Graham Ellis - my blog
Public Transport Melksham - Risk and Opportunity
On this day, 2nd September 1848, the railway opened through Melksham. Public Transport here has a long and illustrious history. And over the last 12 years, our train and bus services have for the most part improved, thought with some regretted losses.
We are now at a time of both great risk and great opportunity. An opportunity for further improvement - much of it being small changes that would make a big difference. And a risk that if we don't cherish our services (and let people know that we cherish them) that we could lose many of them.
A date for your diary. Friday, 25th October 2024. The Melksham Transport User Group public meeting. To be held in the party room at the Melksham Campus. We are looking for YOUR input and YOUR support - whether you are a current or a potential user.
What has been achieved?
In 2013, we stepped up from 2 trains each way per day calling at Melksham to 8
In 2016, we successfully opposed Wiltshire Council plans to cut 50% of the supported buses
In 2020, we successfully promoted the replacement providing an evening and Sunday service to Bath
Also in 2020, we fought the permanent withdrawal of Sunday trains after Covid
In 2022 and 2023 we persuaded the train service providers to fill evening timetable gaps
And in 2024 we saw the return of Sunday buses to Trowbridge and Chippenham
What has already been lost?
In 2014 we lost the (temporary) Melksham Rail Link bus
In 2015 we lost the evening buses from Chippenham and Trowbridge
From 2019 there were no Santa trips (**)
In 2020 we lost First Bus sevices (**)
In 2020 we lost the second Town Bus
In recent years we have lost Train reliability
(**) - this loss not necessarily a big deal
What could also be lost from Melksham (most likely first)
* Loss of interest in anyone providing a reliable train service
* The Cheaper of train fares (some extra rises already this month)
* The £2 bus fare (could be up to £6.50 to Bath or Devizes)
* Buses to Marlborough, the RUH and most to Corsham and B-o-A
* Sunday buses if the enhanced services does not work
* The ability to pay cash fares
* All but a skeleton (or even no) train service
(I can explain my fears on each of these)
What could be gained?
* Reliable train services
* Clock-face train including capacity works
* Buses to the station doubling up as second bus to serve dropped and new areas
* Electic buses, improved evening service, improved frequencies
* Porous and more friendly station and access
* Encouraging fares systems
* Real time at town centre bus stops
* Improved community inputs and ownership
* Electrification of the railway
* Open Access / commercial service opportunities
* Better help if things don't work as they should
It's a time of great risk and great opportunity. I regularly talk to passengers using public transport to, from and within Melksham, and also to people who do not used trains and buses who might, and I use it myself and feel I have a fair handle on most of the services, history, and issues for potential change. I have also made a point of learning something of how the transport industry and its financing and management works so that I can be informed when talking to both professionals and to passenger groups.
What will we be doing on 25th October?
The Melksham Transport User Group is looking to recruit a new membership of interested users (and wannabe users) - for a variety of things ranging from people who just want to be kept informed through to active people in helping with the friends of the station and buses through to key officers for the group. As acting chair I'll be "putting together" 25th October; I already have a number of readers / friends who I look forward to having help and indeed take leads, or just listen, in the autumn. The vestigial membership met last week and agreed the time is appropriate to restart.
Wonderful outdoor and indoor venues
Both are owned and managed by the Town Council, and both busy and well loved by the community.
Picture - former mayors Simon Crundell (with Melksham Environment Group leaflet) and Pat Aves, & current mayor Tom Price
A wonderful weekend just concluded at the Melksham Food and River Festival in the KGV park. 14th September The Lions will follow up with "Picnic in the Park" and that evening the Last Night of the Proms will be shown on a big screen, courtesy of the Town Council. The Splashpad is open daily through to 15th, and don't forget Evie's Cafe in the Pavillion. As the days get shorter and cooler, there will be less events in the park, But don't forget Park Run every Saturday and the park is always open, lit, and with free public WiFi.
At the Assembly Hall, the Flower and Produce show on 8th September is followed by the "Night to Remember" Motown show on 13th, the Record Fair on 15th, the superb Peter Kay tribute on 19th, Melksham Rock and Roll on 21st, Quiz night on 25th, "An evening remembering The Avon Rubber Company in Melksham" on 26th, and the Community Larder's clothes swap on 29th. A busy September, which will be followed by an even busier October.
I found myself as stand manager on Saturday and want to add a huge THANK YOU to the staff and volunteers who helped in so many ways - it was a huge pleasure to work with you. And I enjoyed being part of the team as a volunteer and councillor on Sunday. We have a great team; you won't see a great deal of press because the purpose was to reach people in the park, and that objective was admirably and positively achieved.
I helped on the Melksham Town Council stand at the Food and River Festival, handing out Assembly Hall programs for September - and for October to December too. Also talking with so many people (it's a wonderful opportunity to meet residents and hear their views and what is concerning them). And handing out Melksham Evnironment Group leaftets which include a train timetable. And handing out new bus timetables for routes x34 (to Chippenham and Trowbridge) and 271/2/3 (to Bath and Devizes) both of which now run hourly, or nearly so, as well as with more services on Monday to Saturday.
Links -
Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall for the event program - https://www.melksh.am/fomah
Melksham Transport Group for train and bus times - https://www.melksh.am/transport
Melksham Environment Group - https://www.mkmeg.org.uk
Melksham Town Council - https://www.melksham-tc.gov.uk
Published Monday, 2nd September 2024
Splashpad - my final duty
A busy day at the Splashpad yesterday, with dozens of children (plus the occasional) parent in there getting wet when I did the hourly count, lots more using the facility in between (a typical stay time is a lot less than an hour), and for each child in the water, parents and other family members enjoying the park, with many parties using Evie's cafe which has gotten itself an excellent reputation and was doing a roaring trade.The Splashpad remains open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until mid September when it closes for the year, with resurfacing booked for shortly thereafter. But yesterday was my personal last day. It's been marvellous to see everyone enjoying themselves and to meeting you (member of the public) and others, chatting about things Melksham and things Park and more. I will miss that. But it was only ever a stop-gap role. Last year, in 2023, my volunteer time together with S.... and J.... jumping in for the council helped ensure the pad could be open every day. This year, the Melksham Town Council team is renewed and established, and perhaps it's been unnecessary for me to be there, though it has allowed them to concentrate on other parks on Wednesdays. And with Evie's Cafe taking over most of the staff room as an active store, it's a far less pleasant work environment in which to get on with my other day to day (laptop) stuff. I was often in the way of Craig's team as they were doing their job, not that any of them, ever, expressed irritation at that.
As we come to the end of August, 2 months into a new Government, I am looking ahead. I am much more in my comfort zone looking at medium and long term planning issues with a a slant towards managed growth and the travel and transport aspects of planning and tailoring with that in mind. Although I only rejoined TravelWatch SouthWest a couple of weeks ago, I am already feeling very much at home with the subject. We are in a time of great opportunity, but also of great risk.
Published Thursday, 29th August 2024
Enjoyable meeting
Probably the best and most effective Town Council meeting (Economic Planning and Development Committee) I have been to last night, and certainly the most enjoyable. Thank you to fellow councillors, guests, and our committee clerk for making it so. We looked at the planning application for housing on the old upside yard at the station, submitted a couple of years back but held up by the Environment Agency due to concerns about the culvert under Bath Road. Site access, community gains, etc, discussed with the team proposing the development and some useful seeds sewn. Good to welcome colleagues from Melksham Without in the audience, and to get some very useful input from them.
We discussed the local cycling and walking infrastructure plan which went out from Wiltshire Council last month (July) and closes next week. None of us felt expert enough to make authoritative comment (it would be so easy as a councillor to pontificate about something we haven't a clue on), we don't have any experts on our staff, and our staff don't have the time anyway. And there is no legal obligation on us to comment. However, we have resolved to take a look through inputs we already have from a sister organisation and two of us will add brief further comment and, I suspect, an endorsement as most of it looks pretty good. Whether this will end up as a report sitting on a shelf gathering dust, or a framework for real change in the future, I am not clear.
We considered and resolved to support three planning applications - one in north ward and 2 in south. The major application for 300 homes at Snarleton Farm, just outside Melksham Town though access and the road junction feeding it is within, was deferred to the next meeting in 3 weeks. It is considered by Melksham Without next week and being in their parish is naturally their lead. We will probably support them at our next meeting, noting that these new estates if and when built often get transferred into the town so we (or the 2025 onward) council has a very real interest.
We considered whether to support two local highway requests - a crossing over Eastern Way on the section to be bypassed by Rocket Road, and an issue on Church Lane. We got an update on works agreed but which have been held up due to the passing of a landowner and a need to wait for probate near Maple Close. And we supported a request from the police to monitor speeding on Kenilworth Gardens. The idea of planters on the High Pavement was discussed, and it's possible that there might be an option worth exploring there on what has been an issue that no-one has been able to address to everyone's satisfaction for many decades.
The Town Council resolved to send a letter of concern to GWR in relation to the very high percentage of trains that have been cancelled, emphasising to them the very real harm done by this. We'll be pointing out the size of the town, the high proportion of residents who don't have access to a private vehicle here, and the very long wait between trains of for a road alternative if a train is cancelled. Current changes at government level make this a time of both great risk and great opportunity, and we are reminded that it was under a previous labour government when our eye was not on the ball that we lost most of our train service for a decade.
The Parish Steward provide by Wiltshire Council visits from 10th to 12th September and a number of places where he can help us tidy up were suggested and will be relayed on.
Published Wednesday, 28th August 2024
Introduction - South West England
Back to Basics - an introduction for newcomers and a reminder (which sometimes answers questions you have been too embarrassed to ask) for others. The "South West of England" is an official region of England. It consists of the counties of Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.Major conurbations include Bristol and Bath, Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, Gloucester and Cheltenham, Plymouth, Swindon, Exeter, Torbay, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, Weymouth and Portland, and Salisbury. And there are many smaller "market" towns too - so that most people do live in an urban community.
It is geographically the largest of the nine regions of England with a land area of 9,203 square miles (23,836 km2), yet the third-least populous, with an estimated 5,764,881 residents in 2022.
Links within this article
Travel Corridors - how people get around
Who looks after the transport strategy in our area?
Who are our political representatives?
Who runs our rail network in the South West?
Who runs our bus and coach network in the South West?
And finally (conclusion and links)
A lot I could say about the region but this is a transport and travel post so I will carry on from that standpoint. There is at present a good article here on Wikipedia on South West England in general and knowing how Wikipedia changes I have an archived copy as a .pdf too.
I have taken a great community interest in getting around the area for many years and way back (20 years ago) I was triggered by a letter in the local paper asking "do your realise that your town [Melksham, population 28,000] is about to lose most of its train services?" and I asked the question "is this right?". Well, we lost them, we regained them too but many years later. From then a 4 fold increase in trains lead to a 25 fold increae in users. Other smaller victories for common sense too, with buses as well as train. I have been invited to be a director of TravelWatch SouthWest. So this is a positioning post asking "What IS the South West?"
Although we have had some victories, we mustn't rest on our laurels. We must be sometime-critical friends as well as advocates, and we must be informed and share that information. We live in a time of great change - which makes it a time of great opportunity but also of great risk. The role of TravelWatch (all directors are volunteers) is to help oil the wheels of that role we take as informed users and user groups. But that's for another day - I'm talking 'South West" today.
Travel corridors - how people get around
Main long distance travel corridors are like spokes from a hub in London to our East.• A railway to Weymouth (via Bournemouth and Poole) and to Exeter (via Salisbury and Yeovil) run from London (Waterloo),
• A railway from London (Paddington) to Penzance (via Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth and Truro) and to Swindon where it branches - to Bath and Bristol, to South Wales and to Gloucester and Cheltenham.
• The M3 motorway - outside our are in the South East - has tentacles that extend via the A31 to Weymouth and via the A303 to Exeter.
• The M4 Motorway from London serves the Swindon and then the Bristol areas before crossing over into South Wales.
As well as these spokes, there is a major corridor from the West Country up to the West Midlands:
• long distance trains from Plymouth and Bristol to Birmingham, Manchester, the North East and even Scotland.
• The M5 motorway runs along this corridor too, from the Exeter area via Bristol to Birmingham; traffic for beyond Exeter takes the A303 or M4 then M5 to Exeter and the A30 beyond. The M5 carries long distance coach services.
There is also a major travel flow from the Bournemouth and Southampton (just in the South East) area though the South West to the Bath and Bristol area and onwards to South Wales. • The roads involved are the A36 and the A350
• "the mainline railway they forgot" runs from Portsmouth outside our area, via Southampton, Salisbury, Bath and Bristol then across into South Wales via Newport to Cardiff.
• A network of other roads makes for regional and local journeys. Other railway lines link the cities and town I have already mention, many smaller towns and some villages fortunate enough to be on the railway and with stations that survived the major cull of 60 years ago that was instigated from "The Beeching Report" under a Conservative government, but largely actioned by the following Labour government with Barbara Castle as the Secretary of State for Transport.
• Airports at Bristol, Exeter, Bournemouth and Newquay serve our region• Many passengers flying longer distances will go from a London Airport, Birmingham or Southampton.
• The Scilly Isles are linked to Cornwall by flights and ferries.
• There are also some ferries from Plymouth to Spain and France, and from Poole to France.
• Local ferries across some estuaries for foot passengers and in some cases vehicles too.
Cycling and walking travel should not be overlooked and is greatly encouraged by government. A program of LCWIPs (local cycling and walking infrastructure plans) is happening. There is a national cycling network, a number of excellent and well used paths (and some appalling ones). In many places a real opportunity to link up "last mile" walking and cycling to the local bus or train, and to make it safe and secure to leave your bike there or take it with you.
• Electric bikes are with us, as are electric scooters in some of our cities, and it is surely only a matter of time before they come legally to our wider area.
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Who looks over the Transport strategy in our area?
There are three bodies you may not have heard of, but with a growing influence. They are likely to be major players in setting the regional transport agenda for years to come.
The Western Gateway Sub-National Transport Body (STB) is formed by an alliance of the following eight Local Authorities and one Combined Authority.
• Bath and North East Somerset Council (1)
• BCP Council (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) (9)
• Bristol City Council (3)
• Dorset Council (8)
• Gloucestershire County Council (5)
• North Somerset Council (2)
• South Gloucestershire Council (4)
• Wiltshire Council (7)
• West of England Combined Authority (1, 3 and 4 / links with 2)
Their vision is to enable clean growth and increased use of sustainable transport through a long-term investment programme designed to deliver a well-connected, clean, reliable and resilient strategic transport system; one that closes productivity gaps, provides a better quality of life for people across the region and makes the Gateway area more competitive while respecting its world-class natural and built environments. Read about the Western Gateway STB
The Peninsular Transport STB brings together the five lead transport authorities in the peninsula:
• Cornwall (13)
• Devon (11)
• Plymouth (14)
• Somerset (10) [not North or North East Somerset]
• Torbay (12)
"to transform the economic potential of the region. Working closely with co-opted members and key stakeholders from the private and public sector, the partnership is responsible for defining and delivering the strategic transport priorities for the peninsula. Read about Peninsular Transport
• Swindon - no. 6 on the map - is part of England's Economic Heartland which is the sub-national transport body for the region stretching from Swindon across to Cambridgeshire and from Northamptonshire down to Hertfordshire. "It advises the government on the transport infrastructure, services and policy framework which will realise the region's economic potential while supporting the journey to net zero. Their work is informed by a comprehensive and growing evidence base, and overseen by their Strategic Transport Leadership Board, containing the elected leaders and portfolio holders of their local authority partners". Read about the Englands Economic Heartland STB
Each of the numbered areas on the map and in the text above is the Local Transport Authority. "In England (outside the metropolitan areas and London), the Local Transport Authority (LTA) is either the Unitary Authority or the County Council for that area. More urban areas tend to have a single (‘unitary’) authority whilst more rural areas are often two-tier authorities with both a County Council and a District Council. In these two-tier areas, the County Council is responsible for transport. In either case, as an LTA, the Council is responsible for transport planning, passenger transport and highways." See The Urban Transport Group which provides a very useful general introduction.
Rail Passenger service levels and contracts are specified by the Department for Transport, sometimes influenceable by Local Transport Authorities, STBs and by MPs. DfT Rail took over this role from the Strategic Rail Authority in 2004. The Secretary of State for Transport is the senior minister at the DfT and there is another Minister there who is delegated to look after rail. Present incumbents are Louise Haigh and Peter (Lord) Hendy. Senior civil servants set/suggest main national policy, and other members of the civil service team are responsible for specific aspects, such as managing train operating contracts and compliance.
The Department for Transport also looks after buses but (see below) in a much more hands-off way. Simon Lightwood is the Minister currently looking after buses and coaches.
"Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) were established in 2011 to replace the nine regional development agencies responsible for promoting local economic development. In total, 38 LEPs were established and covered the entirety of England. Now 13 years on, Central Government funding has ceased and from 1 April 2024 LEP functions have been transferred back to local authority responsibility. However, as private enterprises LEPs may choose to continue operating." Read local government lawyer for more on this
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Who are our political representatives?
As of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, The South West contains 58 seats in the House of Commons. Labour hold 24 seats, The Liberal Democrats hold 22 seats, The Conservatives hold 11 seats and The Greens hold 1 seat.
There is an up to date (late summer 2024) list of our 58 constituencies and MPs on Wikipedia (here).
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Who runs our rail network in the South West?
Network Rail - Western Route (14 on the map) - "Our Western route stretches from London Paddington to Penzance, through Bristol and up to the boundaries with Wales, the Cotswolds and Hampshire. We operate, maintain and are renewing more than 2,000 miles of railway, including the historic Great Western Main Line, conceived by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. There are 198 stations on the route, and we manage London Paddington, Reading and Bristol Temple Meads stations." - Read about Network Rail Western Route
Network Rail - Wessex Route (12 on the map) - "The Wessex route covers the major commuter area of south-west London as well as from London Waterloo to the south and south-west of England. This route is one of the busiest on the rail network, taking in all or part of the counties of Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire." - Read about Network Rail Wessex Route
Most scheduled passenger trains in the South West on the National Network are run under contract to the government by Train Operating Companies GWR (strictly First Great Western), South Western Railway (First group 70%, MTR 30%), and Cross Country Trains (an Arriva company). Transport for Wales (Rail) - owned by the Welsh Government run a service from South Wales into Gloucester and Cheltenham.
Train operators can if they wish (and if they can jump through all the hoops) run commercial "open access" services too provided they don't abstract (extract) too much business from the contracted operators. There are several live aspirations to run open access services in the South West at present.
This new government has signalled its intent to bring all contracted train operations in house when the current contracts expire or reach a break point - in May and June 2025 for SWR and GWR, and in 2028 for Cross Country. Whilst the plan is for "Great British Railways" to take over Network Rail and train operation, it is clear that the skilled operational work force will be transferred over, and I would anticipate that transfer may go well up the management levels. It is a moving scene and I am unclear of what the outcome will be.
The majority of the trains themselves are owned by Angel Trains, Eversholt, Hitachi and Porterbook - companies in the commercial / private sector who lease them to the train operators (RoSCOs). I have not seen any proposal to change this and indeed privatisation would be expensive.
Freight trains are also operated by private companies and provide a substantial amount of rail traffic in places. Of note is traffic from quarries in Somerset and International container traffic from Southampton. Coal traffic which was once the mainstay of the railways has ceased.
In the South West, we have a number of preserved / heritage rail operations and whilst they bring substantial tourist business to their locales, none of them at present operates a service for the traveller in their area primarily looking to get from "A" to "B". I note that the heritage operation at Okehampton, which was not strong, has been replaced by a refurbished national rail service that is doing well. That is probably unique, but if a way could be found to run a robust clockface affordable daily network service to places such as Swanage and Minehead, and perhaps to Kingswear and Bodmin, that would do very well too.
• There are no light rail or tramway operations in the South West at present
• I am going to park Cliff Lifts as being outside the scope of this general briefing.
• We also have sections of guided busway in Bristol but they really come in the next section
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Who runs our bus and coach network in the South West?
Bus services are operated "commercially" by anyone who thinks they can make a living doing that. But in practise it's a peculiar sort of "commercial". There is a very high ENCTS card travel (senior and disabled bus passes) and the £2 bus fare at present with the subsidy for both coming from somewhere. Across the South West, GoAhead, First, Stagecoach and Arriva run most services. National Express run longer distance coach services. There are a number of independents too - very honourable mention indeed for my local company Faresaver, and a mention for others such as Frome Bus and The Big Lemon. It all gets complicated with marketing / branding names.
Local Transport Authorities can invite bidders to run supported routes to fill the gaps not filled by commercial services. These are often run by the same operators with the same vehicles. But these gap-fillers must not compete to any substantial degree with the commercial routes. They could be serving places not otherwise served, or be an evening or Sunday service.
There are some places - the Vale of Pewsey is a local example - where a fixed route and timetable does not work, and the solution is perhaps a demand responsive service. The Vale of Pewsey is celebrating a successful first year, but the WestLink scheme just over the border into WECA has had - err - teething problems.
The Traffic Commisioner "Traffic Commissioners are responsible for the licensing and regulation of those who operate heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, and the registration of local bus services. They are assisted in this work by deputy Traffic Commissioners, who preside over a number of public inquiries." The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain operate at arm's length as independent regulators and are a tribunal of the Department for Transport. See https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/traffic-commissionersNational Highways: "We manage and improve England’s motorways and major A roads, helping our customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys." - Read more at https://nationalhighways.co.uk/about-us/ and "We're the government company which plans, designs, builds, operates and maintains England’s motorways and major A roads, known as the strategic road network (SRN)".
Highways England was replaced by National Highways (Summer 2021)
I am in danger of writing an even longer section here. Topics such as "Bus Back Better" funding, the problems of town buses, ZEBRA and electric vehicles, enhance partnerships, tracking and fare systems, bus stops and bus stations and more can usefully wait for a different post.
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And finally
Two more offshoots of the Department for Transport
• The Office of Rail and Road "The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is the independent safety and economic regulator for Britain’s railways and monitor of National Highways. It is responsible for ensuring that railway operators comply with health and safety law. It regulates Network Rail’s activities and funding requirements, regulates access to the railway network, licenses the operators of railway assets and publishes rail statistics. ORR is also the competition authority for the railways and enforces consumer protection law in relation to the railway. As highways monitor ORR is responsible for monitoring National Highways’ management of the strategic road network – the motorways and main ‘A’ roads in England."
• Transport Focus "Transport Focus is the independent watchdog for transport users. We put the interests of transport users first and aim to get the best deal for passengers and road users. With a strong emphasis on evidence-based campaigning and research, we ensure that we know what is happening on the ground. This knowledge is used to influence decisions on behalf of passengers and road users to secure improvements and make a difference."
The new governemnt's plans involve something of a shakeup of much of the above - we live in interesting times. The links above should all work as of the date of this article, but may change. A time of great opportunity, and great risk
As they may change or disappear, I have archived .pdf copies of many of the documents - which will also makes them searchable en masse for members at https://www.passenger.chat. we are upgrading that site at present so you will be referred at present to the http (insecure) site for searches. As all you'll be doing is reading published documents, no harm is done - "so what" if someone takes a copy as it's transmitted!
Already mirrored on our secure site:
1. South West England
2. Western Gateway
3. Englands Economic Heartland
4. Peninsular Transport
5. Urban Transport Group
6. England Transport Overview
7. No More LEPs
8. MPs in the South West
9. Network Rail Western
10. Network Rail Wessex
11. Traffic Commissioners
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Published Sunday, 25th August 2024
Site updates
I have updated a number of web sites - adding "https" security and making them lay out better on mobile devices.
The "top level" sites of interest here ...
• Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall - https://www.fomah.org.uk
• Melksham Environement Group - https://www.mkmeg.org.uk
• My Councillor Page - https://grahamellis.uk
• The Well House Collection - https://www.twhc.org.uk
and sitting in the background I have also updated
• "sn12.net" - our home
• and our image library
Further work remains to be done on my public transport interest sites which will follow in due course.
Published Saturday, 24th August 2024
"Restore Your Railways" cancelled – thoughts
Question: "Should I sign the Campaign for Better Transport petition" (to re-instate the scheme)
A complex question right across the UK, and an area in which I seem to have acquired a useful knowelege. Jump to ((here)) towards the tail of the article to see specific schemes in Wiltshire and with Melksham line highlights.
Background
Looking back a few years, schemes and desires for enhanced railway infrastructure provision faced a high hurdle to even get off the ground. There was no funding available for that initial step - the asking of "is this a good idea?" and getting it to towards the "shovel ready" stage for when a major funding opportunity came up to implement a good scheme.
The "Restore Your Railways" program of the previous government filled this hole, and has allowed a large number of schemes to be tested, some of which have gone forward. The Campaign for Better Transport tells us that the fund has already oiled the gears so they could turn and allowed the reopening of two railway lines and seven new stations ... BUT ...
Current Status
The scheme was a Conservative one, with (as I recall) a cutoff date for completion about now, and encouraged quite a few applications that were far more about supporting the local MPs, who had to sign off on the application, and failed the test of whether they would be cost effective and result in a better railway if implemented; everyone thinks their scheme is best.
So the new government was / is faced with a scheme under which a number of quick wins had been taken, and had - if it had carried on - the danger of generating a great deal of disappointment in quite a number of constituencies which were previously held by a Conservative MP but are now Labour or Lib Dem.
Wielding the knife isn't about saving money in spite of what you are told - it's about fixing what could have been a festering wound or a ongoing wounds in marginal constituencies for many years.
I can understand Labour taking a decision to close the scheme. It has a logic.
Intermission - concerns at RYR and its termination
Cutting the scheme with business underway has lead to howls of anguish from schemes on the cusp. Until they know whether they continue or fall, that concern is natural and there is quite a degree of input being made to clarify the very messy and unfortunate cutoff.
I am also concerned at the lack of reference in the Labour party's 26 page plan for rail that talks of reliability of the network - that bit is correct - but does not cover appropriate service level, nor anything in network enhancement. Indeed I see nothing that commits to retaining current frequencies and does not rule out line and station closures. Historically, many lines were closed under Labour.
And the whole "Restore You Railway" name worried me - "Restore" has a historic feel and reference back to Beeching was not forward looking - it should be "Future" railway. For sure, experiences of the past count and provide evidence and infrastructure and undeveloped pathways for new railway lines but what we need is future not past, and a future world where we look at one UK network and not a network created by a mess of competing companies - Midland, Great Northern and Great Central all along the same valley. And we look to modern technology where a railway no longer needs to run along a route that is billiard table flat but can climb dip as, for example, HS1 to the channel tunnel does.
And look at the second word "Your" - is that the previous government not including itself but rather looking to be at arms length? For some, the communities need to be involved and wanting the public transport enhancement, but they also want and need the involvement of government.
Can I question "Railway"? Sure I can. Railway - or metro or light rail or tramway, or underground or subway, please, and the term railway suggests heavy rail when there may be other solutions.
The Route forward
I am asked to sign a petition from the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT). ""We're calling on the Government to reconsider its decision and to implement a nationwide programme of rail re-openings to help grow the network and bring all communities within reach of the railway and the benefits that provides. ""
I read that very carefully, and I am much more encouraged to sign than I would be to sign a simple "Bring back RYR". This is a request to do better - looking to the future for the benefit of communities. Having a route for schemes to be "triaged" prior to very expensive and detailed work, fitting into a national policy with local tuning, makes sense. For all we know, the government might already be looking at this - or cynically they might look to bring it in later in the parliament as good news prior to the 2029 general election.If you want a name - "Our Future Rail".
We need a scheme that has national guidelines and works with and enables what's needed for the next decades. And that includes NPPF, local and neighbourhood plan considerations as well as operational rail stuff. We need a scheme that tests ideas - initially "cheaply" (ha, ha) and allows elements to be fed back, updated and cycled "quickly" (ha, ha). If found justified to be fed into a program of such development with a professional implementation team doing one project after another, with skills carried over and setup and breakdown costs saved, and a tail of experts who have moved on to the next project callable back to snag the running job.
I've not talked volume. I've not talked GRIP or STAG. And I don't know what the government has in mind to replace RYR. In my view, it needs something to avoid the current system simply stagnating. And reading the Campaign for Better Transport's request for signatures carefully, yes, I can add mine. But adding a signature is just one drip in a flood of requests that need to be made as we shape our future railway. Read the Labour papers carefully, and they fit a model that provides a more reliable service of less frequent and slower trains than we have at present, on a reduced network. We need a better railway, but that model is not my description of it!
From a Wiltshire perspective
A new scheme with a level playing field makes sense. We have lost out by comparison to other counties over a very long period indeed - our last brand new station was in 1937 - that's Dilton Marsh. Melksham station was re-opened in 1985 after being closed for 19 years.
From memory, aspirations over the years, with various degrees of seriousness, have included and perhaps still do: Box; Bradford North to West curve; Corsham; Devizes Gateway; Gablecross; Holt; Hullavington; Petersfinger; Porton; Royal Wootton Bassett; Staverton Junction; Thingley / West Chippenham; Tramway from Salisbury Station to City Centre; White Horse Business Park; Wilton; Wylye Parkway.
And schemes short of new stations and section of line might include: Accessibility between platforms at Trowbridge; Double track through Tisbury or loop into stations there; Electrification schemes for virtually every line in the county; Loop or double track via Melksham; Platforms 1 and 5 at Salisbury; Platform 0 at Westbury; Signalling interval on Avon Valley; Signalling interval on Wylye Valley
Bold items relate to the Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury line.
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Published Thursday, 22nd August 2024
FULL Melksham Town Council - meeting report
At last night's full Town Council meeting (19.8.2024), a decision was taken to have Town Council meetings streamed live on both Facebook and YouTube if practical, or at least streamed on one and shared to the other if it's not. Good - YouTube has a more practical system for going back through old recordings to find things; a welcome move. The popularity of the Facebook feed has been noted, even though there's just usually just a very few people on the "parent" Zoom feed - probably in part because people want to remain anonymous.Also last night, the meeting calendar was recast with full council reduced to just one public meeting every 2 months - so I have just four meetings left on 23rd September, 25th November, 27th January and 31st March. There will be (I have a date already for one) be a number of "Task and Finish Group" meetings to which all councillors are invited - less formal affairs which are not held in public and where we can be more relaxed and less posturing in what we say.
Economic Development and Planning Committee meetings carry on at 3 week intervals - a dozen of those to go, and my personal orbit of interest - the agenda for nest week's should be published today and include two items at my request - for us to consider responding to the LWCIP (local walking and cycling infrastructure plan) consultation I flagged up in late July, and for the council to write to Great Western Railway and the rail minister officially to express concern at the damage being done by the current shocking unreliability of the train service. "Econ Dev" is also the vehicle through which Neighbourhood Plan updates come to council.
Asset Management and Amenities also now meet every 2 months - 5 to go for me, with Finance, Admin and Performance, and Community Development, both at the same frequency; I can attend these if I wish.
From our Unitary Councillors, Jon Hubbard reported that Wiltshire Council have made a prudent saving of £4.5 million that they will spend on fixing potholes, and Mike Sankey reported that the fixed fine for Graffiti is to rise to £500 - the "maximum allowed"
Mike also reported on the Eastern Relief Road. He confirmed that it's opening is not being held up by the contractor's compound on the road - rather it is being delayed until the puffin crossing is complete and working, the road is surfaced, snd the appropriate speed enforcement order and signs are in place. As a member of the public, I find myself wondering why on earth these three things have not been able to be done at the same time as the roundabout has been waiting and done.
Discussion on East of Melksham Village / Community Hall, which the council asked the clerk to put in via the architect for planning permission in November 2023. It appears that the architect came back with questions which haven't been answered, so although Town Councillors had been told we had submitted the application it hasn't yet reached Wiltshire Council. This came to light last night, and now that she's aware of it our Locum Clerk should be able to get things moving. Shame about the 9 months lost on this project.
The proposal by The Mayor to move his reception outside, and make it much more of a community event, free to attend and with a budget of £15,000 was discussed. However, it was felt that an outdoor event in March, with vagaries of weather and the challenged of presentations and guest of other mayors in the open and in the twilight was a significant risk, and on the advice of the four former mayors present (and the rest of us) the decision was taken to stay indoors (at around £2,000, with guests paying to attend) and looking to budget for a outdoor event in the late spring or high summer.
The EcoLoos in the park are to be plumbed in. Contrary to the agenda which did not include it, there will be a sink with running water (preferentially hot as well as cold).
This Town Council has got itself into the habit of what I might describe as "micromanaging" its staff. We employ professionals and then at times require them to come to council for operational decisions which they are far more qualified to make than we councillors. A classic example last night where we were asked to approve the appointment for a couple of weeks of an extra pair of knowledgable hands to support the writing of our grant request to the Wiltshire Towns ActivityGrant Program. Some of the things we discuss are madness. Which lawnmower should we buy - and you have half a dozen councillors looking at a catalogue, when we employ the people who know what they need and have the budget for it. The absurd situation we've been in perhaps comes from a lack of trust in the staff team as it used to be, but we need to move on and I'm delighted that we strongly spoke in support of the clerk, and through her the team of staff, making use of delegated powers for day to day and minor decisions.
Notable in their absence from this month's full council meeting were the LWCIP (though I am being allowed this next week), the Neighbourhood Plan (currently in a consultation period snd so perhaps in a waiting mode), the recruitment of staff (applications for Deputy Clerk and Event Manager closed a couple of weeks ago) and anything on the Assembly Hall and Blue Pool.
Published Tuesday, 20th August 2024
Looking forward - public and sustainable transport
0.1 - Introduction
I am looking forward. This update is a newsletter for people in the Melksham area on public transport - looking at what has been achieved in recent years, and what is planned, proposed, possible for the next years. I am someone who has been personally involved with promoting service modernisation and improvement for nearly 20 years, and in doing so taking on a strong technical knowledge, I am asking you to indulge me in seeing some personal plans in here as I am very much looking forward to continuing that promotional role over coming years.We have a job that is started but not finished - a lot has been achieved but there is a lot more to do. And we are at a time of both great opportunity and great risk - an opportunity for further development for the benefit of our communities, but also a risk of loosing the spotlight and any investment to help bring our public and sustainable transport provision even up to the level of neighbouring towns and examples from further afield, some of which show us how it could be done.
A beautiful day here in Melksham and look what has been achieved
1.1. Buses up
1.2. Trains up
1.3. Better Station and bus stops
1.4. Better fares
And in other news in strategy for the future
2.1. Bus plans
2.2. Network Rail report
2.3. TWCIP being considered
2.4. A growing town
Looking ahead on a more personal / closer to home side
3.1. Rejoined the board of TravelWatch SouthWest
3.2. Server Moves
3.3. Modernisation of Coffee Shop (responsive and https)
3.4. Ability to rejoin TransWilts as a member
Ongoing national proposals
4.1. This governments direction for public transport
4.2. Great British Railways, nationalisation and restructure
4.3. Bus service futures
4.4. A railway for the future
Ongoing proposals in our area
5.1. Running clock face (Hourly) Trains
5.2. Evening buses all week everywhere
5.3. Bus and walking links to station
5.4. More passenger-welcoming NaPTANs
5.5. Melksham Public Transport User Group
5.6. We need to sort out cycling and walking updates
And in conclusion
6.1. Conculsion
6.2. Next Steps
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1. A beautiful day here in Melksham and look what has been achieved
1.1 Buses up
Sunday buses up from 44 departures (and arrivals back) to 2 destinations last September to 200 departures (and arrivals back) to 2 destinations this September. Improvements too to services from Bradford-on-Avon with a late afternoon bus back now where previously the last bus was just after lunch time.
Over the years, there have been many threats to the local bus service and some losses - most deeply felt the evening buses to and from Chippenham and Trowbridge, and almost all services on town route 15 to East Melksham - pre-covid hourly, but now just a single service at 12:06 from The Bear. Some may be valid service modernisations, and some are to be regretted but it could have been so much worse if the 50% or greater cut in funding proposed in 2016 had gone ahead. As it was, we campaigned hard at Option 24/7 to maintain bus support - successfully - and with a particular emphasis on weekend and evening services. And, yes, the evening bus services on route 273 between Bath and Devizes survive and are busy - all be it with a very long gap mid-evening.
1.2 Trains up
We now have 118 trains per week calling at Melksham, versus 26 at the start of the last decade. And passenger numbers on individual trains are now in excess of the numbers that travelled to or from Melksham in an entire week in those days. Make no mistake - we have moved from a virtually useless service to one that is still poor (even when it runs - there is a major reliability issue) and there is a long way to go.As from last summer, the final major gap in being able to call the service "all day, every day" was filled, with addition of evening trains on a Saturday in winter, and a late evening service on Mondays to Fridays throughout the year.
The graphic attached shows the growth in Melksham Passenger numbers from 2006 to 2023. I have taken the liberty of shading the period that I was Community Rail Officer for the line in yellow - I'm proud to have been a part of that growth; the pink section since my reluctant departure was hit by covid, and also perhaps reflects the redirection of community rail away from general traffic promotion of current services. At one time, it was cheaper to buy a Melksham to Bristol ticket than one from Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon, and our journey numbers were artificially inflated. I have shaded the journey columns sections to represent these tickets from Melksham sold but never used here.
1.3 Better Station and bus stops
A decade ago, there was just a short platform at Melksham - enough for a single carriage train, with a small "bus stop" style waiting shelter. There were six car parking spaces just outside. Longer trains could call, but if they did all passenger had to / from Melksham had to use a single door - not a problem while passenger numbers were so abysmal.
We now have a platform which takes the full length of a train up to 3 carriages and has extra safety elements such as a yellow line. We have a larger waiting shelter, a ticket vending machine, a covered bicycle area, more seating, a CCTV system, a "next train" display and additional information displays. The car parking spaces are now designated for pick up and drop off only, and just across the station forecourt is a public (paid) car park now run by Wiltshire Council with around 50 spaces. Signage to and from the station has been much improved.
There are over 100 bus stops in Melksham, ranging from those with no regular service at all such as the one at the railway station though the minimal service at some of 5 per week through to the Market Place bus stop which I estimate has around 360 services a week leaving on 9 routes (14, x34, 68, 69 to Corsham, 69 to Trowbridge, x69, 271, 272 and 273). Some bus stops have been improved over the years, and I welcome the first real time bus display which has been installed at Mitchell Drive in Bowerhill, with a promise of more at the two busiest stops in the Town Centre
1.4 Better (lower) fares
On the buses, the single fare of £6.50 to Bath is currently replaced by the £2 flat fare introduced by the previous government and promised to run until December.
On the trains, GWR introduced "via Melksham" fares that help encourage the use of our line by through passengers, and some of those fares give reductions to and from Melksham too. With the provision of off peak trains, day returns are now practical at a fraction of what they would previously have cost during the week.
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2. And in other news in strategy for the future
2.1 Bus plans
The Sunday services to Chippenham and to Trowbridge restarted (after many years) in the Spring, and the Sunday service to Bath and Devizes becomes hourly from 1st September. Good. Real time display at a handful of busy stops will be arriving in the next few weeks. What else is needed?
On existing routes, evening services to and from Chippenham and Trowbridge would be welcome. And there are many requests for the return of the extra penultimate service from Bath to Melksham which we lost at the start of Covid when First Bus pulled out; the 21:05 is described by many as "too early" and the 23:15 (to become 23:20 on Saturdays) as "too late". Difficult to do in a cost effective manner, but need noted.
Melksham was reduced from a town with a two vehicle "Town Service" in 2020 to a single vehicle service as a "temporary measure" but that reduction has become permanent, with the single vehicle and single driver shift doing school runs and trying to service everything else in between, none of which encourages many passengers except those who have no option but to use it. Some parts of Melksham only have one or two buses a day now, and there are other anachonisms.
We need a second vehicle to service the town, and after 4 years gap that could and should reflect the needs of the future rather than slavishly duplicating what it did in 2019.
Logic is for a new Town service - christened "16" - to run from the Railway Station just after the train has called to the Town Centre, and out along Sandridge Road to the edge of town, then along the eastern relief road to The Spa and up to Bowerhill, serving the business area there before heading out to the Police station on Semington Road and some journeys on to Holbrook Vale. Return by the same route, arriving at the station a few minutes before the train calls so providing connection / interchange facilities and scope for a personal needs break for the driver. This route is close to the one we tested in real life in September 2022 with the electric bus hired for the day. The existing town service - route 14 with it's multiple variation to take everyone on in, including a couple of runs designated "15" can then be updated to take out variants through areas served by the 16, and provide a more thorough service that's of much more use to many people and not just those who have had no choice but use it. It is instructive to look at the town bus in Devizes - a smaller town but with two vehicles - and see how busy they are!
Melksham's buses have been diesel powered for many years. Although greatly improved of late, that makes them noisy, smelly, rattly, and not good on a sustainability front. Alternative power, such as electricity (but hydrogen talked about) has become much more practical of late, and companies like The Big Lemon who we visited in Brighton 3 years ago are now operating as close as Bath, with electric buses coming with Go-ahead to Salisbury soon. Here in Melksham as across other Wiltshire Towns, contracts were re-let for four years for Town buses based on price once a basic standard was met, and that meant that bids that included electric operation did not win, as the operators proposing them had to recuperate the extra costs of setup over just 48 months. Had the contracts been 8 years, or sustainabitly and zero carbon been an evaluation factor, the outcome might have been different. There is, though, huge sense in looking at the model for route 16 and making that an electric operation.
2.2 Network Rail report and rail plans
The railway line through Melksham is a single track and it takes (realistically) 20 minutes for a train to pass through and for the line to be set up for one coming the other way. There is a significant amount of freight traffic on the line (which often runs early or late), there are often diverted mainline trains coming through, and there is nowhere at either end of the single line for trains to wait without getting in the way of other services. So the current passenger service of a train every couple of hours each way is about the most than can be managed, and even that is a nightmare to plan and operate, especially on disrupted days. However, an appropriate service for Melksham is an hourly service. That's not only for Melksham itself but also through passenger from Swindon and Chippenham to Trowbridge and Westbury, who make up two thirds of the passengers on the train.
The draft Network Rail report "Wiltshire Rail Strategic Study", 72 page draft of July 2024, analyses the best case improvement from a whole series as stepping up to an hourly service each way from Swindon to Frome, and a part of the benefit is the service increase at Melksham. To achieve this, extra capacity would be required on the line, and the report suggests officially (as we have for many years) that a loop to allow trains to pass each other at or near Melksham would make sense. The report also highlights the need to restore the 4th platform at Westbury which was taken out of use in 1984; these days, the lack of that platform with the greatly increased train frequency seems to mean that more often than not, trains have to slow or wait as they approach.
The Network Rail document also considers ahead - looking at the sensible step of electrifying from Cocklebury Lane, Chippenham via Westbury and Frome to the Mendip quarries for both freight and passenger operation. It all makes sense, but in coming years will need encouragement for it to be taken forward and actually implemented.
2.3 LWCIP being considered
There is a current ongoing consultation on the Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan for Melksham, envisaging how road and footpaths can be improved to make them more friendly. Background work done by Wiltshire Council and their consultants, resulting in a 75 page report that is out for consultation until 6th September.
Many of the suggestions in the LWCIP make sense, and much backup evidence is provided. However, much of the evidence is historic and dates back to the 2011 census and many of the walking and cycling flows have changed since then, with the secondary school now on the road to Devizes not the road to Bath, with station users up from 3,000 per annum to 75,000 and with extra housing built to the east of the town, on the old school site, and off the old Semington Road. Some informed data IS much more current, but the data that would lead to suggestion of improving facilities for flows that are no longer there should, perhaps, have been excluded. Data from Priority for People, the 2021 survey by the Town Council, could usefully inform the LWCIP process and, I will admit, I am unclear as to the stages to be taken in implementing the plan - the report is financed, but (I would suggest) not the interventions it suggests.
Melksham is one of the longest established towns in Wiltshire, and a number of our streets near the centre date back to the days of the horse, cart and stagecoach. Where that was all the traffic that had to pass through the narrows between oft-listed buildings, these days to that mixture we need to add lorries, buses, delivery vehicles and private cars, and bicycles, scooters and mobility chairs - squeezing a quart into a pint pot. Many of these modern vehicles are much faster than the stagecoach, and they're there in far greater numbers than in bygone times with Melksham being so much larger than it was. Spa Road, from the Market Place to Melksham Hospital is a particular accident black spot.
Melksham Without Parish Council have done a thorough review of the draft LCWIP which they took to their council on 29th July, and I commend to you. At Melksham Town Council, I don't think we have any staff or councillors with the technical knowledge or time to do such a detailed review and subject to a read through over coming days I am going to propose that we endorse their commentary which in a brief overview looks appropriate. See also the Joint Melksham Neighbourhood Plan II (2020-2038) - 130 pages, consultation closes 22nd August - see below.
2.4 A growing town
The population of the Melksham area is around 26,000, up from 12,000 in 1951 and 22,000 in 2011. We might anticipate further growth to somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 over the next 15 years - these numbers thrown into recent doubt by the requirement by the new government to build substantial extra housing in the county. We are working under the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework), The Wiltshire Core Strategy (next version the "Local Plan") and the Neighbourhood plan - made in 2022 and with a new version going to local referendum in the next 6 months to a year.
With a growing town, and with changing provision, public, sustainable and private transport all needs to develop to keep pace with, and indeed be ahead of, demand. In many ways, the growth of the town is the friend of public transport as it boosts the economic case for a more frequent service which, when run, encourages more people to use it because of its very frequency. You can see elements of this change if you look back at recent years too, with Melksham's train and bus services (with the exception of the travesty of the Town Bus cuts and the failure to link road and rail) having blossomed so much in recent years - and there will be more to follow
Housing Growth proposed by Wiltshire Council in the local plan, and other sensitive areas that are potentials if government requires more homes be built, are all away from the Town Centre and railway, but just to the side of the proposed "route 16" bus for which a case can me made even before anything is built. Proposals in the Neighbourhood Plan are for "brownfield" site housing on the former Cooper Tires site and the old Library site, both of which are in closely adjoining existing public transport routes / flows that are covered elsewhere in this document. The final Neighbourhood Plan site to south of Melksham is not so well suited for public transport, but I note that access is via Pathfinder Way, with good bus services to the Town and to Bath and Devizes, and on the proposed town bus route 16 too which will take new residents to the railway station.
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3. Looking ahead on a more personal / closer to home side
3.1 Rejoined the board of TravelWatch SouthWest
TravelWatch SouthWest (TWSW) is a coordinating CIC of volunteer technical experts who provide updates to and an interface between User and specialist interest groups, and financial management and operational staff in the Transport Industry and local and national government. Twice a year, a general meeting across the SouthWest gives member groups and industry experts a chance to update their knowledge and to network, and other seminars, papers meetings and advise between meetings helps inform people across the sectors in a field where co-operative informing is patchy. TWSW helps bridge the knowledge gap between the use and the provider.
BC (Before Covid) I was a member of the TWSW board - a group of lovely people who really know their transport stuff. I was out of place with my lack of knowledge, unable to contribute much and asking silly questions, and stood down, which gave an opportunity to another fantastic expert to join the board, and gave me some more time for other activities such as local ones in Melksham.
With one of the experts, sadly, retiring from TWSW with immediate effect, I have been invited back onto the board through co-option and will stand again more formally for a three year term in December. I still know a lot less than the rest, but I am in a position to be able to help fill a press, publicity and liaison role and helping with web presence, and also helping inform the very future of TWSW which runs on a very small budget provided by Transport Operators such as those who are loosing their franchises / contracts under new government plans.
3.2 Server and system moves
The web server that I use for much of what I do is based with a Web Service Provider, and has been around for ages. It's being switched off at the end of this month, and I am in the process of moving lots of stuff around - 2 weeks to go before the deadline.
My Facebook account was over-secured to JelliaJamb and cutting a long story short you will find a new personal profile at https://www.facebook.com/graham.ellis.melksham/ - please contact me though there and re-established friendships welcomed.
I am not campaigning for re-election to Melksham Town Council next Spring and when I leave the Council I will no longer have my official email address there - so I am encouraging people who share my wider interest to use graham@sn12.net please.
Lisa and I are upgrading our home internet provision over the next few days. In theory it is straightforward. In practice, issues sometimes crop up with such things. Status page ... http://status.sn12.net ... if you lose me or servers.
3.3 Modernisation of Coffee Shop (responsive and https)
I founded the Great Western "Coffee Shop" forum in January 2007. Using Open Source software, I was expecting it to run - at most - for 18 months. But here we are, now in our 18th year and whilst it's not as busy as it used to be, we still had nearly 1,200 new posts last month and it remains a key community http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/index.html tool with passengers, campaigners, rail advocates and staff all sharing thought and information from London through the Thames Valley, the South West and South Wales. We have a team of a dozen administrators and moderators but, truth be told, the members usually keep themselves very much in order and we have little to do.
Whilst the need for the "Coffee Shop" to provide a passenger forum over the years has not really changed, how people wish to access it has. Rather than accessing from a laptop computer which was how things were done 18 years ago, we now have a wide variety of devices of all sort of shapes and sizes. Rather than use an http protocol, members would prefer the more secure https (s for secure) even though we collect no personal data. And rather than including cookie consent in the forum terms and conditions, members would prefer a separate pop-up.
The software we use - Simple Machines - uses PHP version 4, but we're now up to version 8 and we should really switch. However, it is not 100% compatible with some older syntaxes being deprecated from one version to the next, and then removed. We can't easily switch, though, because we have tailored the version we run over time - never expecting to be around in 2010, let alone 2024!
Much work to be done. I'm still quite happy to do much of this work - very much the technology through which I earned my living for the largest part of my working life and still fun, but it takes a lot of time.
3.4 Ability to rejoin TransWilts as a member
If you hold more that 1% of the share of a business that operates in premises in the Parish, it's regarded as a pecuniary interest. As one of just less than 60 "members" of the TransWilts CIC, I held 1.75% of the shares - £1 invested and with a liability of £1 if they went bust, and as a CIC no intent of making a profit for shareholders. So when the hub cafe opened, I gave up my membership to let me speak on TransWilts matters at council. With the hub cafe now closed and lease released, I can now apply to rejoin TransWilts and I am inclined to do so though I would not expect to take much (if any) of a role.
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4. Ongoing national proposals
4.1 This governments direction for public transport
Scroll down for rail and bus individually ... there is a desire for a uniform reliability and provision at minimal cost to the taxpayer, but at same time giving control of operations locally which may lead to a lack of uniformity - a postcode lottery of services?
4.2 Great British Railways, nationalisation and restructure
The King's Speech included the bill to "Nationalise the railways" and provide a legal basis for Great British Railways. The restructure may be important, but at this point it's something of an enabler and we'll need to wait and see how the things that have been enabled are done.
There is an element of dogma and popularism in "Nationalisation" - much is already nationalised, and much will remain in private hands. I'm pretty sure that most trains will remain privately owned by the likes of Porterbrook, Eversholt and Angel Trains - companies which most of you will never have heard off, themselves owned by banks and big multi-nationals, and around a third of your fare goes on train hire. And the government seems to be encouraging open access train operation, which is private sector trains on the national network; scope for the nationalised service to be reduced to a basic service and then have the private sector provide the rest? Here in Melksham, our current train service is broken at the weekend and the strategy openly talk of / allows and plans for a potential open access operator on the line.
In the last few days, the government has settled the industrial dispute for more money with the train drivers that's been ongoing for 3 years, with around 20 days of strikes. Statements are that it may be costing £100 million to settle, but that must be balanced against £1 billion of damage done by the strikes. But within days we are seeing other rail staff saying "we want that same deal" and some of the drivers (LNER and not GWR) calling more strikes in a separate dispute, with a strong expectation that the government - who run LNER - will acceed to their demands / requests.
4.3 Bus service futures
The government plans to allow much more franchising by local authorities, which seems very much the opposite of ceasing franchising on the railways. And allow locsl authorities to set up their own bus operations in the future?
Certainly the plans for doing better than leaving things to purely market forces then buying in extras that no-one wants to provide commercially make some sense. Just the other week, I took the Swanage bus from Weymouth. An average frequency of an hourly bus - except that it's 2 buses 3 minutes apart and then a gap of an hour and 57 minutes, with the two buses operated by rival companies. Madness, and it results on "thinner" routes of neither being able to survive, and a loss of off-peak services of a need for financisl taxpayer support when the total service should be self supporting.
The £2 single fare promotion was originally for 2023. The previous government extended it through 2024 (over the general election period) and the current government is now wresting with a "what do we do?" question. Could some fares go up 3 times locslly (and some 5 times for other extreme jouneys elsewhere in the country).
How are we doing on electric buses? On buses and trains connecting? On through ticketing across buses and trains? On integrated information systems? On providing a stability so that investment can be made (public or private sector) on a service for the future that runs economically and on which people can plan their lives?
4.4 A railway for the future
$ 64,000 public transport questions ...
4.4.1 Service routes, levels
4.4.2 Service and infrastructure reliability
4.4.3 Price of travel, understandability of ticketing
4.4.4 Information systems
4.4.5 Welcoming the passengers (or not)
4.4.6 Network changes - new stations, even closing unused ones and lines
4.4.7 Access for all - including those without smartphones, with cycles, etc
4.4.8 Looking after people when things go wrong
The new structures open a door for those things to be dealt with. I suggest that the average passenger doesn't really care who operates his train or bus which is what so much talk is about - he wants a reliable service going where and when he wants, in safety and comfort and practically accessible at a price he can afford.
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Ongoing proposals in our area
5.1 Running clock face (Hourly) Trains
Melksham's trains need to run hourly each way, and at the same time in each hour. If you look at the stats of another station - and I chose Warminster as being the closest in terms of Town size, and with a history of service of about the leve we should have, you'll find their passenger journey numbers about 8 times ours. Yes, double the service at Melksham and each train will be twice as busy as eah current train.
Back up evidence? For everyone I talk to who uses the service, I speak to someone else who does not, citing infrequency, unreliability, difficulty getting to th station and the unwelcoming "feel" down there. And I move in public transport circles, so I meet a disproportionate number of current users.
The word running is key. It is no good having trains in the timetable and then cancelling them, especially at short notice. The rail industry need to employ and have available enough staff and lease enough working trains to run the service.
5.2 Evening buses all week everywhere
The late bus from Bath which runs 6 days a week is often very busy - but I will admit than passengers are few in number on that vehicle earlier in the evening. But why just 6 days out of 7, and why is the last bus back from Chippenham and Trowbridge so early that people working away, or doing overtime or finishing at 6pm or attending an event can't get home by bus? We're not looking at much here - a single vehicle from Trowbridge at 8 and 10 p.m. and from Chippenham at 7, 9 and 11 p.m.
5.3 Bus and walking links to station
That's the "16" bus as described above. And with a Melksham loop on the railway , the northbound and southbound hourly trains will call within minutes of each other, so the bus can connect to and from trains in both directions. From the first train to the last, please and, yes, that means multiple driver shifts even though it's a single vehicle.
Houses in Foundry Close were described when sold as "near to the station". Correct, but that's as the crow flies. On foot, it's the best part of 1km, and involves either walking down a major road with no footpath in parts, or crossing that road twice which is what is strongly encouraged. And yet - "all" that is needed is a section of fence taking down between two pieces of Wiltshire Council roadway, with improvement of about 10 yards of path. This would also bring the x34 bus stops far closer to the station
The old steps from the end of the station platform to the bridge over the railway could usefully be re-opened. Saving another "Great Way Round"
The Subway under the A350 which links the railway station to the town is in need of some Tender Loving Care - a project to improve that has been mooted and stillborn over the years.
5.4 More passenger-welcoming NaPTANs
A NaPTAN is a National Passenger Transport Access Node - bus stops and railway stations to you and me. Many of them in Melksham are far less welcoming than they might be, and that puts people off. For many it's as simple as keeping them clean and any signage up to date, with as a minimum these days a QR code to take you to current service running. There's a very large number of bus stops and for perhaps a dozen we're looking at a shelter and a bit more maintenance work - lights that work, any damage put right, etc. There is only one railway station.
The railway station is at the back of an industrial estate; at weekends and of an evening it's a very lonely place where people may not feel safe. Signage for outgoing passengers is frighening, telling them they may be fined if they don't buy a ticket from a complex-programmed machine. Arrivals expecting to find a town centre or waiting buses or a stop with service or taxis find none of those. These days, there are usually other people around when a train calls, but early arrivals for train who are newomers really wonder where they are, and people getting off a train for the first time, unmet, find themselves rapidly alone. No-one to ask, no loos, not even a drink of water. The "Melksham Hub" Cafe failed its economic case but from the lessons learned I believe the community could do better.
5.5 Melksham Transport User Group
5.5.1 - User information and support
5.5.2 - Commemorative seat in memory of Peter and Margaret
5.5.3 - Station friends including cafe presence
5.5.4 - Working with industry and specifiers for better service
5.6. We need to sort out cycling and walking updates
A big open question here where I am not an expert. Yes, I do walk and cycle around but I have not studied in great detail, and tend to look / use things rather than getting involved in too much of the why and wherefore. However, we do not to my knowledge have a local expert. A great deal of good learning work was done by Priority for People and much has been done in working up the Neighbourhood Plan. At the Town Council, I seem to be the best of a bad job ... an untrained volunteer with limited time.
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6. And in conclusion
Conclusion from the above
We are at a time of great opportunity, but also of great risk of not taking thos opportunities and getting in wrong. Some difficult and unpopular short term decisions need to be taken as we reset things for the future. There are some good knowledgable experts around and that knowledge must be cherished and used and not lost on a bonfire of political dogma, indifference and cutting. The voice of the user of services - the customer is king - must be heard and changes must do right for those customers.
Personally, I am not campaigning for another 4 years on the Town Council - there are better and more effective (and much more enjoyable) things I can do, and those are for the benefit of my ward, my town, and my region. Many of things in th article above point to a start of those things, but although it's long they just scrape the surface.
I have referred to many documents above - perhaps a thousand pages in total.
Next Steps
Having motivated you to read this far, I need to be suggesting options as to what we as a community can do and how you can effecively help.
* There is a West Wiltshire Rail User Group meeting on 18th September
* There is a TravelWatch SouthWest meeting on 11th October
* There is a Climate Friendly update for the constituency in B-o-A on 22nd October
* There NEEDS TO BE a co-ordianting meeting for Melksham, perhaps under the auspices of the "Melksham Rail Development Group" or the "Melksham Transport User Group" - re-envigourating. I wish I had something set up / I could tell you about here, but I don't.
What I can do is to give you a date to hold in your diary - Friday 25th October - very provisionally - for a significant public community meeting here in Melksham. I am updating at http://www.passenger.chat/29008.
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Published Sunday, 18th August 2024
Sunday bus - much improved service
A year ago, there were just 11 buses on a Sunday from Melksham - 5 to Bath and 6 to Devizes, at intervals of 2 hours, on route 273. This spring, Sunday services were started on route x34 on Sundays - 9 to Trowbridge and 9 to Chippenham . And come 1st September, the 273 services increase to hourly - there will be 10 to Bath and 12 to Devizes.So that's up from just 11 services a year ago to 29 now and 40 from next month.
First Sunday buses:
To Bath - 09:40 (08:39 from 1st September)
To Chippenham - 08:48
To Devizes - 09:50 (08:28 from 1st September)
To Trowbridge - 08:51
Last Sunday bus back:
From Bath - 19:10 (18:55 from 1st September)
From Chippenham - 18:20
From Devizes - 19:12 (19:00 from 1st September)
From Trowbridge - 18:20
On Monday to Saturday buses start earlier and run more frequently. They run from Devizes and Bath later in the evening too.
With the increase in Sunday services, and with the £2 single fare, the bus is a wonderful option for your journey any day of the week this autumn.
Published Wednesday, 14th August 2024