What costs 8.20 from Melksham, or 22.30 via Chippenham?
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-08-14 01:05:09 - Graham Ellis
If I were to commute to Swindon for a day's work from Melksham, I would much prefer to travel by train from my home town of Melksham. It's kinder on the environment, and it's kinder on my blood pressure (I can relax on the train but should not relax at the wheel), and it's kinder to others on the road who need to be there like the lorries and people not going near stations. It's also quicker. But what is the cost of me being kind in this way?
From Melksham:
* £8.20 anytime day return from Melksham station
* 3 mile round trip by car - say £1.50 at 50p / mile
* Nothing to park at Melksham Station
From Chippenham:
* £8.20 anytime day return from Chippenham station
* 14 mile round trip by car - that's £7.00 at 50p / mile
* £7.10 for parking at Chippenham Station
So ... I can pay £9.70 via my local station, or £22.30 via Chippenham. That's a staggering difference, isn't it? Yes, the train fare IS the same from both - that is not a typo! Of course, there's a sting in the tail here. Trains from Chippenham are twice an hour, but from Melksham are twice a day.
We would love more trains, and indeed we have a proven case for eleven a day. And they wouldn't only benefit Melksham to Swindon commuters. They would also benefit the town and its businesses, and other towns down the line, such as Trowbridge, Westbury and Warminster (total catchment / population - between 90,000 and 100,000).
With a proven case, why is it proving so hard to get a proper service? Why do we feel, at times, that the folks who organise and operate the system really would prefer to leave things as they are?
* The rail industry's going to get MORE money for providing LESS via Chippenham. The customer base is a captive one - we've little choice from Melksham, and I'm sure they prefer to get £8.20 plus (say) a half of the £7.10 car parking fee for packing more people into an existing train (on not the busiest part of its route) to having to run an extra train and ending up with less income to boot.
* The government's going to get more money too if people drive. At least 80% of the cost of petrol / diesel is tax, and there's other taxes on cars too. Let's guestimate that a half of the cost of motoring would go to the government.
And guess who has to make decisions about whether an appropriate service level's provided for the good of the passengers and the area? That's right - it's the very people who stand to loose a lot of money, and have to do more to earn what they get, if there's a decent service provided. Me thinks they are playing prosecution and judge, with Joe (Travelling) Public being the defendant in a biased evaluation of his case.
And so ... that case which is screamingly obvious to those of us who live in the towns of Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster (and Frome and other too) needs to be pressed strongly and actively. Just because a decision is a sensible one in the voter's interest (and in the interest of all the nonvoting young people who can't drive or vote yet) doesn't mean it will come to pass. The playing field has a steep slope on it.
The art of persuading someone to give you what you want is being able to give him something in return. I think it's absurd that the fare by train to Swindon is the same from Melksham as from Chippenham. Mile for mile, £10. or £11. day return is perfectly reasonable. As would be four pounds to park at Melksham Station once there's a sensible level of service.
The cost to benefit ratio of the service proposed - 11 trains each way daily - is at least 1 to 2.74 - in other words, each pound spent on the service reaps £2.74 in rewards. And I would be very, very happy to see £1.37 of those rewards being channeled to the operators of the service, and the other £1.37 being pure benefit to the area. 37% should be a tempting profit margin ...
And I read in my local paper that up to 44% of the young people in Melksham Forest live in poverty. Truly shocking in this day and age. But that £1.37 benefit to the area will bring help to businesses (94% say the service would make a difference to them) ... and with that help comes prosperity, and jobs. Come on, Mr Government, you can save yourself money by cutting the need for benefits for the newly employed, and you can gain yourself extra income taxes, NI and the rest from them too. And that's a far higher net income than the fuel duty you'll be loosing as we queue into Chippenham via the A350.