Thanks for spotting that, Lee ... this is the relevant text:
In Wiltshire, for example, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge and
Westbury form a corridor of large towns that operate as a single
economic unit. The key road linking these towns and connecting to
Swindon and Salisbury is the A350. This road is regularly congested, but,
in the past, the TransWilts rail service along the corridor did not offer a
realistic alternative.
Wiltshire Council is providing a three year subsidy for a much enhanced
rail service along this TransWilts line. This was launched in December
2013, with First Great Western increasing services between Westbury
and Swindon from four to 16 trains per day. Eight new jobs were created
in the process.
Improvements are also being made to interchange and waiting facilities
at stations along the route, in partnership with Network Rail and the
TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. Melksham Station already has a
safer pedestrian and cyclist access point and a new waiting shelter. A
new free ^rail feeder^ service brings Melksham residents to the station in
time to connect with the trains.
These service and station improvements make the TransWilts line a
much more attractive option for commuting, business and leisure
journeys. One commuter has called the enhanced service ^life
changingly positive^ and an estimated 476 people were using the service
every day by February 2014. Of these, 46 were using it for a journey
which they had previously done by car and 129 were new trips (i.e. they
had previously not travelled to their destination at all). A quarter of these
new trips had previously been ^too difficult^ before the introduction of the
new services.
In total, in its first 16 weeks of operation the service carried 43,900
passenger trips, just short of the 45,000 initially projected for the whole of
its first year of operation. This means the enhanced service is likely, in its
first year, to exceed its five-year target of 120,000 trips: a win-win result
that is good for the traveller and good for the operator.
Click on the map to explore geographics
