Great Western Coffee Shop

On Saturday 4th - day of awful weather - just 2 on + 1 extra on 08:37 to Swindon.  Oops.  But note
- advise not to travel / change plans
- its the "extra" train so there's a smaller gap.
- mostly leisure; bad weather may mean than only 1 in 5 travels (so normal load would be 15)
- end of Christmas break; most people are recovering from new year ready for work

Monday 6th

06:38
13 on from Chippenham
+2 (Bath and London)

07:20
41 on from Trowbridge
+5 (4 for Swindon and 1 for Bristol)

07:48
25 on from Trowbridge (of whom 11 were from Westbury I understand)
+9 (4 for Swindon, 2 for Chippenham, 2 for Bristol TM and 1 for London)

All trains on time

Everyone happy

Concerns ... reliability, reliabikity reliabiity ;-)

Also
- A journey planner ap showed the 06:38 as 07:01 at Westbury, and the London train leaves 07:01 - will I make it (yes, 07:01 is the departure of the train on to Southampton; arrival is 06:55)
- Will we soon run out of parking spaces at Melksham Station?
- Changing trains at Trowbridge.   Sat in waiting room in bad weather, no-one noticed the Single car Swindon train pull up and they only dashed out as it was leaving :-( ...

Good to see posters / information in 2 of the frames at Melksham Station / 3rd frame still missing.

Just testing

18:03 at Melksham
Arrived with 52 on board.  9 got off and 1 on

18:44 at Melksham
Arrived with 3 on board. 2 got off and 1 on

19:17 at Melksham
Arrived with 15 on board. 4 got off and 1 on

So looks like already 14 commuting from Melksham northbound, and a goodly number coming from further south. After one month that's not bad. The fact that the earlier northbound train still has the larger number of pax in total would demonstrate that it's taking time for people to realise that there is (for most people) a more conveniently timed train. So the majority of travellers are still those who found the earlier train was able to fit in with their working arrangements, and haven't needed to move.

What has struck me about some of the comments on the TW Facebook site is how many are asking basic information which is available (timings). This should serve to remind us that for many people, travelling by train, looking at timetables etc, is totally unfamiliar to them, and they either need to have it confirmed to them personally, or need reassurance that they've read things correctly. Maybe that's to be expected on a route that hasn't had a viable service for many years, but it shows that we shouldn't underestimate how straightforward information needs to be to give people confidence to use the service.   

Edit to fix quoting - grahame

Yes, looking good so far.   Looking at the evening figures, the 19:17 was at least one down on what it should have been because the connecting 17:45 from Paddington (Swansea train, change at Swindon) didn't arrive until after it had left.   As a result, I have a "I tried it and it didn't work so I won't be trying it again" letter  ... echoing and confirming what I wrote during the day



Spot on. There is a lot of helping and explaining to do, and we can understand a lot by listening to these questions. It's also part of the reason for this new board to not be public, as we'll be discussing / mulling over issues as they arise and largely ignoring the 95% of journeys that are uneventful and happy; don't want to frighten people.

I'm ... delighted, then ... that we have other timetable options than looking up the times on the Portsmouth - Cardiff sheet.  And that we're trying to meet / talk with people / be around quite a bit at first.

16:44 {{Melksham time}} Today - Sunday 12th Jan 2014

5 on from Westbury
+7 at Trowbridge
+3 -1 at Melksham

Total - 15 on TransWilts section

Train on time, arrived Swindon Platform 3. Departure boards having a laugh - showed it departing 10 minutes later as the Penzance train.  Announcements telling us to stand back as "the next train is not schedued to shop here".  Have to laugh (or cry) at the info systems sometimes.

I understand that the only "via Melksham" fare notified to be re-instated is 6.50 return Trowbridge to Chippenham; other "via Melksham" fares still not being sold as the staff don't know what the fare should be ...

Information point at Melksham station showing "Communications Problems" error message - my guestimate is that it's in this state between 25% and 40% of the time.