Passenger counts via Melksham, July and August 2015

[whole diary]

[grahame]

18th to 31st July - most TransWilts trains replaced by buses.  Chippenham to Bath expresses diverted via Melksham, Bradford Junction and Freshford.

From Saturday 18th July:

The 11:17 left Chippenham at 11:21, reversed north of Trowbridge from 11:40 to 11:47 and arrived at Bath Spa at 12:02.
Coach A - 74 passengers. B - 95 passengers. C - 89 passengers. D - 140 passengers.  And at that point I couldn't get through any further it was that rammed.  My estimate would be E - 140 (look like it),  K - 140; L - 15 and M - 20.    So somewhere between 800 and 900 passengers.   Major time take to unload / load at Bath - stood for 5 minutes and made it later.

The 12:43 Bath Spa to Chippenham left at 12:47, reversed from 13:02 to 13:10 and arrived into Chippenham at 13:26.
Coach A - 10; coach B - 20; coach C - 20; coach D - 39; coach E - 18; another coach B (!) - 2; 0 in the buffet / half first, and 5 in first class.  Note for pedants - first class counted on standard ticket with prior permission of train manager.  Total (just) 124 passengers.

Monday 20th July

((Chap at Melksham Station reports that Saturday was "busy" there.))

06:55 (Monday) bus to Chippenham left with 3 passengers

06:58 bus to Trowbridge left with 9 passenger.
Commuters to Salisbury on this bus really unhappy that they will have long wait at Trowbridge and will be an hour late to work, when they would normally have a direct train.

07:41 train from Trowbridge left with 96 passengers on board. 4 off and 40 on at Melksham, giving a load of 132 on to Chippenham.  136/44

See advise / comments on other threads about return trips this evening - there's a train at 17:23, and there are buses from Chippenham to Trowbridge, but anyone who travels on the Swindon to Bristol train which runs via Melksham and the outskirts of Trowbridge, and changes at Bath, was being advised that they need to pay the higher "any permitted route" fare as "via Melksham" isn't valid on those trains.  I am working to resolve this.

[ChrisB]

See my post in Frequent Posters for a reason why...

[grahame]

See my post in Frequent Posters for a reason why...

"Because it's a diverted train that doesn't normally go that way".  In August, the whole regular TransWilts service is replaced by diverted trains, with no buses.  If you're right, people are going to love having to shell out an extra ^8.40 per day!

For our public readers - we'll have an answer in the next 48 hours, I hope.

[ChrisB]

If FGW^▸ (First Great Western) aren't supplying Melksham with RRS, then they will have to give you an easement - they can't simply raise fares that way.

[grahame]

If FGW^▸ (First Great Western) aren't supplying Melksham with RRS, then they will have to give you an easement - they can't simply raise fares that way.

I suppose in effect they are doing so, by saying that the "via Melksham" fares are accepted on trains that call at Melksham - which is about half the services.  So the fare's ^18.50 if you return from Swindon to Trowbridge on the 14:19, but ^10.10 if you use the train an hour later which stops at Melksham. I can foresee some angry scenes, and feel it might be wise to accept "via Melksham" fares on all the trains that pass through Melksham.

[ChrisB]

Hmmm, ok, in which case I agree with others who are saying 'via Melksham' need not stop, but must be trains that usually use the route through Melksham as their usual route & aren't being diverted that way.

[grahame]

Some 55 trains are passing along the TransWilts each day this week.  40 of them are express passenger trains, 13 are freight, and just 2are local trains. There are also 14 rail replacement buses because the line was reduced from double to single track, and can no longer handle the 69 trains that "should" be running.

Here they are (yesterday's collection)



There are about 200 to 220 journeys in total on the two trains that are actually running, perhaps a further 250 on the rail replacement buses. Sadly, that down from between 600 and 700 passengers a day during a week the trains are running normally.  I may be sad, but I'm not surprised, and I'm understanding.  For somewhere around 7,000 passenger journeys per day are being made on the expresses, and if it wasn't for the use of the line for freight and diversionary purposes in the past, it wouldn't be here at all today. We can live with this, with understanding, for a couple of weeks.

There are some good things to see and learn. In the swansong of its operation (too late to save it), the 234 service bus is accepting rail tickets between Chippenaham and Trowbridge and indeed I used it myself yesterday. So people are finding other public transport ways. And it's fantastic to see that the line can, day in and day out, support an hourly service.  In fact it's supporting a rather awkward hourly service of long trains that are reversing on open track near Trowbridge - and it all seems to be working nicely.

Figures quoted in this post are well educated guestimates which will - if anything - be a little on the low side.  Evidence / data comes from around a dozen samples - of HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train), of the remaining local trains, and of the Rail Replacement buses, scaled to fit the relative volume of flows seen though the day. More data will be to hand later - we're learning ... we're learning what can be done!

[grahame]

Sunday, 2nd August

09:42 Melksham to Trowbridge.  -1 + 5 => 72  73/6
10:09 arrival from Trowbridge 36 on board on arrival, -3 + 7  43/10

I travelled down and back, so counts are reasonable accurate. 

[grahame]

08:09 Melksham to Swindon this morning. -2 + 12 / left with (guess) 60 on board - 62/14 It's going to be a really odd month ...

[grahame]

And this evening, the train that called at 17:45 southbound arrived with 118 on board, 20 got off, one on, and left with 99. 119/21.   Northbound train at 18:28 arrived with 49, dropped off 3, picked up 3 - 52/6

Of especial note was a gent "driven" to the train because the 234 bus has finished.  Delighted at the current service, delighted at the price ... and really cheesed off at the big gap in Trowbridge arrivals from Chippenham that comes back in September - 06:50 to 09:25.   Dear Mr FGW^▸ (First Great Western) - run a service like you're doing at the moment, and you'll find that each train is busier than they are on 8-a-day ... there remain a number of latent markets.  I recall when Portsmouth - Swansea ran 4 times a day ...  lots and lots of fresh air.  Switched to 2 car trains, but hourly, and what a difference it made; now notorious for overcrowding rather than for fresh air.

[grahame]

07:20 calling at Melksham towards Swindon this a.m. - -2,+6,=>about 65   67/8

[grahame]

07:20 calling at Melksham towards Swindon this a.m. - -2,+6,=>about 65   67/8

Looking at last month and this, it's been eventful on the TransWilts:

* At the start of July, we had no services for nearly 3 days due to industrial action
* On 17th July, the rail link bus that routinely brought 15 people to the station each weekday morning ceased
* From 20th to 31st July, we had just a single weekday train with all the rest replaced by buses
* After 1st August, the evening bus which accepted train tickets (making sensible round trips) was withdrawn
* From 3rd August through the month, the most popular morning train at 07:49 is replaced by a choice of a train 20 minutes later or 30 minutes earlier
* After 21st August, the early bus from Atworth ceases, loosing another possible train connection
* 23rd August - there's a possibility of no trains due to industrial action
* 29th to 31st August - a possibility of no trains due to industrial action
* 1st September - evening trains (recommended as alternative to bus withdrawn 1st August) also cease.

... and of course we're into the holiday season.

I appreciate the need for engineering works, but as for the rest - they're scarcley designed to encourage new traffic, no to keep the traffic that we've worked so hard to build up.    If the growth flattens out, the people who have decided on the negative elements in the above will be able to look proudly at their decisions and say "we helped that to falter".

[grahame]

8th August ...
09:14 from Chippenham - 29 from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), 192 off Swindon; 261 from CLC^▸ (Castle Cary); 340 from Maiden Newton; 333 into WEY
(Significant intermediate southbound traffic to Westbury for change to Paignton train, also to  Trowbridge and Frome)
17:28 from Weymouth - left with 306
18:44 at Melksham southbound. -10 + 3 -> 19+12+35 (66) 76/13
19:10 for Swindon left Westbury with about 130 passengers on board
20:35 southbound from Chippenham 16+22+37 (75) (no Melksham call) 75
21:20 ex Trowbridge 17+17+10 (44) -2 + 0 44/2
21:45 (Westbury train) at Melksham southbound -3 +1 -> approx 20 23/3

edit to add
07:21 at Melksham -3 +1 ->19 ; -0 +19 at CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains) -> 44 into SWI^» (Swindon - next trains). 22/4
08:45 ish Swindon arrival - 74 passengers off.
08:59 from Swindon passed with just over 200 on board (no Melksham call) 200/0
13:01 at Westbury arrived from Swindon direction with around 90 passengers
13:10 ex Westbury with 132 on. 104 on after Trowbridge / -3 +4 at Melksham -> 108/7

[grahame]

* 1st September - evening trains (recommended as alternative to bus withdrawn 1st August) also cease.

I met up with one non-driver who works in Trowbridge and lives (with parents(?) in Melksham / shifts ending early evening and / or starting in the morning, 6.5 days a week, at the retail park just north of the White Horse business park.

Until the end of last month, he used First bus 234 and changed to 265, costing ^6 per day.  This month, his bus fare has gone way up (don't have actual figure / sounds around 50%) as he has to buy Faresaver ticket then a First ticket. Evening returns home ... he has found the train (joined me on 21:20 ex Trowbridge last night).

What would the panel recommend come 1st September when the last Saturday train cuts back to 18:40??

[Adelante_CCT]

Not exactly in the spirit of advertising the use of public transport...... cycle?