Graham, what sort of service did you have at Melksham 80 years ago? If you have a net source then kindly just point me to it. I would think that would be a good campaigning document ("see how far we've come in 80 years?").
I'm not sure how helpful that would be, given that lots of places have lost their service in the last 80 years. Also, Melksham is slightly unusual in that the passenger service was withdrawn and then reinstated in the mid eighties. Much better to focus on what has been lost in the last 7 years, and also the potential for the future.
I discovered recently another colleague at work (Swindon) who commutes from Warminster via Bath, who would be delighted if there was a sensible direct return service. I wonder how many others drive but would switch to rail if the service was better.
In 1910, there were 16 trains a day from Melksham to Swindon
In 1922, there were 11
In 1967, there were 0 (*)
In 1983, there were 0
In 1993, there was 1
In 2003, there were 5
Now in 2013, there are 2.
We often use Bradford-on-Avon as a comparison to Melksham, although it's only about half the size ...
In 1910, there were 18 trains a day from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath
In 1922, there were 17
In 1967, there were 11
In 1983, there were 13
In 1993, there were 21
In 2003, there were 26
Now in 2013, there are 43
(Monday to Friday, all week, all year trains counted)
* - Actually there was one, but the station was closed and so it didn't stop.
Otherwise, the figures given above do not count trains that pass non-stop.
A little more at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11481.0 ...
But - John R is right. Looking back more than (say) ten years isn't the way to judge what's needed for the future. Chippenham, Trowbridge, Warminster, Melksham and Westbury Leigh (Dilton Marsh railhead) have all grown dramatically; Bradford-on-Avon has grown but not quite as rapidly in proportion. And there's been a tendency for services and workplaces to concentrate. On Swindon, and on Chippenham and Trowbridge, with areas like Westbury Leigh and to some extent Melksham becoming more commuter towns, and towns from which people have to travel for hospital, for cinema, and of course for work. With the recession, people are taking jobs where they can get them but are sometimes unable to move, and with the green agenda on top of that, families are becoming 1 car where it would have been 2, and 0 cars where it would have been one. So your metrics have changed.
Best look at studies and surveys. Here, from Chambers of Commerce public survey, February 2011:
Would you use an hourly, reliable train service [on the TransWilts] to commute?
On the negative side, some of those people will say "yes" but probably won;t use it .... and on the positive side the survey was only completed by 1600 people; granted they are the most likely to use it (as they responded) but they only represent a small proportion of the probable (if everything is gotten right!) traffic.
The spread of home stations was as follows:
and in answer to "would you use it for leisure too ..."
Again, it's instructive to multiply the number of people answering by the number of trips they might make, remembering that leisure users will be less likely to travel alone, and that all user are likely to make RETURN trips!
In terms of businesses, 160 businesses representing 11,000 employees were also surveyed. Here are their locations:
Would services help those businesses?
Much more data - at
http://atrebatia.info/report.html[edit] - found some more old data!
