An excellent event. There were a very large number of parties involved in getting the station up and running and multiple or many people within each of those, so lots and lots of people from rail and governmental backgrounds there - management, constructional and event-specific. So although this was for the community and the speeches stressed the community, there were less than a dozen of us - perhaps just half of that and we were outnumbered by the press! But then the event was very much for them.
A "thank you" to everyone who's worked so hard on the project and brought it to fruition. Totally good and sensible to do a big "thank you" - in fact in older days we would have sat down for a banquet in the car park, and "thank you"s these days are muted
A way to get the news out to the public. Not so much a publicity "stunt" but a very good way of reaching all the media -
BBC» , ITV and others there and it made the evening news of both of those major local evening programs. That's not saying "look at us - we done good" - it's bumping the new station into people's living rooms and helping initial publicity.
A personal "thank you" to friends who invited me to join their group; I really appreciate it. Over the whole Avonside area - from Avonmouth to Avoncliff, from Weston-s-m to Gloucester and from Pilning to Swindon - and a bit beyond - we help and support each other in the wider region. Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways - thank you.
A way for various parties to network - and that was a fabulous but random yet wonderful opportunity. Looking forward for the wider region. It's the nature of changes in the rail industry that they'e a series of steps rather than a continual development, and we've seen a big step here. Others have happened before, others will happen in the future; we hope steps up and not steps down. And some ideas were progressed yesterday.
Wonderful to see other Coffee Shop frequent posters there - and other readers and people who come here just occasionally.
Well, it's open now, let's hope it's judged a success as it's a significant step for MetroWest.
The post COVID world it's been born into is very different to the one it was conceived in and uptake will, I suspect be gradual.
I keep coming back to my informal definition of improvement process
1. Get people to know something needs looking at
2. Get it looked at and work out what is appropriate for the future
3. Get it actually done
4. Promote and support it once done to make sure it works
And each of those items is an order of magnitude bigger than the one before it.
The bigwigs who spoke talked about the Severnside
CRP▸ (even if one called it the Severn Beach Line CRP) and the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways and they are utterly right that the community can now do so much to help make the project work. You are right Johnney that it may be gradual -
DfT» evaluations of rail services have been over three years as people change their daily commutes and jobs and friendships.
I arrived by bus. I left by train.
The buses and trains serve different places. The buses to Portway, Hotwells, and into the central area of Bristol itself. The trains to Clifton, Montperlier, Stapeleton Road, Lawrence Hill and Temple Meads with alternate services on to Bedminster. So whilst I wonder about abstraction, I thing we have two different markets, with the security of a backup mode of transport should there be disruption.
Finally - a big note of appreciation for Jane and Stacey of
GWR▸ for both their hard work in organising and pulling off the event yesterday and (and much more long-term important) for their support of the railway and its customers, and the way they give that support.
