Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2009-10-16 11:18:31 - Graham Ellis
1 + 1 = 1If you have an early morning round trip out and back to a residential / suburb, and a similar evening round trip, you're just providing a single commute opportunity to the origin point of the train.
2 + 2.5 = 8If you take the two round trips of the first example, and add two more round trips (plus - in my example - an extra single journey) you can increase the commute opportunities from one to eight (yes, 125% more trains - 700% more journey options).
How does this work? Let's see my example
Here is the current train service from Swindon and Chippenham to West Wiltshire (Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury). With an arrival at Chippenham at 07:27 and a departure back home at 19:01, (Swindon 07:47 to 18:45) this gives just a single commute opportunity with 11 hours (far too long for most people) in Swindon, or 11.5 hours (also too long!!) in Chippenham.
Adding an an extra round trip at lunch time (using a train that sits idle in the sidings at Westbury for 2 hours at present), and an extra pair of trains in the late afternoon (swapping over trains which sit at Swindon for an hour, and are available at Westbury for an hour) ... and rerouting a morning Bristol to Swindon train to call additionally at Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham, you're up from 4 to 9 single journeys on the line ... and from one to eight possible return trips ... and good, useful ones too!
Current:
Arr. 07:48, leave 18:45 - 11 hours
Suggested:
Arr. 07:48, leave 18:45 - 11 hours (useful for occasional long days)
Arr. 07:48, leave 16:45 - 9 hours (ideal length for daily work)
Arr. 09:48, leave 18:45 - 9 hours (ideal length for daily work)
Arr. 09:48, leave 16:45 - 7 hours (good for some shorter days work, also for days out shopping, etc)
Arr. 12:20, leave 18:45 - 6 hours (half day work / leisure / business option)
Arr. 07:48, leave 12:30 - 5 hours (half day work / leisure / business option)
Arr. 12:20, leave 16:46 - 4 hours (half day work / leisure / business option)
Arr. 09:48, leave 12:30 - 3 hours (half day work / leisure / business option)
That's a considerable gain from making better use of existing resources, isn't it? It's not going to be quite 'cost free' - as train crews are taking rest breaks at present during those longer layovers, and there may not be a crew around at all for the train that's parked up at Westbury over lunch.
It has been said that an ideal extra train would arrive into Chippenham and Swindon between 08:15 and 08:45 and leave back between 17:15 and 17:45 - and that would form a true commuter service. Indeed - I agree that WOULD be ideal. But the price to be paid would be five to ten times more than that of the option above - you would need an extra train, 3 or 4 crews (6 to 8 new staff) ... and the two nine hour commuter options, with the longer and shorter alternatives that people can use if they wish, are eminently sellable. These days, many more people ARE flexible in their hours, or working in places where they can routinely do a slightly earlier or slightly later turn.
The lunch time service gives really good part time opportunities, as well as good service for access to places like the Wiltshire Heritage Center in Chippenham which is currently impractical to access by rail from the rest of Wiltshire. Spend a morning, or an afternoon, or the whole day studying the resources there.
West Wiltshire to Chippenham and Swindon is one of the top 50 commutes in the South West - and it's almost exclusively done by car at the moment, with about an hour being taken from Trowbridge to Swindon. The bus takes 95 minutes, the train 35.
Let's look at another piece of arithmetic on this railway corridor - using the same service and the growing town of Melksham, currently 22,000 population, 1000 new houses authorized, 100 acres set aside for further development - so I would expect to see a population of around 32,000 by 2025.
Here's the present service with a very long day indeed to Chippenham and Swindon in one direction, and an impractically long day to Trowbridge / Salisbury / Southampton in the other. Long distance travel is ruled out for all but the most hardened - tourists and people going away on holiday simple don't want to leave home when it's still dark, nor have the worry of wondering if they will miss the ONLY train after a long journey back to the area.
Double the number of trains in the cheap way we propose, and the options blossom. I won't list them all but you'll see all the Chippenham and Swindon trips I mentioned above, plus new options to the south ... and services such as an 09:17 departure which would really help the town's visitors and leisure traffic, together with the services that arrive back at a quarter to and a quarter past five.
With extra services as outline, there's a marketable product. Form a Community Rail Partnership to help with the promotion, produce a proper timetable (try asking at Chippenham for a timetable of services, direct and indirect to Trowbridge, and see what they say!), provide good bus connections along the way ... and you'll end up with a useful, well used and supported service.
Here is the current train service from Swindon and Chippenham to West Wiltshire (Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury). With an arrival at Chippenham at 07:27 and a departure back home at 19:01, (Swindon 07:47 to 18:45) this gives just a single commute opportunity with 11 hours (far too long for most people) in Swindon, or 11.5 hours (also too long!!) in Chippenham.
Adding an an extra round trip at lunch time (using a train that sits idle in the sidings at Westbury for 2 hours at present), and an extra pair of trains in the late afternoon (swapping over trains which sit at Swindon for an hour, and are available at Westbury for an hour) ... and rerouting a morning Bristol to Swindon train to call additionally at Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham, you're up from 4 to 9 single journeys on the line ... and from one to eight possible return trips ... and good, useful ones too!
Here's the present service with a very long day indeed to Chippenham and Swindon in one direction, and an impractically long day to Trowbridge / Salisbury / Southampton in the other. Long distance travel is ruled out for all but the most hardened - tourists and people going away on holiday simple don't want to leave home when it's still dark, nor have the worry of wondering if they will miss the ONLY train after a long journey back to the area.
Double the number of trains in the cheap way we propose, and the options blossom. I won't list them all but you'll see all the Chippenham and Swindon trips I mentioned above, plus new options to the south ... and services such as an 09:17 departure which would really help the town's visitors and leisure traffic, together with the services that arrive back at a quarter to and a quarter past five.