Bus: Faresaver X72 Easterton-Bath, will it last?

[whole diary]

[matth1j]

I'm currently commuting between home in Reading and work in Bath by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) trains. But we're thinking of moving next year, and top of the list of locations at the moment is Devizes.

Devizes train station was a victim of the Beeching Axe in 1966, but it does have a direct bus service linking it with Bath, the Faresaver X72 service, which terminates at Easterton.

The fact the bus is timetabled to take 70-odd minutes for the 20 mile journey compared to the train's 60-odd minutes for the 70 mile journey isn't really an issue, and to be fair it is about a quarter of the cost. But I am interested in whether the service is likely to be around for the next few years.

Anyone like to make a prediction? Has it been going long? Is it a popular service?

[grahame]

Ah - my "local" bus route.  I lived in Easterton from around 1983 to 1999, then moved to Melksham where the Devizes to Bath bus goes past the end of our close.

Over the years, the number / operator / exact route have changed - Western National, Badgerline, First Bus, and now most of the buses are Faresaver, with evening and Sunday buses operated by First Bus still.   Beyond Devizes, the Western National 270 was the Bath - Devizes - Salisbury bus but the route is now split, with the First 271 being the remnants; 272 and 273 have gone.   Until about 5 years ago, the 272 ran every hour Bath to Devizes, but First decided at that point that the route wasn't viable beyond Melksham (from Bath) and cut back, with Faresaver stepping in to take on the commercial service, extending their x72 Bath - Melksham route to Devizes.   The remaining 271 buses from First are Wiltshire Council subsidised.

Please forgive the history - it helps to set the scene.

The Bath to Devizes run is now covered by three routes. The curtailed 272 still runs every hour from Bath to Melksham and back during the day (Monday to Saturday), and that's a commercial service.   The x72 also runs every hour, Monday to Saturday daytime, from Bath to Melksham and on to Devizes and Easterton. There has been fierce competition between the two operators for the Melksham / Bath traffic, to the extent that the buses use to run just a few minutes apart, with the operators even racing for bus stops to pick up the concession card passengers and boost their company's revenue, while providing between them a service which should have been half-hourly but really was hourly, so less popular.   It's better at the moment, but in the last couple of weeks, First have moved their bus 8 minute later - stated to be to make it "more reliable" but also bringing it to run unevenly in front of Faresaver.   Passenger tickets are fiercely not interchangeable, with passengers who get on the wrong bus being chucked off or made to feel very small and pay again.

The 271 - evening and Sunday service from Bath to Easterton, in Wiltshire Council subsidised and does accept the return halves of FareSaver tickets.

OK - I'm going to post this then get out my Crystal ball for you.

[grahame]

x72 and 272 into Bath in the morning peak, and also after the morning peak (Mondays to Friday) are busy - commuter flows and pensioner flows.  The pensioners come back at around lunchtime, the x72 in mid afternoon is slightly less frequent because the vehicles do school runs, and the workers come back around 5 O'Clock from Bath on two services quite close to each other.  Contra-flow traffic isn't huge, though there is a significant Melksham - Devizes flow on x72. Out from Bath, the first 272 which was 06:05 moved to 08:28 on 23rd August.

I would predict a continuing service from Devizes via Melksham to Bath to cater for these major flows no matter what should happen in a wider picture.   What it will be called in 5 years, who and how it will operate, the exact route, are all up in the air; Wiltshire is looking to cut 60% of the money it has to put into bus subsidy, and the TransWilts is looking to work with them in various innovative ways to help this happen without a shrinkage of services which in turn would lead to further loss of riders which would lead to further shrinkage, and that innovation will take in, potentially, virtually all of the buses in the area to an integrated network rather that routes that just happen to connect.   I don't know how we'll get on - but everyone's goal is something better than cut, cut - and indeed the commuter service you would be looking at is probably the safest of just about anything around here however it goes.

Saturday buses "don't make money / hard to run commercially" but I see them being close enough to break-even to remain.  Having seen 234, 235, 236, 237, 273 and daytime 271/272 to Devizes all withdrawn by First since we moved to Melksham, I would not like to take a job that was going to rely on the remaining 271 / 272 services, and we note that First have just moved their local "Regional Customer Service Manager" function from nearby to Norwich.   This isn't just a Wiltshire thing - see other threads about the ending of their Plymouth operation today.

I would personally gamble on a job for 5 years that relied on catching a Devizes to Bath bus for a standard day, but I would not gamble on one that had to rely on 271 / 272.   These decisions (though on a different set of transport) may in fact turn out to be things I need to consider if I find I can't drive again - there's a limit to how long I can get lifts.

Part 3 - looking wider - to follow in a minute or ten.

[grahame]

OK  ... let's look wider.

Devizes is the axle at the spoke of many bus services in Wiltshire.    Here's the map we drew up for our 19th September passenger forum to which you would be very welcome - https://www.facebook.com/events/806707299450722/ or http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16003.0



And for Devizes to Bath, you may also wish to consider the 49 bus (Swindon - Devizes - Trowbridge) and the train in from Trowbridge.  Note the map is very specific to the meeting arrival, by the way!

I suspect you've carefully looked into Devizes and other places, but I do have to put in a plug for Melksham too ;-) ... with our range of trains and buses that I've probably bored you with all the time you've been on the forum.   Serious flows to Bath - multiple bus and bus / train combinations, train / train, and even cycle to Bradford-on-Avon and get the train from there.  With a bit of flexibility, we can always get home - and we have an active team that ain't going to let that change if we can help it!

Here's the route map for Melksham



and the timetables are at http://twcrp.info/sn12

Happy to make further comment on Melksham or Devizes - my Dad has lived in Devizes since the mid 1980s, and uses the buses regularly ... can tell you a thing or three.

P.S. Great part of the country to live in!

[matth1j]

Wow - thanks for all that grahame, much appreciated.

To be honest, it's early days yet - it's something we've talked about, and we've spent a couple of days driving around towns and villages between Swindon and Bath trying to get some idea of the lay of the land. But we're not planning on actually moving until next summer at the earliest, and somewhere else might take our fancy before then.

BTW^▸ (by the way) we did look at Melksham, and quite liked it - main issue was what seemed like its very busy (in terms of traffic) high street. Devizes seemed a bit more relaxed.

I haven't fully digested all of your posts yet, but it sounds like the Devizes-Bath bus(es) should be safe for a while, which is good; we won't cross it off the list yet

Cheers
John

[grahame]

Happy to answer further / advise on town centre traffics, etc ... they tend to be very busy for short periods and OK most of the time; town wise each has characteristics, as do Chippenham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Calne, Corsham and Bradford-on-Avon.

[matth1j]

Well, we made it! Decided on Melksham in the end, or Whitley to be more accurate - been here nearly a month, and very happy. Saving loads of money on commute costs

Have used both the First 272 and Faresaver X72; First's mTicket phone app works better than the Faresaver web based system, the bus stop is closer, and their 10 journeys for £24 makes that the cheapest option for me. But the X72's timetable is preferable.

One problem with the X72 though, as I discovered this morning - Faresaver ought to let their drivers know about road closures. Our poor driver had to reverse about half a mile down the road this morning when we got to the road closure in Bathford (it's been closed since Monday)

[Chris from Nailsea]

Well done, matth1j, and thank you for updating us here.  I'm glad we (well, grahame was, anyway) were able to help with your planning! 

[matth1j]

Yes, thanks to grahame

Unfortunately, after 10 years of commuting between Reading and Bath on the train at vast expense, then moving to be nearer the office, they go and move the flippin office 

Ok, so the move wasn't primarily to make my commute easier. Nevertheless, in the New Year I'm going to have to make my way from Whitley to Swindon. Fortunately it's far from an impossible journey by public transport - Melksham does have a train station. But it will require approx 3.5 additional miles between home/office and stations each way, of which only 2 of those miles have a public transport option. And it will be (at least) twice as expensive, with far fewer timetable options.

Shouldn't complain - at least I've still got a job; not everyone in the office was so lucky.