18:52 off Swindon tonight ... 43 into Melksham, 14 off and 3 on ... 47/17

<rant>  (you have been warned!  )

Finishing a little earlier today, I catch the bus that leaves the Campus 32 minutes before the train (should be enough on a 26 minute journey).  But alas, the bus is a few minutes late and picks up what feels like more delay on its way into Didcot but I'm going to be able to make it until ...

Driver turns off the engine in the centre of Didcot ... it's shift change time.   Fair enough, but the drivers chat and so does the supervisor for a good few minutes; the new driver even comments "oh, I should have left by now" during the conversation.  And - of course - by the time I get to Parkway I see the train pulling out as I get onto the platform.

If you see the driver, please tell him that his "little chat" rather than getting away when he could have done (I see no operational reason for the chat) cost one customer 75 minutes due to missed connections ... and there were others running as well.</rant>

Thread split from http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16331.0 as I've pulled it off the subject of First bus fares in Bristol!

I pulled this topic somewhat off topic - now split to a new topic on Didcot to Harwell Campus buses at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16398.0

Whenever I'm tempted to roll my eyes at "leaves on the line", I remember back to my schooldays commuting from Orpington to Sevenoaks by train across the North Downs via Knockholt summit, and remember one frost winter's day when even our electric train struggled to pick up current (an sparked) to the extent that I really wondered if it was going to stall.  We crept though Chelsfield and got some relief through the tunnel just beyond the station, but it was a mightly slow journey with a lot of fireworks outside!

From the Cornish Guardian



I understand that the 17:36 from Swindon to Westbury is getting rather overcrowded ("ridiculous" according to a passenger I met on the later 18:52 tonight).  Perhaps we should swap the TransWilts train for this one is it's running on the Looe branch - I don't think they need a train quite that long in the winter ...

From Timeout .... a comparison of how busy the underground is now compared to 1928, looking through the day.

http://www.timeout.com/london/blog/then-and-now-tfl-posters-compare-the-busiest-times-on-the-tube-in-1928-and-2015-102715?

I'm very conscious of a similar shaped graph for main network trains - it's something I've used over the years when I was making the case that the TransWilts "peak" trains up to 2013 weren't actually peak ... and if they were they might be a bit busier.



Does anyone have any GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) graphs / Saturday / Sunday graphs?  Would be interesting!

... but then again we keep our eyes open ...

Ah - that explains its absence - I had the old timetable (4 runs on the hour and half hour) rather that just 2 (at quarter to / successive hours)


That's the one I'm catching - all around the town and lots of stops - 11 minutes and 20 seconds not moving on a 26 minute journey this morning; I just get too "time and motion" critical with these things.  And I suppose if we're headed for "total transport" then I may expect that it will be inefficient for some as it caters for the total.

Good questions, John.   I have no immediate answers.   

The proposed relief of overcrowding by allowing passengers to use the 234 bus from Chippenham in the evening (so giving 17:00 and 18:00 departures from Swindon with a change at Chippenham) have been rendered impractical by the withdrawal by First Bus of the 234 service that would have been used.  I still like the idea of a 16:36 from Swindon running to Warminster, to run the 17:28 from there, and a balancing working from Westbury - but timing is tight.  And frankly these extras are likely to simply create even more demand by providing new opportunities, rather than providing relief to the existing 17:36.

It's good to see people walking to the station (or being dropped off) - 18 joined at Melksham on the 07:49 this morning. [[ 7 got off, 80 on board to Chippenham - 87/25 ]] And it's excellent to see people coming on to the platform and buying their tickets from the machine while awaiting the train. A very great pity that for this train (in particular), we're half a dozen faces missing from the Spring, as there's no longer a Melksham Rail Link Bus; a handful of the previous customers are still to be seen, and I can only hope that the others have found alternative ways to get to their work.

Probably a good job that tickets can be bought at all the statiosn from a machine (at least if you're using a credit or debit card) as tickets weren't for sale on the train this morning, nor were they checked: "Due to a fault in the ticket machine it's not possible to purchase tickets on the train. Can all passengers please make sure they purchase tickets before the start of their journey - Thank You".

Chippenham - -40 +11 - so 50 on into Swindon

... what people will read on the train

The 18:52 from Swindon (19:18 at Melksham) ... 32 on from Chippenha, -7 + 3 at Melksham -> 35/10

Longest journey - an arrival from Romania into Melksham, and the question "where are the taxis" ...  until July, the answer would have been "take that bus - it will drop you at the end of the street you need", but alas the council decided to "pull" that service ... and I do miss the regulars we used to see on the train who used that bus - for sure we're still growing, but not as well as we could/should have done.

I was reminded of this today - catching the x32 from Didcot Station to Harwell Labs in the morning, and back in the evening. The bus from the railway station left on time ... and arrived at Harwell Campus on time too.  But it's only six miles, through the countryside much of the way, and took 25 minutes.   We spent a significant amount of time at stops, we did a tour of Didcot (which I happen to know from times of old) because the direct road has been pedestrianised, we waited at lights, we slowed down for sleeping policemen, and we got stuck behind a cyclist through Harwell village - when we eventually overtook him, we thoughtfully picked someone up at a bus stop and he got in front again.

The return bus was at the labs in good time, and a long queue stood patiently waiting while the driver argued with the first passenger joining about his ticket.    The a group of around 10 visitors, clearly from overseas, got on - counted on by the driver on the return half of their tickets.  Then the next people boarded - quite a crowd.   Another bus came in, picked up passengers, and left in the direction of Wantage.   The one of the group of 10 came to ask the driver something, and he took a further look at their tickets, and decided they were on the wrong bus - they should have caught the Wantage bus that had just pulled out.  So - anyway - all 10 got back off.  Never mind - there was another Wantage bus due in half an hour.   And the rest of all this was that although the bus was in good time when it arrived at the labs, it was about 6 minutes late when it left.   A number of pickups along the way, cash fares collected, etc ... again around 27 minutes to Didcot station.

Had I intended to catch the x32 today?   No - I had been send a .pdf of something called the "Catapault" providing a fast rush hour link from Didcot Station to the Labs, but when I rushed out of the station in the morning to catch it, it was no-where to be seen.  Foolishly, I let an x32 "Wantage" go, not realising that the service on the ground was different to the service advertised.   When I got to the labs, a display on the front desk showed different times for the Catapault, but not having seen any other sign of it, I suspect it's been withdrawn.

I learn so much about public transport by using it - the good and bad examples. 

Totally agreed, Lee.    Our initial analysis was that a TransWilts service running as it is tuned for peak flow into Swindon would cover around 65% to 70% of the traffic, with us initially having to say "sorry" to the other 30% to 35%.

On target numbers of 120,000 by year 3 (that's 2016), that means turning away around 60,000 journeys.  However, with current nu,beds for 2015 headed for 240,000, it looks like we're turning away 120,000 journeys - which more than justifies a second class 153 train running in the opposite pattern to the current one - i.e. (Monday to Friday) from Swindon at 07:49, two hourlyish to 16:36.  And from Westbury at 08:35, two hourlyish to 17:15, and with a later evening round trip too.

Amazingly with our figures, we would have reached target even if the one train had run on the opposite flow to the one we pressed for!!!

And, yes, Lee - these should all usefully extend to Salisbury, mopping up the Westbury - Warminster locals.