East Wiltshire stations as railheads - a comparison

[whole diary]

[grahame]

There are a number of stations in the east of Wiltshire which provide railheads for commuters into London for people who cannot get the train direct from their own home town such as Marlborough, Calne and Devizes, and from many, many smaller communities.  It's interesting to compare some of these railheads - Pewsey, Bedwyn and Swindon.   

Firstly, prices (standard class peak day return or seasons)
1 day - BDW 55; PEW 103; SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) 117
1 week - BDW 116; PEW 160; SWI 220
1 month - BDW 435; PEW 544; SWI 745
1 year- BDW 4532; PEW 5668 SWI 7760

Second - frequency of service
BDW - hourly; better in peaks
PEW - good in peaks; sporadic at other times
SWI - frequent

Third - chance of getting a good seat

Fourth - cost of parking (ticket machine)
BDW 11 spaces.  I'm unsure of charge, if any
PEW 6.10
SWI 8.20 or 8.40

Fifth - ease of driving to the station.   Examples (AA figures)- Devizes to ..
BDW 22 miles, 50 minutes
PEW 15 miles, 30 minutes
SWI 21 miles, 43 minutes

And I can certainly understand why Bedwyn, of these, is a very popular choice.  I should also commend readers who may be considering driving there to drive on to Hungerford.

Does any enterprising farmer own a field close to Bedwyn station where he could charge a fiver a day for parking?  It strikes me that with a few official words along the lines of "travellers from Bedwyn station can park in Farmer Giles' field" on official websites, etc,  and with polite requests from the residents and the parish council, Farmer Giles might be very busy;  provide an alternative and many (though not all) would use it.   But such a solution might bring more cars into the village (not sure if it's able to cope) and might abstract traffic from the other stations I have mentioned, to the detriment of income to the rail industry.   I'm mindful that a weekly season from Bedwyn to Paddington (typically 5 round trips) costs less than a standard anytime return from Swindon to Paddington (one round trip)

[Chris from Nailsea]

Does any enterprising farmer own a field close to Bedwyn station where he could charge a fiver a day for parking?

There may well be - but any such enterprise, involving a change of land use from 'agricultural' to 'commercial / light industrial' would require planning permission.

As many such 'enterprising farmers' around Bristol Airport have found to their cost ... 

[grahame]

That's fair comment, Chris.  My question was intended to ask about a completely above-board solution to an imbalance of supply and demand that is reported by the local press to exist at Bedwyn. So - yes - planning permission required, and that process would look at wider issues too so that there shouldn't be the resolution of one issue for the creation of another. 

Personally, I've always avoided Bedwyn based on reputation for parking problems, and I parked at Hungerford on the one occasion where it worked out well for me on the timetable and my plans; a day trip, as I don't feel comfortable leaving a car anywhere for an extended period. The use of Hungerford was a disaster - TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) out of order, train manager's ticket machine out of order, and a wait of 30 minutes in a queue at the excess fares ("sin bin") counter at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) which left me late for an important appointment.

[BandHcommuter]

Bedwyn was at the boundary of the old Network South East (NSE^▸ (Network South East)) area. At privatisation, different fares regulation arrangements were put in place for ex-NSE routes and ex InterCity routes. In particular, the Anytime Returns remain regulated (currently at RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context))+1%) between Bedwyn/Hungerford and London, whereas Anytime Returns between Pewsey/Swindon and London are unregulated and have risen well above inflation over the years. As a result, we have ended up with this massive distortion between the fares levels at adjacent stations, as highlighted in grahame's table above. This has surely driven some of the extra demand at Bedwyn, from passengers who might otherwise have used Pewsey but now find Anytime tickets unaffordable. I also know that some former Pewsey commuters (mainly those who live in South and East Wiltshire) now railhead to Andover and travel to Waterloo.

So what to do about the increase in passenger numbers at Bedwyn, and where to put their cars? Well, one could realign the fares so that Pewsey becomes more attractive for non-season peak travel, although the station car park is already pretty full, so some sort of extension or additional parking might be needed. At Bedwyn, there is a lush green field right next to the siding which I have never seen used for anything. Maybe Network Rail or the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) could buy or lease it and turn it into a car park (subject to the permissions mentioned by chris from nailsea). If I lived in Bedwyn I might not be that happy with green spaces being tarmacced over...

[swrural]

The Pewsey 'village web site' states car parking cost ^2.50 per day.  Did I misunderstand GrahamE's costs breakdown.  Were the various items per day, per carnet or what?  Perhaps the PVWS is OOD?

Here is the link:
http://www.pewsey-uk.co.uk/pewsey-public-transport.html

[bobm]

This has surely driven some of the extra demand at Bedwyn, from passengers who might otherwise have used Pewsey but now find Anytime tickets unaffordable. I also know that some former Pewsey commuters (mainly those who live in South and East Wiltshire) now railhead to Andover and travel to Waterloo.

I am sure fares has been one issue that has prompted Pewsey residents to look at alternative stations - but also those who make the journey to Bedwyn have a greater choice of trains to Paddington.  Pewsey only has 20 trains call a day - and of those only eight are services heading towards Reading and London.  The only plus side is those services are HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) while most of the services from Bedwyn are turbos.

[BandHcommuter]

The Pewsey 'village web site' states car parking cost ^2.50 per day.  Did I misunderstand GrahamE's costs breakdown.  Were the various items per day, per carnet or what?

The price quoted is the daily parking charge for the station car park. Current car parking prices (daily and season) for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations are shown on FGW's website: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/Car-parks/Parking-tariffs-and-connect-codes

[BandHcommuter]

Pewsey only has 20 trains call a day - and of those only eight are services heading towards Reading and London.  The only plus side is those services are HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) while most of the services from Bedwyn are turbos.

Pewsey has a reasonably good service to and from Reading and London in the peaks (probably better than ever), however the service is very sparse off peak. I wonder if there is scope to extend some of those off peak Bedwyn turbo trains to and from Pewsey, and develop the latter as a sort of Mid Wilts parkway? Perhaps the potential demand is insufficient to justify the extra train mileage. Operationally I'm not sure where the trains could cross over to turn back.

[grahame]

The Pewsey 'village web site' states car parking cost ^2.50 per day.  Did I misunderstand GrahamE's costs breakdown.  Were the various items per day, per carnet or what?

The price quoted is the daily parking charge for the station car park. Current car parking prices (daily and season) for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations are shown on FGW's website: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/Car-parks/Parking-tariffs-and-connect-codes

Not current, I don't think - "Prices shown below are valid from 2 January 2011" it says and I'm sure they've been amended since then.  But, yes, that was my source.  And Bedwyn is not in the list, so I didn't know if there's a charge or not.   The National Rail Websites says that parking for disabled users is free of charge; the 2.50 quoted above is the first statement I've seen about the price.

To fill in on some of the abbreviations I used, as I think they may have caused confusion:
BDW: Bedwyn
PEW: Pewsey
SWI^» (Swindon - next trains): Swindon
AA: Automobile Association
PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains): Paddington
TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine): Ticket Vending Machine

At privatisation, different fares regulation arrangements were put in place for ex-NSE^▸ (Network South East) routes and ex InterCity routes. In particular, the Anytime Returns remain regulated (currently at RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context))+1%) between Bedwyn/Hungerford and London, whereas Anytime Returns between Pewsey/Swindon and London are unregulated and have risen well above inflation over the years. As a result, we have ended up with this massive distortion ...

If the higher per-mile Swindon and Pewsey fares are purely a result of the different regulation regimes post-privatisation, that would be a pretty mind-blowing illustration of what "going commercial" has done.  However, it was my understanding that the figures were distorted much earlier in time, with higher fares on HST^▸ (High Speed Train) routes when the HSTs were first introduced.   Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

[grahame]

Pewsey has a reasonably good service to and from Reading and London in the peaks (probably better than ever), however the service is very sparse off peak. I wonder if there is scope to extend some of those off peak Bedwyn turbo trains to and from Pewsey, and develop the latter as a sort of Mid Wilts parkway? Perhaps the potential demand is insufficient to justify the extra train mileage. Operationally I'm not sure where the trains could cross over to turn back.

At the 2006 franchise, the original service level commitment for bidders to answer to was for a service every 2 hours (rather than every hour) to Bedwyn, but extended for the most part, as I recall, to Westbury. This raised strong objections and our MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) at the time (Melksham and Bedwyn both represented by Michael Ancram) took up the case for Bedwyn (hourly) and Pewsey (keeping HST^▸ (High Speed Train) expresses) with vigour.

[BandHcommuter]

If the higher per-mile Swindon and Pewsey fares are purely a result of the different regulation regimes post-privatisation, that would be a pretty mind-blowing illustration of what "going commercial" has done.  However, it was my understanding that the figures were distorted much earlier in time, with higher fares on HST^▸ (High Speed Train) routes when the HSTs were first introduced.   Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

I can confirm from personal experience of commuting on the route for the last 20 years that the Pewsey to London anytime price has increased at a considerably higher rate than the Bedwyn to London anytime price, especially in the last 10 years, whereas season tickets have moved at roughly the same rate on both routes. I do recall there being a difference in rates per mile pre-privatisation, but it was nothing like the difference now. So the answer is probably "a bit of both".

[grahame]

I took a look at a map of Bedwyn and found Google maps with satellite very interesting in what it shows.  I've conclude that the picture was take between 14:35 and 14:40, or between 16:35 and 16:45, on a Monday to Friday. It highlights the bus stop (terminus?) on a rather awkward pinch point corner that I know often looks very congested, and it also shows the parking at and near the station.

[swrural]

If the charge for parking at Bedwyn is nothing, it's a no-brainer why folk are picking up the train there.  It looks as though Pewsey village need to update their web site then!  Either that or FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has put up charges at Pewsey as though it was a captive market.

I notice that there were plenty of side streets to choose at Bedwyn.