's for a station with around 10 services each way per day.   So there is the perception of overcrowding - 7 out of 10 will tell you services are stuffed to the gunwales, when in reality 9 out of 10 are carrying fresh air.

Looking back up thread and the bus from Butlins to Taunton, I suspect that it's the 08:55 and 09:55 off Minehead that are busy, and the 10:55 though to the 17:55 may have plenty of space on them.

Noting the follow up while I was writing - what is the general loading across the who service, broadgage - do you have numbers from right though the day?

Sorry - quoted Saturday times there.  I suspect the 09:30 and 10:00 off Minehead are busiest in Monday to Friday, with a rapid drop off on the half hourly service thereafter.