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Author Topic: Weekend Traffic  (Read 35852 times)
grahame
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« on: April 12, 2014, 15:25:46 »

It's not yet Easter, but we are out of the bleak midwinter.   So we should start seeing some more people out and about at the weekends.   Some figures from today:

09:47 at Melksham. 17 passengers on arrival at Melksham, 3 got off and 19.  making 36 passengers using the service for all or part of the journey from Trowbridge to Chippenham

11:02 at Melksham. 13 passenger on arrival at Melksham. 7 got off and 1 got on making 14 passengers using the service for all or part of the journey from Chippenham to Trowbridge

11:47 at Melksham.  35 passengers on arrival at Melksham. 2 got off and 13 got on making 48 passengers using the service for all or part of the journey from Trowbridge to Chippenham

13:02 at Melksham. 16 passenger on arrival at Melksham. 3 got off and 3 got on making 19 passengers using the service for all or part of the journey from Chippenham to Trowbridge

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John R
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« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2014, 15:58:49 »

Very encouraging figures, as Saturday traffic was somewhat lacklustre in March based on the (admittedly) few postings on the forum.

Events on today include Swindon Town at home and a model railway exhibition in Melksham, which may have swelled numbers a bit. But that's ok, as that's what the railway is there for, to get people to and from events they want to go to.
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grahame
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« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2014, 17:13:22 »

Very encouraging figures, as Saturday traffic was somewhat lacklustre in March based on the (admittedly) few postings on the forum.

Events on today include Swindon Town at home and a model railway exhibition in Melksham, which may have swelled numbers a bit. But that's ok, as that's what the railway is there for, to get people to and from events they want to go to.

Encouraging indeed.

There's going to be something happening / something special just about every weekend - in fact the very occasional weekend may be special because nothing special is happening Wink so we're very much into averaging out and also looking at the type of people we have.

For today, I believe that 6 arrivals were for "TrainWest", and perhaps 10 departures for the Swindon Town match. Others were going shopping in Swindon, to Hither Green (? where's that - no really, I do know!), and I spoke to a chap going to Southampton.  A usually reliable source (train staff  Wink ) tell me that a number were going to Rugby - Gloucester, I think.  So even today it was a real mix.

What's very encouraging is that several of the people I spoke with reported that they had used the train very, very occasionally in the past but were now using it frequently.  Another couple said that hadn't known that Melksham had more than the very occasional train, and yet another starts a job in Swindon soon and will be commuting by train.  He set off with a sheet of times for the bus from the part of Melksham he lives in to the station!

Talking to the "old hands", comment is repeatedly made about how much more relaible the current service is than the old one ever was.  * Very important ... * Thank goodness ... * and THANK YOU FGW (First Great Western) for not having the TransWilts service at the top of the "cancel this is short or trains / crew" list.   

One of the issues that keeps coming up is the connections at Westbury for Warminster and Salisbury.  We have put forward a couple of suggestions on these; not made it for May, alas, but perhaps in December?  There is an element of tradeoff between robustness and connections - a service is more "robust" if it doesn't connect, but then it can be taken to the extreme of putting the cart before the horse.   Just to let any readers know ... yes, we have noticed that certain trains leave  Westbury just before a train arrives that could provide them with more eager passengers for Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon ... and we have noticed that some of the TransWilts trains arrive in Westbury just as the throb of the diesel engine of the onward train fades into the distance.

Access to Granville Road in Melksham (lots of our passengers live there!) is an issue too - with the residents feeling that it's a frustratingly long way around.   That's being worked on ... but don't expect any changes until 2015.    And frustration at booking advance tickets from Melksham a day or two before travel, only to find / be told you have to go to Chippenham or Trowbridge or Westbury to pick them up before you travel.   That's being worked on too, and should be solved long before Granville Road.

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grahame
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« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2014, 17:25:08 »

Today - Sunday 13th April 2014.   Lovely sunny day

10:47 at Melksham - 15 on the train on arriving from Trowbridge, 3 more joined and none left making at total of 18 passengers using the Trowbridge to Chippenham section

12:02 at Melksham - 27 on the train on arriving from Chippenham, 5 left and one joined making a total of 28 passengers using the Chippenham to Trowbridge section

13:46 at Melksham - 8 on the train on arriving from Trowbridge, 9 more joined and 1 left making at total of 17 passengers using the Trowbridge to Chippenham section
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grahame
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« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2014, 16:59:59 »

11:47 Melksham to Swindon (today, Saturday 10th May)
8 off, 7 on at Melksham ... 23 on train to Chippenham.   
So 31 users on Trowbridge to Chippenham section
6 off and 2 more on at Chippenham

15:22 Swindon to Westbury
14 on train from Chippenham to Melksham.  9 off and 2 on at Melksham
So 16 users of train on Chippenham to Trowbridge section.
5 of the 14 had joined at Chippenham and 2 has left the train there

The 15:22 is an interesting "case" as the previous train is at 14:36 ... these two mid-afternoon trains within an hour of each other may to some extend dilute one another ...
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grahame
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« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2014, 19:36:30 »

Here are figures for today ...

First number is passenger on train arriving at Melksham. Then numbers on and off. Then journeys on Chippenham-Trowbridge station / and journeys that started or ended at Melksham.

Saturday 17th May
Northbound (Westbury times)
07:32  4 +2 -0 = 6/2
08:22  20 +1 -1 = 21/2
09:32  12 +22 -1 = 34/23
11:32  14 +8 -2 = 22/10

Southbound (Swindon times)
08:36  24 +22 -2 = 46/24
10:36  16 +28 -2 = 42/30
12:36  11 +4 -2 = 15/6
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grahame
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« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2014, 05:55:17 »

Estimating that as 420/215 for the whole day; almost all day trip traffic, and the counting was morning / outbound to be reflected into afternoon / evening return traffic.  Would have loved to have logged an 8th train so I could just have double numbers but got involved in a hospital run for a friend (away from station / background not relevant to thread)

Nice day brought out the crowds BUT Swindon Town not playing at home which already adds something like 160/80 on match days - around 17 Saturdays per year, with 40 fans from Trowbridge / Westbury and an extra 40 from Melksham going to the match and back.
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grahame
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« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2014, 20:32:02 »

Today, 7th June.   Windy, wet Saturday morning with grey skies. Weather forecast has suggested it would be even worse.
09:48 from Melksham +3 -0 -> 19  19/3
11:48 from Melksham -6 +9 -> 17 23/15

By the way - I had a 10:45 appointment in Bath.   Took 09:48 train and a good connection (about 15 seconds!) at Chippenham into a late-running HST (High Speed Train). Into Bath at 10:14.  Left again at 11:07 as appointment turned out to be very quick and hear the station, back to Melksham by 11:48.

Only "issue" ... on getting to Bath Spa at 11:00 for my return journey, checked A to Z and found plenty of white space but no section for Melksham  Undecided ... asked staff who advise 11:13 and change at Chippenham - had I not checked my timetable when I got on the platform, I would have taken an hour longer than needed.   
* Best answer would be ... no need to ask staff in the first place
* Second best would be staff giving the right answer
* Third best is staff admitting they don't know
* Least best (i.e. worst) is staff giving the wrong answer
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Phil
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« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2014, 20:56:07 »

To be fair to the staff involved, I think perhaps there ought to be a 5th option between "Third best" and "Least best":

* Fourth best is staff giving a less than optimal answer

i.e. what they told you wasn't wrong as such, in that it would have actually got you there - it just wasn't the best option for the journey.

To my mind, the "wrong" answer would have sent you off in the opposite direction altogether.

Sorry to be pedantic... I have a good teacher in my boss at work   Grin
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grahame
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« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2014, 21:08:55 »

To be fair to the staff involved, I think perhaps there ought to be a 5th option between "Third best" and "Least best":

* Fourth best is staff giving a less than optimal answer

To my mind, the "wrong" answer would have sent you off in the opposite direction altogether.


I have to agree there, Phil ... their advise would have sent me on a 90 minute journey when a 30 minute journey was possible, and it would have been worse to have said "Change at Didcot" or something like that. 

It's been quite a long day, and I'm trying to recall if I asked "how do I get to Melksham" or "do I change at Chippenham or Trowbridge to get to Melksham at this time of day?" ... if I asked the latter (which is likely as I'm a helpful sort unless really p**sed off) then I'm sticking by my original hypothesis that they couldn't really have been more wrong.

But I'm lucky ... I have the ability to read a timetable, and copies of Central 1 and Central 3 with me at all times when travelling by train so it was easy possible for me to check as I wasn't sure of what they had said.
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grahame
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« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2014, 22:23:00 »

Sunday, 8th June
08:50 at Melksham.  11 passengers on train when it arrived, 1 joined, 0 left - 12/1
09:52 at Melksham.  31 passengers on train when it arrived, 7 joined, 0 left - 38/7

13:32 ex Westbury.  12 passengers ex Trowbridge, -4 + 6 at Melksham - 18/10
Note that the 13:05 Westbury to Paddington (ex Penzance HST (High Speed Train)) left Westbury at 13:31 (just a minute ahead of the TransWilts train) and the Train Manager on the 13:32 had shouted for anyone for Swindon to transfer to that as it was leaving ahead of us.   Correct call on his part, but it cost us around 15 passengers.

Interesting day on Heart of Wessex with buses from Yeovil Pen Mill to Weymouth ... but that's a story for another place.

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John R
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« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2014, 22:51:51 »

Given those 15 passengers should really have been travelling on the TW service, I'm minded to record them as such, with a note to clarify. After all, I'm sure that's where the revenue will get allocated.

Looking at the timings, it seems the 1332 didn't enter the branch until the HST (High Speed Train) had passed Thingley Jn. Do I presume it's one long section?
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grahame
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« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2014, 23:23:26 »

Given those 15 passengers should really have been travelling on the TW service, I'm minded to record them as such, with a note to clarify. After all, I'm sure that's where the revenue will get allocated.

Difficult one.  The 15's an estimate - could be 2 or 3 out either way.   I don't really know what I would suggest you record, or indeed whether we simply record actual numbers on the basis "these things happen", leave off the recording, or whether we should even be counting the HST (High Speed Train) / seeing if we can tell who used it for just that stretch.  Your call, John, as the enumeration expert.

Quote
Looking at the timings, it seems the 1332 didn't enter the branch until the HST had passed Thingley Jn. Do I presume it's one long section?

Correct  Sad ... an intermediate signal could significantly increase capacity but could be a timetabling nightmare to make best use of with few lay-bys close by.   For local-after-freight, local-after-HST, freight-after-local, though ...
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bradshaw
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« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2014, 10:18:53 »

Re Yeovil and engineering works - could we have the story please?
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phile
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« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2014, 15:05:33 »

See thread on Trans Wilts Community Rail Partnership Board.   A little history there but a question still to be answered
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