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13067
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / Re: 7th to 11th August 2019 - Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
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on: July 29, 2019, 10:54:28
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Spare a thought for the residents of Pill,Portbury and Portishead who have their Firstbus services decimated for these 4 days. They should run them down the Port way and over the Avon bridge so that we have some semblance of a service. Don't get me going, don't be stupid, nothing on First Bus website saying the Pill. Portbury and Portishead bus services will be decimated for the 4 days. If anything its the motorists of Pill, Portbury and Portishead that should be thought of by the closing of the Suspension Bridge at intervals during the period of the fiesta but then THEY have the alternative of using the M5 Avon bridge. Not sure I totally follow - certainly not a "stupid" question to ask about Pill, Portbury and Portishead which are behind the balloon fiesta - I would not be surprised if extra traffic past the fiesta didn't cause unusual congestion and upset the services. P.S. I'm sure the use of "stupid" referred to the question, not the questioner, didn't it?  |
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13068
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Journey by Journey / Heart of Wessex / Re: Weymouth station disapointment
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on: July 29, 2019, 10:49:20
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The trains generally have a toilet. Those without a ticket shouldn't rely on stations They should be able to rely on a station toilet if like Bristol the LA has shut all public loos. Indeed ... there really should be a minimum level of toilet provision. For those meeting and greeting, seeing people off, arriving back at the station in good time, awaiting a delayed or cancelled train, just arrived thinking "we'll go to the loo when we get there", etc. There are public loos in Weymouth - on the front, about 200 yards from the station. Think some are still open but some closed. Just on the train is - in my opinion - below that minimum level for a place like Weymouth. |
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13069
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Journey by Journey / Heart of Wessex / Re: Weymouth station disapointment
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on: July 29, 2019, 06:46:02
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Whilst at Weymouth today I noticed that the notices state that the toilets are closed on the advice of BTP▸ .
From Gloucesterhire LiveUrine trouble: British Transport Police warn train passengers of humiliating consequences for weeing in public - as this man found out Does strike me that just about all options to perform a natural body function that some of us need quite regularly are being taken away. Wise advise I was given on how to say no: * Express regret *.Give reason * Suggest alternative With a practical alternative, fair enough but everyone has been reading "just say no". I wonder if BTP at Weymouth have their own / access to staff toilets ... |
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13070
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / Re: 7th to 11th August 2019 - Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
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on: July 29, 2019, 05:54:40
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Noting elsewhere - it's said that ENCTS▸ cards are not accepted on the special buses to the Fiesta as they're a special service. I can believe that though not verified. I note a follow up from holders of cards asking about what normal service buses they can get to reach the fiesta. It's understandable that card holders wanting to get there as cheaply as they can, but doesn't ""free" bus" v "paid bus" for a substantial segment of potential visitors rather distort and frustrate the overall planning, running and economics?
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13071
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / 7th to 11th August 2019 - Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
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on: July 29, 2019, 05:14:54
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Some confusion online over buses and trains. PLEASE go by public transport: By Train: The closest train station to the Fiesta is Bristol Temple Meads, served by our travel partner GWR▸ . From the station you can pick up the Fiesta Shuttle Bus service operated by First Bus to get to the event site. For further information on travelling to Bristol Temple Meads with GWR please visit https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/stations-and-routes/trains-to-bristolBy Bus
The First Bus Balloon Shuttle bus service is operated by First Bus, from Temple Meads Train Station and the City Centre – Metrobus Stop C2, Colston Avenue to the Balloon Fiesta. We highly recommend local residents take advantage of this service. Tickets can be purchased on the bus with no need to pre book. or go under your own power By Bicycle:
Those wishing to cycle can take ‘Festival Way’ a traffic-free path connecting the city to Ashton Court Estate and beyond. Starting in Bristol, you can use the National Cycling Route 33 which takes you on a traffic free path from Queens Square out of the city via Cumberland Road. Crossing the River Avon you join Kennel Lodge Road as you enter Ashton Court. There is bike parking available onsite by the Mansion House and the fallow deer park.
On Foot:
For those on foot, there are two main routes into the Fiesta site via Festival Way as detailed above or via the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Above from http://bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk/visitor-information/directions/
From First Bus: https://www.facebook.com/FirstWestofEngland/posts/2315871058497698Not long till Bristol International Balloon Fiesta! We're running shuttle buses everyday from Temple Meads and the City Centre to get you to and from the fiesta site and we've got some great news for 2019... In addition to our frequent shuttle service every day, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we are running early morning services from 4.30am to get you to the morning ascent. Running every 20 mins until 10am, then at least every 10 minutes throughout the day. Love mTickets? This year you can purchase your balloon shuttle ticket on the First Bus app and they are cheaper than buying from the driver or a ticket seller. Just search 'Special Events' in the Bristol area. And last but not least, up to two children, 15 and under can travel free with each fare paying adult. For ticket prices and more information visit www.firstgroup.com/eventbus |
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13077
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / 15th December 2019 - Santa on the train from Melksham
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on: July 28, 2019, 13:46:45
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The Melksham Rail User Group with support from GWR▸ is pleased to announce that Santa Claus will be travelling on the train on Sunday, 15th December 2019. New timetables starting that day mean that MRUG» can't yet confirm the train time, and there's still an element of chance that engineering works might interfere, but we have Santa on board once again!
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13079
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Sideshoots - associated subjects / Campaigns for new and improved services / Re: Pewsey and Bedwyn to Bath and Bristol
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on: July 28, 2019, 12:39:46
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"Commuters demand better train service to village" ... a headline which might have been calculated to have central government politicians and Wiltshire Councillors too rolling their eyes and saying "we've enough to do / enough pressure sorting out train service for our towns before we start looking at the demands of villages". A further look by those very same politicians at various levels will inform them that Pewsey has just had all its trains replaced, and is due for faster trains to London, and an even service with serious gaps in the timetable filled as from this December. So - it could appear that the village being greedy beyond its station. But that's far from the whole, or even main, story. It brings us back towards the oft-repeated current concerns all the way from Berkshire to Somerset (or perhaps Devon) that the timetable recasts and developments are over-focused on the perceived need to get people fast and frequent from the major city stations of the South West and South Wales to London Paddington, to the extend that they damage / exclude shorter distance journeys between the network of stations spread all across the patch in between.
Pewsey is proud to still call itself a village. But the days of the "village station" are gone, and residents of Corsham, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wilton, the Lavingtons, Yarnbrook, Holt, Staverton, Box, Porton and Petersfinger will look somewhat jealously at the current service at Pewsey - indeed that the "village" has a station at all. But - hidden in the article - is a statistic that tells us that Pewsey is much more a catchment station for a large geographic area that a village station. And indeed current passenger journey numbers confirm that - 67 passenger journeys per head of population per annum in the most recent data if you take "the village" population; Bedwyn, the next station up the line, also a very high figure ... and again a catchment station covering a large geographic area. Otherwise, Wiltshire station numbers range from 3 journeys per head of population per annum at Melksham up to 50 journeys at Bradford-on-Avon.
So ... Bedwyn and Pewsey, 10 minutes apart by train, have a similar pattern of use. Then there's no station to the west for about 20 minutes, even though the line passes near to the Lavingtons (population similar to Pewsey itself) and the bigger town of Devizes. And the station at the far end of that 20 minute run is Westbury, yet another station that's grown through catchment, and also an incredibly useful junction and jumping off point for lines in 5 other directions.
I appreciate the desire of students living in Pewsey Village to be able to get to college in Bristol on a Monday morning, rather than travelling on Sunday. That ain't going to get you a mass transit service though. But in combination ... Newbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Lavington, Westbury ... you start to get something sensible - affordable, efficient, safe, economically beneficial. The current system of reversing trains in the middle of this sequence of stations to the extent that they have no useful service between them is perverse, and the London commuter bias in two very different ways from Bedwyn and from Pewsey shows just how diverse two ways of reaching the same goal can be.
How about a bit of constructive criticism?
Very short term:
* Welcome the extra train and retimings at Pewsey that eliminate 4 hour gaps from December
* Start the early "3 hour flyer" to Plymouth even earlier and as well as carrying fresh air from London and Reading, carry morning passengers (at peak fares that early, remember) from Bedwyn (connection from Newbury and Hungerford), Pewsey, to Westbury and from Westbury and Castle Cary to Taunton and beyond.
* Select two evening trains in the new pattern up from Westbury to call additionally at Bedwyn.
We have ... without any extra trains to GWR▸ 's proposals ... started to answer so many disparate and perhaps each small local flows. There are so many changes in December that I'm not attempting to be precise above - but as well as the immediate on-line flows, this should address (via connection at Westbury) Pewsey to Bath and Bristol early journeys - and while we're at it journeys from Newbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn too, and journeys to Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon as well.
And then perhaps
* Extend the Bedwyn terminators, hourly, all the way to Exeter St Davids and (yes) this would probably mean merging the service with the two-hourly planned semi-fast that typically calls only at Newbury between Reading and Newbury.
Not the through trains from Pewsey to Bristol, but rather an hourly connection each way sharing resource with other new flows such as commutes west from Trowbridge (connection) and Westbury to Taunton and Exeter (stop at Frome, I wonder, and making a huge difference for them).
All a very long way from the Gazette's village station
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