I was speaking with a community bus operator yesterday who's been approached by Wiltshire Council to provide a Sunday service from "Melksham to Devizes" on a Sunday, but declined to do so based on the lack of suitable drivers for a regular Sunday shift over a significant period, the need to collect fares (which their drivers don't on the community services run) and the need to fit ticket machines. Also I suspect the overheads / nuisance of registering services, etc.
First aren't running the service beyond Bowerhill on Sunday, with the remaining section going Commercial. How much of that was based on a funding squeeze / reduction request / demand by Wiltshire Council, and how much was a decision by First, I don't know. I also don't know how many approaches have been made,
and how seriously, to other operators in order to fill the gap left, or whether (indeed) there has been any success with another of those approaches of which I'm not aware.
I have seen the new leaflet that's online for the times, and it shown the First service on a Sunday running with one vehicle and terminating at Bowerhill, with no mention of another operator's ongoing connection to Devizes and Urchfont, but that in itself doesn't indicate the lack of such a service - just a lack of joined up marketing should such a service exist.
Wiltshirebloke - you say "There will be no service to or from Devizes or Urchfont on Sundays and Public Holidays." - is that for definite from any operator, or purely referring to First's service(s)?
Just about the busiest bus stop on the 271 on a Sunday in the summer has been "The Three Magpies" at Sells Green where it serves the large camp ground and the canal. That's on the section that's going. Wonderful timing to pull the bus service just before the start of the season!
Ongoing ... with the 271 (supported) on a Sunday now becoming the 272 (commercial), my understanding is that we're moved away from a service that's run under a major element of council direction to a service that has one less safety net, and if it doesn't work out too well having cut off the Sunday traffic from Urchfont, Easterton, Market Lavington, West Lavington, Potterne, Devizes and Sells Green it could be withdrawn with the council saying "nothing to do with us" at 6 week's notice. This concerns me.
Main change to effect the TransWilts corridor is ;
X34 Chippenham - Frome
From 30th April the X34 is changing. We have made some minor timing alterations, primarily between Trowbridge and Frome and also during the afternoon peak period in Trowbridge in an effort to improve punctuality. The weekday 1830 Chippenham to Trowbridge trip will be terminated from this date. Trains between Chippenham and Melksham/Trowbridge currently operate at 1753 & 1905* – please visit nationalrail.co.uk for full information regarding these services
http://www.faresaver.co.uk/changes.php[/quote]
I was speaking yesterday with the owner / operator of a tourist business including accommodation in Lacock, which is halfway between Chippenham and Melksham. Since the 234 was withdrawn in summer 2015 (again, Wiltshire Council saving support money on a contact that didn't continue) his business and others have noticed the effect. He was telling me how many of his visitors are from overseas (some from a very long way - he listed about 10 countries) and don't drive / use(d) the buses.
Although the trains provide a later service that the x34, and they provide a Sunday service too, this only calls at Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge, and can connect on to Frome. It does nothing for intermediate traffic such as Lacock, Semington and Hilperton.
The 18:30 Faresaver bus was added six months to a year after the evening 234 was withdrawn; the 234 service fro Chippenham carried 12 to 18 passengers each and every day and indeed was commercial, without the need for council subsidy (and therefore without any possible safety net of a contract to be broken when withdrawn). I suspect that the regular passengers from the old 234 had found alternative modes of travel (or as I've seen in other cases had lost their jobs / employment as it had become impractical) before the service restarted, resulting in it being a commercial failure without an initial base traffic, and not given the 3 years that public transport innovations really need to get properly up and running, stable and evaluated.
The chap from Lacock asked (more just-in-case than with any real hope, I think) about the re-opening of Lacock Station, pointing out that the platform's still there. Melksham re-opened with a slewed track in 1985, but I fear that times have changed to such an extent that a similar exercise today is improbable.
The last (supported) bus on 234 used to be at 22:16 from Chippenham, connecting well off the 21:58 arrival from London, and sometimes off the 22:11 arrival from Penzance, which wasn't / isn't the world's best timekeeper. It was well used - double figures of passengers on most evenings, but as it ran with a vehicle that had been much less lighted loaded during the evening it wasn't a stand-alone commercial possibility. However, there is a strong case for a further cycle of the TransWilts train - current last service off Swindon at 20:06; further option giving a travel opportunity between 2 and 3 hours later. Note the trial service that ran one evening last September. The flow metrics are such that such a train would attract far more passengers than the bus did.
Finally, at least I'm happy that the Faresaver leaflet points to the rail alternative, if only at the one specific time of day rather than including Saturday evening and Sunday times too ...
Extending this thread to note that the Sunday bus from Swindon to Marlborough, Pewsey and Salisbury was cut back to just Swindon to Marlborough at the beginning of this month, and the Swindon to Devizes bus which used to be hourly on a Sunday now only runs every 2 hours; it provides the only service to Avebury, and now provides the only Sunday bus into Devizes, which (with the loss of the 271) has been reduced from 3 buses every 2 hours on a Sunday to just one bus every 2 hours - a 66% cut ...
