Great Western Coffee Shop

At 7 p.m. at The Laverton in Westbury, a meeting organised by the BA13 Parnership.  Free entry, and there's a bribe of free refreshments too  ;D . Guest speakers from Connecting Chapmanslade, and from TravelWatch SouthWest.

Westbury is the  Wessex "crossroads" of our railway lines and as such is an important hub.  It's also a significant railway operating base - in many ways, a railway town.  Rural area and disconnected villages and towns are served by buses (if they're lucky) or accessed by private cars.  As well as being a strategic rail centre, Westbury is at a strategic point on the trunk road network, with considerable traffic on the North to South A350, including heavy lorries which shake foundations and degrade air quality.  The West Wilts trading estate to the north of the town is a major industrial and employment area, but access for heavy vehicles is difficult and made worse by a severe wait limit on the only bridge over the railway within the urban area.

Wider changes will effect Westbury in the coming years and the TWSW speaker will report on what's planned and perhaps make some educated guesses beyond those plans.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/wsb_20191106.jpg)

My slide set from last night - http://www.passenger.chat/wsb_201911.pdf


An excellent and interactive audience of perhaps 35 - and a "thank you" for that from me here because there were at least three posting members there, and certainly people who read the forum as guests too (I know that due to interactions they made  ;D ).

From my little public transport talk, where topics that lead to discussions included
* the reduction of the town's main bus service in daytime frequency and the removal of the first journey. See ((here)) (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=22374.0)
* Getting wheelchaired people off trains where necessary at all stations
* Whether suggestions for future rail provision had been evaluated or were just "might be" speculation
* Getting people to and from the station - the final mile - commuter (mini)bus suggestions

Westbury has serious concerns with traffic - especially HGVs - passing through Haynes Road (essentially "near the centre") and a very very very long history of looking for a way to reduce the negative effects of such through traffic.  The gentleman from the neighbourhood plan team - the plan being in its early stages - spoke to travel and transport issues and included this option; a separate thread, me thinks.

Follow ups - especially from people there last night and with whom routes forward were mentioned - please get in touch. I'm aware that in the packed meeting some had to leave early, but on for two people willing to take an active interest in the Bath / Bradford-on-Avon / Trowbridge / Westbury / Warminster / Salisbury bus, in a style of partnering with the operator as well as community and candid friend help would be so useful. Please don't let the white head of last night, and the serious disappointment at the service changes, put you off.  Lousy point in the "Discover" bus program - D1 community inputs could be so helpful and I can introduces you.  As an aside, more community members on the Bath Bus user panel for D3 and D2 would also be helpful.

---

My list from last night - "public transport things to be aware of"

* Sub National Transport Bodies - Western Gateway STB
* SWLEP - Rail review
* Timetables, December 2019 & longer term
* Bristol Metro
* Go-op
* DA3 and beyond
* Future of First Group
* SWR franchise in trouble
* Great West Way
* Williams and fares
* Freightliner and stone
* Dilton Marsh
* HS2 construction traffic
* Platform 4 and doubling via Melksham
* Community Room and Community Rail Office
* Community Rail changes
* Proposed Stations - Wilton, Devizes Parkway, Ashton Park
* Station Bridge, etc
* WWRUG, TWSW, RailFuture.
* Buses – 11.2019 changes

And a couple of comments looking forward

* Issues are also opportunities!
* best to work with neighbours, within strategic plans,  within precedents

With that being the case, it seems stupid to only have three platforms which often leads to congestion especially if trains are running late. Will the fenced off platform adjacent to platform 1 ever be reopened?