Has your local station adoption group gone quiet this year?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Sharing from the Melksham Rail User Group newsletter, highlighting the frustations under current rules felt by our Station Adoption Group, and describing what we can and are doing.   Yes - we have gone quieter this year, but that's through necessity and not through desire.

What can our volunteers do?

Melksham Rail User Group officers and other volunteers would LOVE to ...
- clear rubbish at the station if they see it
- talk with passengers (socially distanced, of course) to learn and to inform
- update notices on a regular basic
- tackle the jungle in the planter
- make leaflets available at the station and hand out newsletters
- stand on the platform and count passengers on and off trains to help keep us informed
- survey current passenger, again with a view to helping us understand what's needed.
But sadly, none of these things is allowable for us at present as we follow the rules set out by Great Western and supplied to us by the TransWilts CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) (shared here on the next page). We understand it's done for safety but it's very frustrating for us too, and especially when we receive criticism from others for not undertaking these tasks.

We overlap on some things (such as litter picking) with rail staff, and with employees and volunteers of companies working with the railway with a wider remit than station adoption. Clearly, all the rules do not apply to all of them (we see litter picked and leaflet racks populated) but we have concluded that - until we are otherwise advised, we have to abide by the rules set for us and hundreds of other station adoption groups.

Please ... help us help you as best we can. Keep us informed (you are doing for the most part!) and please put your rubbish into the rubbish bags at the station. Again, you are doing for the most part and THANK YOU.

What we CAN do ...
- keep users informed, via online media, local newspapers, & events away from the station - answer questions / queries and consultations
- liaise with the local CRP, Councils, rail industry
- support our members and
- look forward

Referenced in the above - rules set by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), which are on page 5 of the newsletter at http://www.mrug.org.uk/mrugnews_202009.pdf so that all of our member are copied on the restrictions

We (MRUG^» (Melksham Rail User Group - site)) speak with a number of others in station adoption groups near to us ... but looking wider, are our frustrations shared elsewhere? Do any other groups find themselves having to spend time to explaining the rules they're under at the moment, even to others in the public transport arena?