Great Western Coffee Shop

Four questions which have arisen from some work I've been doing over the last couple of days

a) Which Wiltshire station has the largest popution living within 10km of the station?

b) Which Wiltshire station is the only one with close access off the A350, making it suitable for upgrading to a park and ride?

c) Which Wiltshire station showed the highest growth in percentage terms from 1996 to 2006, based on the county's passenger counts? 

d) And which of these stations have the lowest number of passengers leaving / joining the trains each day in proportion to the number of people living within 2 km? 

Stations in the area of direct influence / control of Wiltshire County Council (so include in the statistics I have): Avoncliff, Bedwyn, Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham, Dean, Dilton Marsh, Melksham, Pewsey, Salisbury, Tisbury, Trowbridge, Warminster and Westbury [N.B. Swindon is a Unitary authority so not included in County Council figures]

(Here is a clue on (c) - the growth rate figures quoted for the stations are as follows: 1.70 1.70 1.57 1.40 1.68 2.92 6.58 2.06 1.61 1.73 2.10 1.51 and 1.42 so that the lowest growths in the 10 years are 40% and 42%, and the highest is 558%. Can you match the station with the growth?)

(And a clue / comment on (d) - a figure of one passenger journey per 30 residents is typical - 10 of the 13 stations are close to this line on a graph. None is far above the line, but one station is especially a long way below!)

They are indeed interesting questions and ones with obvious (to us) answers.  In my opposition to Wiltshire CC's bid to become a unitary authority I stated clearly that one major reason why Wiltshire does not function as a unit is because it's so difficult to get from one end to another on public transport.  I also pointed out the obvious economic benefits to the small towns and villages of the country if public transport infrastructure, particularly by rail was improved. 

The County Council don't seem to have shown a great deal of support for better transport initiatives in their Unitary Bid.

Melksham Parkway sounds good to me, Graham!  With a regular rail shuttle service between the connections available at Westbury and Swindon.  You'd also need a regular shuttle bus into Melksham town centre.  With all that in place it would Melksham a very attractive place for commuters to live or for businesses to relocate.

Sadly though with everything, it is unlikely, but I do like the idea To be honest!

We may have some surprises for you, Jim.  Do you realise that with th elink road completed where the land is already set aside, to the roundabout at Spencer's gate which is already engineered for it, you would add no more than a handful of yards onto the route of the 14, 234 and x34 buses to serve the station.

Tom Harris has just committed 44 million to freight on rail for environmental reasons, including some services through Melksham, so I'm sure he can find an extra 0.3 million for the passenger service for environmenal AND PASSENGER CONVENIENCE TOO.

Here are some links from Save The Train on this very subject.

Proposed Melksham station improvements (currently the subject of a Big Lottery Fund bid.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2435.msg5485#msg5485

http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2436.msg5486#msg5486

DfT Rail Freight Grant awards.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2478.msg5539#msg5539