Great Western Coffee Shop

I don't travel enough by bus. A lot of my journeys are longer distance where rail is much quicker.  And a lot of my journeys are early in the morning, in the evening, or on Sundays where buses no longer run, rather forcing me to the train even if there is a more direct bus route.

Yesterday, I listend to James Freeman of First Bus West of England (Bristol, Bath, Weston, West Wilts) talking about their services ... and in the evening I had the opportunity to sample the service - taking the one remaining service 271 that runs from Bath to Urchfont at 20:00 (schedule - 20:10 actual) six days a week.

Here are my notes from James's talk - excuse the typos / done on the fly


His talk was (I believe it may have been requested) Bristol-centric; I used the service from Bath bus station. 

The bus station was crowded, but the information place closed, toilets closed, and no visible customer facing staff.  Boards at both ends of the room displayed destinations and times (or "x minutes") for buses.  Only final destinations shown - so you had to know that the "Urchfont" bus (it's the only one of the day to Urchfont, which has a population of around 500) is also the service that runs toMelksham (25,000) and Devizes (18,000). A City map of bus routes is available, but where there used to be a map of the routes that run out of the City we now have commercial adverts. When the bus arrived, it actually came in to another bay; no change made on the departure board, no tannoy announcement.  The driver did come into the public and shout "Urchfont bus on stand 7"

As far as I can make out, the bus station has no WiFi for public use, though it is covered by a First Bus network that's presumably just for staff.   However, you can get intermittent connection if you log in through buses that are there on stands. Presumably that will get better as more buses get WiFi ;-)

The bus service back to Melksham was fine - bit of a rickety old bus, but no problem; quite happy with that.  It does have a modern LED display which I think is supposed to inform passengers along the way.  I made a note of the scrolling message - it's the subject line for this post - and it makes me realise how little I know about buses because I don't understand what these messages - which I've see on may buses (almost as standard) over the last few year - actually means.  The "s" of "sit" flashes if that makes any difference in the explanation anyone can give me.

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James talked about Bristol ... and I can't help contrasting his very positive message with some of the things I see / feel in Bath and West Wilts.

We have no "twice an hour, 7 days a week" like Wells and Street.   It doesn't seem like we're all working together when the elected portfolio for public transport stands up in public and tells James that we want to work with him, but that emails are not answered and calls shielded by a secretary.  And when the evening x34 / 234 service - a continuation of the contracted route bewteen Wiltshire Council and First Bus that was supposed to restart last month after the August hiatus in which there were alternative train services - seems to have disappeared into the long grass.  And when our local customer service rep's role has been moved to Norwich - again emails unanswered.  A new local contact has introduced himself in the past few days, but not as yet provided any answers

I find it's very informative to listen to what other audinces are told, and very interesting to put myself in the shoes of others.

The cynic's view of this business of First buses to Melksham might be that First Bus have other "far more important" matters than the routes in the east of their area, and we get the dregs.  And that an evening x34 / 234 contract would be more trouble than it's worth.  As far as the council's concerned, if they can go though the motions of getting a quote but not follow it though, while they watch previous users find alternatives (or loose their jobs / give up nights out) then it's a budget saving that can be blamed on others.  I don't think I'm a cynic, but the pieces do rather line up in this case!

Grahame you are a tireless advocate for Melksham, I hope your fellow residents are grateful, if the town ever elects a Mayor it would be a one horse race!

Thank you, but no thank you. The town has a Mayor ... an annual political appointment by the Town Council from the elected councillors.  I admire and respect what the current mayor (and most of the former mayors) have done as advocates for the town - far more that I can or would have the patience for ...

Go on... Next time you're in Primark, ask to try on a pair of red trousers - just to see how they look, you understand. :)

Grahame

I'd urge you to feedback your comments to James, particularly in the context of you hearing him speak yesterday and your work trying to improve public transport in the Melksham area.

I'm sure you'll find him very open to feedback and suggestions. He has a passion for public transport that extends beyond his job. Who else would have organised an annual running day for King Alfred Buses in Winchester for over 30 years? Though he now finds himself part of a much larger organisation than in the past, so whether he has the same freedom that he has enjoyed in previous jobs (e.g. Reading) 'm not sure.

I'll certainly be passing feedback through our new channels, and alerting the channels to this thread - whether I should be "nagging" James when even our elected Wiltshire Councillor with Public Transport responsibility complains in public that he can't get through is a mute point.  I did have brief word - joined a very well know and respected campaigned in our area - to press the 234 / x34 yesterday but if (as I've heard suggested) the price quoted is so high that it's a shocker, then perhaps we should at some point leave it to the decisions and clout of those we have elected.  My own Wiltshire Councillor has been silent on this; the one in the next ward was also silent on the 234/x34, but strongly defenced the 06:05 and 06:55 buses from Bath to Melksham and spoke against the Rail Link bus, and we must respect his mandate even if we don't understand the logic of his choice as to where support should go.

But ... on the bus station stuff - issues for us are the same issues as for other users of the bus station.   And James does say that (a) these things take time and (b) he's not yet been a year in post.   It took us 7 years to get a more appropriate train service, remember!

P.S.  I have an invite for 6th January 2016 ... and will be able to ask for it to go on that agenda or raise it in AOB - but sooner would be nice.   

I was also there, at that public meeting - and I noted that James did have the grace to blush at that particular point. ::)