"Today's Fiasco" was an 6 minutes late TransWilts, which drifted up to 8 minutes.   Enquiry person said that London connection at Westbury would not be held, and I would probably have to wait for the train nearly an hour later.

Can't afford the time / loss of customer face and confidence.   Drove to Chippenham (12 mile round trip @ 40p / mile = 4.80) and parked there (7.10).  And what was the point in buying a Melksham VIA WESTBURY ticket at a higher price when on both of the 2 days I wanted to use it the train was cancelled / delayed to the extend that I couldn't use the service?

Not a very good show this week.

Little did I realise when I wrote those words ... http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12367.msg132076#msg132076

A misfortune with a freight train turned into a fiasco by customer information that should have been right (or simply said "don't know yet")

Maybe ... we were waiting there and it flipped from "18 late" I think to Cancelled.  We all looked for backup alternatives, and it had disappeared off the screen by the following time I looked.  That was probably about five minutes, and the next train showing was the 07:20.     The first I knew of it running after all was the two tone horn ... and I commented to one of the others "oh no - not another freight.  How late will that make the 07:20".

It might be only three minutes to some people, but it's a twelve hour gap signalled to other.

That's actually fair enough - "one of those things" I guess.  And I guess you may have explained my question (4) too. 

But why such patently wrong information from the help point staff when it was patently obvious to us (and, surely to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff in control too) that there was no way the delay would just be a minute.   And why the advice to ride down on the train (when it turned up) to Westbury and then catch the service back the other way, stopping at Swindon.

By accepting / following the first piece of advise, I lost the time in which I could have driven to Westbury and caught the 07:01 from there.  By following the subsequent advise, I would have been left at Westbury until ... rather later, having also missed the via Swindon service.    Is there an "if you don't know, guess" directive to call centre staff?   Would "if you don't know, admit it and find out" be better?

My log ....

I arrived at Melksham station at 06:30 for the 06:38 to Westbury, arriving there (planned) at 06:55 to catch the 07:01 to London - arrival 08:38 into Paddington, taxi to my place of work today for around 09:00.  The information point showed "on time" on its display.

At 06:34, a freight train passed through, northbound, and as the line is single track I (and six others waiting on the platform) were concerned that the southbound train we were waiting for would be late, and various connections missed.   I pressed the information button on the help point, and was informed by the person I spoke to that the 06:38 was only one minute late, and I would make the connection.

06:38 and 06:39 came and went, and the train did not appear.  The information point still showed "on time".

At 06:50, still showing "on time", I called again and was told that the train was 15 minutes late.  As I spoke to the person on the help desk, the display changed to say 17 minutes late.   He told me that I was unlikely to catch the 07:01 from Westbury, but there were plenty of alternatives - I could catch the 07:04 and change at Swindon, or the 07:09 and change at Bath.

At 07:00, the display changed to "CANCELLED", and three other people headed off in one of their cars to Trowbridge.  A fourth walked away towards the bus stop.  I decided to hold on, with the final 2 passengers, for the 07:20.

At 07:08 (approx) the southbound train pulled in!  The advise of the conductor ("should we get on this train") was that he didn't know about connections at Trowbridge to Bristol for the other two, and that I would be able to connect into the 07:51 at Westbury to Paddington.   I decided to wait for the 07:20, as this offered an earlier connection at Swindon from my recollection.

At 07:15, "On time" for the 07:20 changed to "07:24" then a few minutes later to 07:28.   The train eventually left just before 07:30.

For the record, there were about 40 people on the train when it arrived in Melksham from Trowbridge.  About half a dozen joined at Melksham. Some got off and about the same number on at Chippenham.  And I counted 47 getting off at Swindon - so the load was 47 plus anyone staying on board for the continuing journey of that service to Gloucester.  Also for the record, the connection into the 07:58 (Paddington ONLY) train from Swindon did "make", and in coach A where I travelled, about half the seats were occupied - not all that different to the density loading of the TransWilts train!

One of the other passengers for the 06:38 was trying the train for the first time today to see how it worked for him communting.  As the delays unfolded, hw vowed he would never use the train again.

Questions ...

1. Why was the freight train sent through in priority to the passengers?

2. Why were we told that the down train was only one minute late and assured that the connection at Westbury would be OK when that was not the case?

3. Why was I advised to catch the (late) train and change into the 07:04 at Westbury which would bring me back through Melksham, calling there again if I made it?   Would it not have been right to tell me to wait for the 07:20?

4. Why was everyone told the 06:38 was cancelled (and so people made other plans at their own expense) ... when in fact it was still running and turned up a few minutes later?

Credit goes to the crew of the late 06:38 and the conductor of the 07:20 this morning - for honesty.  Will it make the connection - "Don't Know" isn't what we wanted to hear, but it was correct - in contrast to other sources. And full credit to the crews for a positive attitude and being as helpful as possible with the hand and information they had been dealt.  And as we approached Swindon, it was good to be filled in further - that the connection would make, and to be told which of 2 platforms it would be on, and where they were in relation to the incoming train.

07:58. Swindon to Paddington, due 08:54.  Left on time from Swindon. Arrived Paddington 08:52 ... rushing now to start work 25 mins late. Not bad in the circs

Having another look, and looking at the prices, I suspect that the bus add-on ticket adds to a train journey - in other words the 16.10 anytime day return from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) (Bristol Temple Meads) to XBO (Melksham Bus) would not be valid for journeys from BRI to MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) (Melksham Railway Station) .  And even if it is interchangeable in the way we want, it's very expensive in comparison to the 10.60 anytime day return purely by train.

http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=BRI&dest=XBO&rlc=%20%20%20

It's probably worth asking a bit more about those.   I'll let you know what I can find out!

Chippenham PlusBus only covers the urban area of Chippenham.

At the First Bus Customer Panel meeting a few weeks ago, I asked if bus and train tickets between Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge could be made interchangeable as they're run by the same company.  It was explained that this isn't possible because the bus is commercial and the train is subsidised.  Not sure I follow that explanation, as the daytime buses are commercial and the evening one subsidised, and I can buy a return ticket from Melksham to Chippenham on the bus without having to specify whether I'm coming back later in the day (commercial) or evening (subsidised).

I know there used to be an arrangement whereby if the 19:01 Melksham train was cancelled and passengers from Swindon turned up on the 19:14 arrival, the statin staff would sensibly get the bus at 19:22 to take them rather than using taxis.  Not sure how that worked.   Now that the bus leaves at 19:16, and the train is usually a few minutes late, this isn't an option as the bus pulls out as the train approaches the station.  I've had a lift from CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains) twice in recent weeks and the bus left a few seconds before the train on both ... on a third occasion I think it happened too - train a bit late, no sign of the bus, and I took a 20 pound taxi.

I'm sat in the 19:32 Westbury to Melksham - coming 'tother way.  Down Transwilts just arrives (5 or 6 late?) and we're on our way!

From an email to me (mailing list so circulatable) but download link is personal to full report.  I've got poor connection today - if anyone can add a generally available link to the report, that would be great, thanks!

The pricings are all very silly, I'm afraid, Kim.  And there are some interesting relationships between the bus and train routes, and the bus and train operators, along the route ... which make for some very interesting thoughts if you start playing "what if" with fares, services and interchangability.

Tomorrow, we get to vote for our new Wiltshire councillor.  I'm judging our contest (Melksham Without South) to be - realistically - a three way race. One candidate's a taxi driver who makes what I suspect's a significant income from 20 pound runs to and from Chippenham station (there's another interesting metric) ...

Return Melksham to London ... current fares ... Standard class, Adult, no concessions or cards.

Monday to Friday

To London - departure from Melksham and lowest return fare
06:38     175.00 (Change Westbury)
07:20    152.00 (Change Swindon)
19:11    53.50 (Change Westbury)
19:47    48.50 (Change Swindon)
Return from Paddington - departure from London and lowest fare
17:45    152.00 (Change Swindon)
23:30    48.50 (Change Swindon; not Friday) (*)

Saturday - to London
09:20    48.50 (Change Swindon)
15:21    48.50 (Change Swindon)
15:48    48.50 (Change Trowbridge and Bath) (*)
21:34    48.50 (Change Trowbridge and Bath) (*)
Return from Paddington - departure from London and lowest fare
07:00    48.50 (Change Bath and Trowbridge) (*)
12:52    48.50 (Change Bath and Trowbridge) (*)
13:52    48.50 (Change Swindon)
19:52    48.50 (Change Swindon)

Sunday - to London
17:25    48.50 (Change Swindon)
18:45    53.50 (Change Westbury)
19:53    48.50 (Change Swindon)
Return from Paddington - departure from London and lowest fare
14:03    48.50 (Change Bath and Trowbridge) (*)
17:03    48.50 (Change Swindon)
17:57    53.50 (Change Westbury)
23:37     48.50 (Change Swindon) (*)

* - Extended journey time - typically over 2 hours but sometime much longer

Some of our members keep returning, and others just call in occasionally. Likewise we have guests who drop ir regularly (even frequently), and guests who come here just once.   What's the split, and how long do people stay?   In April, we had 31,849 visits (30,318 from the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)) accounted for by 12,616 unique visitors. These are Google Analytics figures, so real figures - although the unique visitor count will count you twice if you use two different computers.  The visitors viewed no less that 175,786 pages in total - that's between 5 and 6 pages on average. I've provided a graph of this through the month. 



As you might expect, visitors are typically here from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. with the highest spikes between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. - up to 90 visits per hour. (not seen in the graph above) with a handful of visitors even during the wee small hours.

Posts in April were over 2000 for the fourth successive month - that's starting to look like a significant change from 2012 (when the figure was between 1010 and 1982 per month) and 2011 (when only 2 months exceeded 2000).   It's hard to guess why it's increased - are we getting more popular, are peope finding us more welcoming and feeling freer to post, or is the railway industry and those parts we're involved with giving us more to talk about?

I ... err ... didn't mean to come across as depressed.   But thanks for the encouragement anyway.   To a very great extent, this site should be quiet and unnecessary if everything is hunky dory - the fact that we're still going, and indeed have show some significant increase in activity in the last few months, confirms that there are ongoing issues.

We remain - I think - still in the embryonic stages of the information age.   There are so many holes, gaps, misinformations that we have plenty to improve upon.  And I would far rather give constructive critical review or help to sort these things out in some way that I can (hard as "just a passenger" on the railways, though!) that be just negative.

I don't travel as much as most members.  And I don't have a regular route.   So the information systems are things I use, the signage and announcements things I notice.  Perhaps I'm quite well placed, as a result, to see things as the new traveller or overseas visitor sees them.  I took a look at the new Reading yesterday for the first time and - yes - "Where do I find the departure boards" was an early thought, and I had to have quite a scan for the next train to Swindon.  Goodness only knows if I had wanted to find out the best way to get to Trowbridge.  I guess there probably was a help desk, but I didn't happen upon it.

Fascinatingly, I wrote to ask if the increased price gave any extra availability, specifically if I'll be able to use the Heart of Wessex ticket from Melksham on any train prior to 19:11 when the price has gone up.