Hourly Wiltshire Town Bus/Rail Link-Up + Free Bus Fortnight

[whole diary]

[Clifford James]

Wiltshire Council are holding a "Free Bus Fortnight" on their Bradford-on-Avon (Service 98) and Melksham (Service 14/15) town bus routes from 4th August to 16 August, which is great news - http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/11366554.All_aboard_for_free_rides_in_west_Wiltshire/

Even better news from the article is Wiltshire Council Transport Chief Horace Prickett's announcement of an hourly service connecting with the train station. As he says, it's a superb link-up with public transport, not to mention a huge improvement on the current timetable, which only sees a handful of Monday-Friday peak town buses (as welcome as they are) serving Bradford-on-Avon and Melksham stations respectively.

Does anyone know if the start of the new improved timetable will coincide with the launch of Free Bus Fortnight, and also where I can get hold of a printed or online copy of the new improved times?

Town bus passengers should take heed of Prickett's "use it or lose it" message though, with the Melksham Rail Link bus singled out for potential withdrawal otherwise, despite being less than 6 months old - http://www.connectingwiltshire.co.uk/news-events/free-bus-fortnight-melksham-bradford-avon/

I'd have thought they would have given it longer to prove itself, but there you go.

[grahame]

Wiltshire Council are holding a "Free Bus Fortnight" on their Bradford-on-Avon (Service 98) and Melksham (Service 14/15) town bus routes from 4th August to 16 August, which is great news - http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/11366554.All_aboard_for_free_rides_in_west_Wiltshire/

Even better news from the article is Wiltshire Council Transport Chief Horace Prickett's announcement of an hourly service connecting with the train station. As he says, it's a superb link-up with public transport, not to mention a huge improvement on the current timetable, which only sees a handful of Monday-Friday peak town buses (as welcome as they are) serving Bradford-on-Avon and Melksham stations respectively.

Does anyone know if the start of the new improved timetable will coincide with the launch of Free Bus Fortnight, and also where I can get hold of a printed or online copy of the new improved times?

Welcome to the forum, Clifford. 

I can "speak" for Melksham, but not for Bradford-on-Avon;  I'm looking after press and publicity for the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership, of which I'm a community member representing the Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The TransWilts line between Chippenham and Trowbridge is a single track, taking a number of freight workings, with a frustrating number of "Q" paths too for trains which run as required (and that's sometimes not often).  And it's used for engineering diversions when there are works on the Berks and Hants, or on the Swindon - Didcot section.  It also gets amended when the London to South Wales services are being routed via Chippenham.   The net effect is that there are no fewer that 7 different timetables ... and even then there are lots of notes about times that change on certain days.  Looking at August, there is a special (different) service next weekend, and 2 days when buses are running rather than trains (the August bank holiday).     Wow ... why am I telling you this?  To point out just how hard it is, for Melksham, for buses and trains to link in / connect; regular bus users on the town minibus 14 and 15 wouldn't take kindly to a number of different timetables (realistically three over the next 2 months) and they are an intricate maze as it is, with some sections very popular.

The current timetable of the 14 and 15, dating from 28th October 2013, remains valid through the free bus period and also thereafter.  We're aware of two lots of bus timetable changes coming up in Melksham - service 236 is replaced by service T1 (a town bus) as part of a shakeup of First's buses in Trowbridge, and there are minor evening changes to route 234 as a result.   These changes from 30th August; I don't have details yet.

The Melksham Rail Link bus is a very positive step, and it's no secret that it's funded / provided within the three year LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) Grant.  That includes elements for establishing and seeding services, and also capital elements.  The elements being seeded do need to reach targets and BCRs^▸ (Benefit Cost Ratio) for it to be appropriate for them to be continued beyond the grant period.  Work has been done on mechanism to ensure that succeeding services can continue, as you probably noticed (for example) in the GW^▸ (Great Western) consultation last month - appendix A.

Better access for more / larger vehicles at Melksham Station is an issue, and the road layout at the top of station approach is not condusive to the safe provision of a bus stop there for routes 14, 68, 69, 232, 555, 271, 272 and x72 which go past.   For those buses which call at Asda, you have a five minute walk, and the routes I've listed with one exception also call at Shurnhold.    In prospect for 2015, as part of LSTF, is a link through from the station to Foundry Close; happy to go through the machinations of why that's not been quick and easy with you some time.  Do you live in Melksham or visit regularly, Clifford?   I would be more than happy to show you round that areas and explain the issues.

It's also worth noting - not part of the article - another piece of rail / bus integration - the acceptance of rail tickets on the last bus (currently 22:26) on the 234 route from Chippenham Railway Station to Melksham and Trowbridge. I'll confirm the timing of that service after 30th August once I know if it's changing at all.

Town bus passengers should take heed of Prickett's "use it or lose it" message though, with the Melksham Rail Link bus singled out for potential withdrawal otherwise, despite being less than 6 months old - http://www.connectingwiltshire.co.uk/news-events/free-bus-fortnight-melksham-bradford-avon/

I'd have thought they would have given it longer to prove itself, but there you go.

I suspect the specific mention is due to the LSTF ... and with a trial / 3 year seeding system such as LSTF, yes, it will be monitored from day 1.   Doesn't mean that decisions are made based on just the first few months - but certainly a surge of passengers on the very last day of LSTF operation if it had been unused until the (which it's not) wouldn't bode well.   Again, I'm quite a regular user of the Rail Link bus - please let me know if you'll be using it and I can come along and discuss the whys and wherefores in much more detail.

[Clifford James]

Thanks for that, grahame.

So, I'm reading that as Horace Prickett is wrong, that there are no plans for an hourly service connecting with the train station, and that you don't actually think it would be practical if it did on that basis. Fair enough, you have been right so often in the past when the politicians have been wrong, I'm happy to take your word for it, despite Horace apparently being in charge of Wiltshire's transport!

I don't actually live in Melksham, but I have used the Rail Link bus and unfortunately I've never seen more than a handful of people on it. I do desperately want it to succeed though, not just for Melksham but to set a wider example.

[grahame]

So, I'm reading that as Horace Prickett is wrong ...

No, that's not what I said at all.   I said I was only answering for Melksham, where it cannot easily happen for the reasons given ... believe you me, there's been a welcome new era of close co-operation between all parties, and we have tried lots of paper exercises to see what looks best.  The stumbling blocks, to my limited knowledge, don't apply to Bradford-on-Avon; the service at Bradford-on-Avon seems much closer to clock face, and varies much less from week to week and from Monday to Friday to Saturday.  Of course, having a clock-face train to connect with a clock-face bus is only one of the elements needed to make it practical ... and I hope that the elements have come together for B-o-A 

[Clifford James]

Hang on a minute, I said that I'm reading that as Horace is wrong, not that I'm reading that as you saying Horace is wrong. There's a big difference.

I'm entitled to an opinion based on my interpretation, just as you and everybody else on here is.

The only part I've quoted you as saying is on the practicalities, which you've clarified for me rather than correcting me, offering in the process an opinion for both Bradford and Melksham.

It's also worth remembering that the article mentions both the Bradford and Melksham town bus services, and that the Horace Prickett quote is not Bradford-specific.

[grahame]

Fair enough, Clifford ... your use of the word "that" directly after my post (in your first reply) lead me to believe you were talking about my interprettation.   

You're welcome to read / interpret the article as you wish. In my reading, I notice that the article jumps back and forth between the two towns, majoring on Bradford-on-Avon; the article seems to be a cut and pass of information relating to one, the other, and both. The quote doesn't say that all / both towns involved have an hourly town bus to the station. Once Melksham has a train service that's clock faced every hour (that's half the frequency of Bradford-on-Avon's trains, and more than twice what Melksham has at the moment), no doubt the Melksham equation will be worth re-evaluating.

[grahame]

A couple of confirmations on town buses, and some new Trowbridge information

a) The Bradford-on-Avon town bus (from it's most recent timetable change at least) runs to/from or very close to the station there every hour, making connections to / from trains which run every 30 minutes to Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads, and to Trowbridge and Westbury.

b) The Melksham Rail Link bus is seed funded through the LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) grant - always has been. Beyond the LSTF period there is naturally the question of how well it's done and if / where funding should be from then.

c) As from the end of August, bus routes 236, 260 and 263 which run mainly in Trowbridge are replaced by a town bus - service T1 - which serves most but not all of the stops on the old routes; half hourly during the day on weekdays, a few evening journeys.  It calls at Wicker Hill - about 4 or 5 minutes from the station.   The new map (but not the timetable yet) are on the First bus web site.