Woken by a phone call a few minutes ago [7:15 a.m., Sunday] - a young (?) lady asking in broken English for the times of buses from Chippenham to Melksham. She's been working overnight in Chippenham, gone to the bus stop and found nothing. Very disappointed that to learn that there's no buses at all on a Sunday and the first train isn't until 11:45. Recently moved to Melksham, polite, taken aback by the news. And I would guess likely to be significantly effected by the lack of any public transport option on Sunday morning on future weekends to the detriment of her job.
We have achieved a great deal positive in the TransWilts corridor with regards trains and their use in recent years - with the current trial service succeeding beyond even the most optimistic of official / consultants forecasts, and very much towards the top end of what we in the community saw as likely even in the event of the rail companions, the local council and ourselves all pulling together which - with
LSTF▸ (local sustainable transport fund) grant monies from the
DfT» they have done.
Over past years, we've worked with a strategy on rail on this route. At the time the service was truly appalling (only Sunday train for the young lady at 18:06 and no buses) we set out a four point plan. 1. Get people to realise there was a case for change; 2. Get that case properly looked at and to evaluate what was an "appropriate" service; 3. Get that appropriate service; 4. Retain that appropriate service. As the trial comes to an end in ten weeks, we're definitely in phase 4 - working to retain the service, and I've suggested in the past that this phase requires more work and effort than any of the other three. Please do take note that I am not panicking, and I anticipate ongoing services, with the community and the train operator working ever closely together - with perhaps a diminished local authority involvement as they've been the LSTF channel for the specific three year period, and have severe budget limitations which reduce / remove their ability to provide financial support; I can't help feel that such a scenario makes sense as the farebox income isn't doing too badly. Anyway - I would be surprised and disappointed is there aren't announcements very soon concerning a service into 2017.
But we still have work to do. We have service gaps such as that identified by the lady this morning. Were she to be a unique traveller - the only person who would use a service - then it would be a case of "sorry - no-one's going to provide a public transport service just for you". Alas, that's emphatically not the case. In the brief window of high summer, we have an earlier Sunday train. It's popular, it's busy, and it attracts a lot of users who are headed to and from things that go on all year. And are there people out there who would use that train and other trains who we currently don't reach through our on-train and on-station surveys? Yes - absolutely; those people are hard to reach and ask, but we had a specific survey at the Food and River festival - a stall at an event for Melksham's town people - earlier this month. We asked "why don't you use the train" of people who don't, and here's the result:
I take heart from the Heart of Wessex line to Weymouth, where Sunday morning trains start running all year for 2017. I take heart from the Exmouth line, which has had similar improvements. I take heart from the fact that I no longer get laughed out of the building when I raise this need.
Taking a further look at the survey, I note the requests for more and longer trains - with these results reflecting the on-train survey work too. An I note that the request I highlighted is "earlier and later" trains ... the last train from Westbury to Swindon at 18:32 on Saturdays prevents anyone getting home to Melksham or Chippenham after an evening's work or visit to Trowbridge, and the last train on Monday to Friday off Swindon at 20:06 leaves a significant late gap too. Trains are crowded during the day, and an earlier and later round trip by the train that's there as a shuttle anyway would do wonders. As would adding a carriage to it, as we've got people saying "I don't use the train - I can't get a seat" with growth already noted to be somewhat reduced.
Whilst we have a transport success on which we should continue to grow, the story of the parallel bus route isn't so rosy. Years ago, there was an hourly bus from early to late. Then we had competition, with buses running twice (and latterly three times) an hour during the daytime. Then the operator running the early and late services withdrew, and we now have a service running only up until 18:30 and six days... itself an improvement (for which we're grateful) as the last service was 17:35 for a while. Would people use the evening service? Yes - the late evening bus which ended in August 2015 had double-figure numbers on it when I used it; predominantly between the towns (so train would have been a substitute) but also local.
With growth of passenger numbers comes - as has already been pointed out - the need for longer trains and more facilities, and this applies in terms of route and station capacity too. Yesterday - a Saturday - I visited the station midmorning when a train called and a good number got on and off. People leaving the train walked though the station forecourt, along the marked path through the yard where there was a great deal of vehicle traffic, with cars and vans being jacked up for tyre changes and the like, and queuing for bay access. This wasn't a huge issue when no-one was using the trains, but it's becoming something of a concern. And there are other related issues, with requirements for longer trains to be fully platformed, and for rail access for towns such as Wilton and perhaps Royal Wootton Bassett in the future. And a strong desire to join up services to give direct links to Southampton and the airport, and perhaps to make it easier and quicker for our passengers (including those from Chippenham and Swindon) to reach Oxford, the midlands and the north. Such development work is a natural area for us to work with Wiltshire Council and with the
LEP» and we look forward to doing so - after all, the TransWilts rail line is seen as the backbone of the Local Transport Plan which runs though 2026.
