Further bus changes in Wiltshire.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The two early runs from Bath to Melksham on route 272 withdrawn and buses from Chippenham to Pewsham estate in Chippenham withdrawn from 23rd August.

From the Wiltshire Times ...

Melksham councillor let down by decision to cancel early bus ...

MELKSHAM Councillor Jon Hubbard said he feels ^disappointed and let down^ by the decision of First Bus to cancel their early morning buses running from Bowerhill.

According to Cllr Hubbard, the decision to stop the 6.48am and 7.41am 272 services will come as a bitter blow to residents who have already seen the free Melksham Rail Link bus axed last month.

The free rail link service, run by Frome Minibuses and funded through a Local Sustainable Transport Fund Grant, stopped on July 20 after Wiltshire Council was unable to secure funding to continue it.

Melksham also lost the 234 service at the beginning of this month after it was axed by First Group following a review of its services in Wiltshire, which resulted in the firm cutting a number of loss-making routes.

Cllr Hubbard said: ^I feel personally very let down by First Bus, who have made this decision. Last time I spoke with First it was about how these popular services could also help replace the Rail Link service. Now residents in Bowerhill are left with nothing.

Jon seems to have different news to I have - I understood it to be just the first Bath to Melksham buses (06:03 and 06:55) that were to cease, not the first two in both directions.

I haven't seen many people on the inbound buses (but need to take a further look);  I think their loss is probably far less serious than either the loss of the Rail Link or the evening 234 in terms of passenger numbers.   Jon's choice to defend strongly against the 272 cuts in a way we've not seen with the 234 or rail link is interesting, but I note that the 272 cuts are a First decision and the other cuts are a Wiltshire Council decision, and Jon is a Wiltshire Councillor ...

[grahame]

Attachement - new 272 timetable (Monday to Friday) as supplied to me by First.

The early buses in the outbound direction from Bath now start at Melksham Market place, and many other services are 8 minutes later.   Nothing cancelled at all inbound to Bath, or later in the day.

[grahame]

Well ... the changes have happened and it was indeed just the first two buses from Bath which no longer run.

I observed these two buses arriving into Melksham Market Place a few times over recent weeks, and they were nearly or completely empty.  But just because a bus is empty at one point doesn't mean it' empty all the way (could have brought lots of folks to the Tyre factory) and I'll admit I didn't take a trip to learn for myself.

So I was very fortunate yesterday to get talking with a chap who used the 06:03 from Bath almost daily, and the 06:55 sometimes. He told me that he was usually the only passenger - sometimes joined by another person for part of the route.  And so, regrettably with that evidence and no marketing going on to encourage more people to use that bus, First's decision to cull it looks very understandable indeed.

What is disappointing is that no-one told the passengers  ...

What is baffling is that these are the services our councillor stood up for ... when he let the Melksham Rail Link and the evening 234 - carrying over 10 times the number of passengers - die.   Could in just be that a Wiltshire Councillor finds it more politically advantageous to make a point against First (who were the decision makers on the 272) than against Wiltshire Council (who were the decision makers on the rail link and 234!).

[Chris from Nailsea]

What is baffling is that these are the services our councillor stood up for ... when he let the Melksham Rail Link and the evening 234 - carrying over 10 times the number of passengers - die.  Could it just be that a Wiltshire Councillor finds it more politically advantageous to make a point against First (who were the decision makers on the 272) than against Wiltshire Council (who were the decision makers on the rail link and 234!).

"You may very well think that: I couldn't possibly comment."