Meet the Managing Director, 24/7/2023 - extra questions to Mark Hopwood
Graham has sent me the questions that we didnt have time to do and my comments are:
With buses and trains all supported by government funding, why can't tickets across the whole
GWR▸ territory be interchangable, and with journey planners giving the best option whether it's road, rail or a combination thereof? (6)
RESPONSE - that is more a national transport question than a GWR matter but notedI was chatting on this topic with another specialist member of the GWR team today and this whole business of bus and rail working together was being discussed. At times it feels like there are two separate public transport networks which grudgingly allow people in the know to make mixed journeys.
I left the Transport Focus meeting in Bristol last Wednesday and then took part in a Zoom conference at Platform 14 - back into
Temple Meads at about 16:05. It's 32 miles to Melksham according to the AA. Now I'm getting a bit doddery and must have looked blank as I swiped though the barrier as one of the chaps asked me if he could help. "I'm headed for Melksham" ... and rather than advise straight away, he goes to his mobile and looks it up.
"Oh dear - your next train is doesn't leave for an hour and 47 minutes" - and he advises me to catch that train to Trowbridge with
an arrival in Melksham at 18:52. So an average speed of 11 m.p.h - same speed as cycling! With a walk from the station (there are no buses there), over 3 hours to home.
But hang on a minute. Couldn't I catch the 17:00 and change at Chippenham. "Sorry - that's cancelled" and indeed it was - back to the Transport Focus theme that what people want is reliability. So my plan of
Melksham at 18:02 / home at 18:20 is gone (actually I knew it was gone - I had checked at Platform 14). That's the only connection of the day at Chippenham onto what's classified as a key train that we are told is their top priority - Yeah, right - or wrong!
I wanted to get home - how about the bus from Bath. "Oh - next train to Bath leaves at 16:22" says the chap advising me, relieved I suspect to have found a solution. So it's a plan - 16:22 train to Bath. Around 16:38 there. 16:45 bus (just do-able) from the bus station because I know the dash across, Melksham at 17:25 and
home at 17:26 (the bus stop across the road from my home.
With the bus and train both having a government funding safety net, why not recommend the train and bus combo to me?
Rather sadly, it didn't work out to the modified plan.
I went to platform 10 for the 16:22. Crowds waiting. And 2 car empty turbo sitting there.
On time (16:15?), a 3 car turbo from Cardiff arrives at platform 12 and it's my Portsmouth service. Confusion because i's labelled "Taunton" on the on-platform displays though the unit itself says "Portsmouth". Anyway - confusion gets cleared up, we get on people for the Taunton service suddenly dash away as a crowd toward the subway, and we sit there. And we sit.
The turbo on platform 10 leaves towards Parson Street. And a few minutes later re-appers and comes onto the end of our train.
The 16:30 London train leaves from platform 13 - so my adviser "next train to Bath - 16:22 is very wrong. I calculate that had I been on the 16:30, I might have made the bus. As it was, we left at about 16:35 and got to Bath a few minutes after the bus had left. And for all that delay at
BRI» , I suspect we left there with the added 2 cars pretty well empty!
To complete my home story, I caught the bus at 17:15 from Bath, and that got into Melksham Town Centre at around 18:03 - a ten minute walk hone, so
home for 18:13 a least in theory. In practise, I got talking to someone in the street, an it was more like half past I was home.
Lessons
1. We have both bus and train public transport services but they are not properly connected.
2. We have severe reliability issues on the trains
3. We have information systems leave a lot to be desired.
And those lessons come from what should be a straightforward journey home. No wonder many of us public transport advocates wring our hands in despair when we look to promote public transport to newcomers who could so easily use their petrol or diesel car.
