Sunday morning

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From public board ...

08:50 Melksham to Swindon.   31 on from Westbury / Trowbridge.  1 off and 11 on.  42/12
Not bad for an extra train in its first month of operation ...

For "TransWilts members" looking at individual journeys ... I spoke to all Melksham joiners.
Groups / destinations 2 x SWI^» (Swindon - next trains), 2 x BTH^» (Bath Spa - next trains), 2 x BTH, 1 x SWI, 2 x BIT, 1 x CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains), 1 x BEF (yes, there are one or two there that I had to look up!)

[bobm]

..particularly as that first train on a Sunday has not been that reliable in its opening month.

I'll be through Melksham later - although on a non-stopping diverted HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))! 

[grahame]

... and Sunday afternoon ...

16:29 Westbury to Swindon due 17:17
17:59 Swindon to Westbury due 18:41
19:07 Westbury to Swindon due 19:50
20:16 Swindon to Westbury due 21:05

[bobm]

Oh bother. Staff shortage.

A replacement coach will cover all four trains (and to Swindon not just Chippenham).

However will it take the buggies and bikes who made their way to places like Weymouth this morning.

[grahame]

However will it take the buggies and bikes who made their way to places like Weymouth this morning.

The 19:35 from Westbury is NOT cancelled, so the Weymouth connection is ok

[John R]

Reliability is starting to worry me. Since the start of the new timetable we've seen several problems on a Sunday (one of which was out of area but would not have helped), and this week the weekday service has also been hit.

If I look on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website there is no reference to a coach running, nor on LDB on National Rail. So anyone that bothers to check their train beforehand has no idea that a coach will be provided and is likely to make alternative arrangements.

 

[grahame]

08:41 at Melksham (Westbury -> Swindon).   19 on into Melksham, 1 off and 1 on ... 20/2

Conductor's ticket machine has failed  ... unable to sell tickets on the train.

[bobm]

12 off that train when it reached Swindon.

[grahame]

And carrying on this morning ... 12 onto that train on its way back from Swindon.  2 off and 25 on at Chippenham. 1 off and 5 on at Melksham (schedule 09:50; 4 late). So that's 40/6. About 6 off and 3 more on at Trowbridge.

10:47 at Melksham 17 on board into Melksham. 2 off and 0 on - 17/2

[grahame]

Rather "Sunday Evening".   I've not been able to take a look at the morning train that connects to Weymouth for the past few weeks - standing in at work for a colleague.    The 19:55 from Westbury to Cheltenham Spa via Swindon - 150101 - 3 off, 1 on ... and around 55 through passengers.   Looked line a returning day trip from the seaside  ... Conductor esteemed 30 on, but I'm going to strongly disagree - there may have been around 30 adults!   so 59/4

There are some odd - very odd - aspects here which I'm looking into

[John R]

Rather "Sunday Evening".   I've not been able to take a look at the morning train that connects to Weymouth for the past few weeks - standing in at work for a colleague.    The 19:55 from Westbury to Cheltenham Spa via Swindon - 150101 - 3 off, 1 on ... and around 55 through passengers.   Looked line a returning day trip from the seaside  ... Conductor esteemed 30 on, but I'm going to strongly disagree - there may have been around 30 adults!   so 59/4

There are some odd - very odd - aspects here which I'm looking into

Given the scheduled closure of the line between Swindon and Didcot, it's possible that the journey planner threw up the journey from London via a change at Westbury to get to Chippenham or even Swindon. And maybe even allocated advance ticket flows that way. Or some other quirk because of the altered service pattern this weekend.

Alternatively maybe given it was a very nice day, it got the bucket and spade contingent out.

[grahame]

I'm pretty darned sure it was bucket and spade  ... what's odd is that it was so much Swindon and / or Chippenham, and so little Melksham.   Perhaps because I had done a Facebook ad for Swindon?     My earlier fear was that the morning train had been 1 carriage, and so full that no-one had been able to join at Melksham.  Looking at real time trains, and the lack of any media comment, I don't think that's the case but I can't be sure.

[Lee]

Don't forget we have been heavily promoting summer trips to Weymouth in the Chippenham household Delivery Letters.

[grahame]

Don't forget we have been heavily promoting summer trips to Weymouth in the Chippenham household Delivery Letters.

Good point. and as I didn't see the train at Chippenham I have no way of knowing what the Chippenham / Swindon split was; in all probability a health mix of the two. Just rather shocked at the big fat near-zero at Melksham.

[Lee]

To be fair though, if we match the end of June's numbers on the morning southbound Weymouth connection with those from this weekend's northbound Weymouth return connection then the surprise is rather less.

My point is this - If only 5 passengers got on the outbound journey at Melksham at the end of June, then we should perhaps not be surprised if only 3 passengers got off the return journey at Melksham this week.

Similarly, if 12 passengers got on at Swindon, and 25 passengers got on the outbound journey at Chippenham at the end of June, then we should perhaps not be surprised if a similar number, plus a few more due to the additional publicity, got off the return journey at both stations this week.

Of course, the underlying reasons are a matter of debate. I have my own thoughts on this based on my experience of the issues - these include:

- Melksham residents are less used to having trains of any description, which means we are having to repeat the message several times before it sinks in. This is why there is often an initial upward curve of a number of years with a "new station" scenario characteristic of Melksham before full potential starts to be realised.

- There will undoubtedly have been some negative word of mouth regarding reliability issues at Melksham, with first-timers saying "never-again" to friends and relatives. This is something that we will have to take on the chin and learn from.

In contrast, the Swindon and Chippenham contingents are more likely to include more experienced passengers who have have been let down before, but have come to regard it as "one of those things", and are still willing to use trains as a result.

- There is the additional selling point at Swindon and Chippenham that, if the connections are as good as they are currently on Sundays, then a trip such as that to Weymouth can look very attractive indeed journey time-wise "via TransWilts" compared to "via Bath".