Seen on a typical current journey - subjects we have talked about

[whole diary]

[grahame]

With various changes in the past couple of years, I'm travelling far less than I used to ... and a journey yesterday evening was an excellent chance to catch up on what many of our members see daily, and have been talking about.

Pianos at stations - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21409


Passenger numbers, TransWilts  - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21363

18:02 yesterday - 40 off, 10 on, 80 on train to Trwonbridge 130/50

Passenger names starting to appear on reservations public readable!


Delay repay 15 - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21192

Personally .. what a hassle and the money comes from customers anyway

Castle near a station, reminds me of Vick Explores - http://gwr.passenger.chat/18274


Measurement Train - http://gwr.passenger.chat/18185


Where to find a pacer - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21393


Just halfway though my pictures - need to head off to day job ...more to follow

[grahame]

Classic HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and 153 - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21157 and http://gwr.passenger.chat/21229


Incredible complexity of footbridges - http://gwr.passenger.chat/20823


Electrify lines where no electric trains will run - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21404


Disabled route at Trowbridge!


Trowbridge planters under the care of Heart of Wessex - http://gwr.passenger.chat/21136


Replacement buses - publishing times not strategy


Freight to Southampton via Trowbridge


Looking ahead - the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) has taken over


(Was able to finish - awaiting client who's in another meeting!)

[Fourbee]

32474 is the ticket number from grahame's ticket above; in the bottom right hand corner (first 5 digits).

Thought that might be handy for anyone contemplating a delay repay claim who is not familiar with it.

The ticket number is also more explicitly printed on the 'receipt' (not card receipt) if it is requested from the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine).

[CyclingSid]

Not sure the Information Commissioners Office would be too happy about names printed publicaly visible reservation tickets.

[jamestheredengine]

Not sure the Information Commissioners Office would be too happy about names printed publicaly visible reservation tickets.

Presumably there'll be an option for people not to give their names. Or to give false names.

[grahame]

Not sure the Information Commissioners Office would be too happy about names printed publicaly visible reservation tickets.

Presumably there'll be an option for people not to give their names. Or to give false names.

Note - seen it before - in Ireland - http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=19928

Working electronic seat reservations, with the name of the person who had reserved being displayed

Uncomfortable with it there ... and you'll note I doctored the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) image to remove the real name, even though it was on public display last night.

[Celestial]

Sorry for being a bit dense Grahame, but can you explain the Melksham numbers

18:02 yesterday - 40 off, 10 on, 80 on train to Trowbridge 130/50

I get the 50 (number using Melksham), but what does 130 mean?  There were 110 passengers as far as MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains), and another 10 joined there, so number of journeys would be 120. Can't work out what 130 is!

Do you think numbers are rising now the single unit trains are gone and people know there is more space? Or is it staying the same because to get more users there needs to be a better spread of trains?   

[Phil]

Sorry for being a bit dense Grahame, but can you explain the Melksham numbers

18:02 yesterday - 40 off, 10 on, 80 on train to Trowbridge 130/50

I get the 50 (number using Melksham), but what does 130 mean?  There were 110 passengers as far as MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains), and another 10 joined there, so number of journeys would be 120. Can't work out what 130 is!
  

I'm so glad you asked that. I've been wondering the same thing for several years now but have always been too embarrassed to admit I haven't a clue what it means!

[grahame]

Sorry for being a bit dense Grahame, but can you explain the Melksham numbers

18:02 yesterday - 40 off, 10 on, 80 on train to Trowbridge 130/50

I get the 50 (number using Melksham), but what does 130 mean?  There were 110 passengers as far as MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains), and another 10 joined there, so number of journeys would be 120. Can't work out what 130 is!
  

I'm so glad you asked that. I've been wondering the same thing for several years now but have always been too embarrassed to admit I haven't a clue what it means!

In this case ... a typo.   Should have read 120/50.    First figure is the total number of passenger journeys made on the section unique to the TransWilts service, second figure is the number of passengers starting or ending their rail journey at Melksham, which is only served by the TransWilts service.

So
... 40 journeys in to Melksham, 10 journeys out = 50.
... 80 journeys from Melksham to Trowbridge (and beyond) minus 10 (counted in the 50) + 40 in to Melksham = 120

It's something we set up a-g-e-s ago to allow provide measures of use that could be compared even if the raw data was collected in different ways - from any 3 out of 4 readings, you can calculate the two values.

A word of caution. Once the passenger numbers getting off or on at Melksham exceed a dozen and you have a multiple carriage train, there are going to be rounding errors.  My 10 on and 80 beyond are pretty accurate; the 40 who spilled off may be a slight underestimate as I was anxious to join the train myself.

[grahame]

Thought that might be handy for anyone contemplating a delay repay claim who is not familiar with it.

There is also a "?" on the online form which when you select it takes you to a series of sample ticket layouts highlighting which is the ticket number on at least 3 formats.

[grahame]

Sorry for being a bit dense Grahame, but can you explain the Melksham numbers

18:02 yesterday - 40 off, 10 on, 80 on train to Trowbridge 130/50

I get the 50 (number using Melksham), but what does 130 mean?  There were 110 passengers as far as MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains), and another 10 joined there, so number of journeys would be 120. Can't work out what 130 is!
  

I'm so glad you asked that. I've been wondering the same thing for several years now but have always been too embarrassed to admit I haven't a clue what it means!

In this case ... a typo.   Should have read 120/50.    First figure is the total number of passenger journeys made on the section unique to the TransWilts service, second figure is the number of passengers starting or ending their rail journey at Melksham, which is only served by the TransWilts service.

This evening ... the 20:08 Swindon to Westbury - 24/12

19 on board from Chippenham. 7 got off and 5 got on at Melksham.  And those numbers are accurate - if tricky to count tonight with 3 people at Melksham Station to collect passengers, and two more young Melksham gentlemen waving off young ladies from Trowbridge who had been visiting.  Shows rather how it's become the fabric of life her. 

We were 'asked' to get an average of 20 passengers per train - this was 24.  But this is typically one of the weakest services and if even this one is over average ... we ain't going badly.   Note - I would expect this train to be quieter midweek ... and it IS midweek.   And I would expect it to be quieter in a Bank Holiday shoulder week ... and it  IS a Bank Holiday shoulder week.   Happy.

[Surrey 455]

... 80 journeys from Melksham to Trowbridge (and beyond) minus 10 (counted in the 50) + 40 in to Melksham = 120

I don't understand. I make 80-10+40=110.

[grahame]

... 80 journeys from Melksham to Trowbridge (and beyond) minus 10 (counted in the 50) + 40 in to Melksham = 120

I don't understand. I make 80-10+40=110.

70 journeys from Chippenham to Trowbridge
10 journeys from Melksham to Trowbridge. (so 80 people on the train after it left Melksham)
40 journeys from Chippenham to Melksham
Total 120 individual journeys on the train on the section of the route served only by TransWilts trains

In the above ...
For "Chippenham" read "Swindon or Chippenham"
For "Trowbridge" read "Trowbridge or Westbury"
and - note - extra journeys made on these trains from Swindon to Chippenham and from Trowbridge to Westbury have not been counted in our figures as they don't really justify the service.  Having said which, there are quite a few people making these hops on certain trains.

[Celestial]

Thanks for the explanation Grahame.  In all the detail around the numbers, I think the second half of my question got lost, which was do you think numbers are now on the rise again with a more stable service and more carriages. Or do you think it will take more services, especially around rush hour, to attract more passengers?

[grahame]

Thanks for the explanation Grahame.  In all the detail around the numbers, I think the second half of my question got lost, which was do you think numbers are now on the rise again with a more stable service and more carriages. Or do you think it will take more services, especially around rush hour, to attract more passengers?

I could have sworn I answered the second part - but looking up, not in this thread ... and perhaps not even on the forum.  So ... I owe and answer.

1. Based on the statistically insignificant sample of one journey .... if you give me a three way choice between "on the up", "stable" and "falling" I would say "on the up". 

The numbers getting off that train in Melksham were excellent.  Mid week, and holiday week both of which I would expect to depress the number on this particular line.   The train looks quieter than it did when it was just a single carriage, but still looked very busy - especially as it pulled in to Melksham.

2. It's not a question of "growing" or "needs more services". Yes, based only flimsy sample there is growth - but I would suggest that providing more services especially around the peak would provide another layer of transformational growth.

To give you an idea ... 3,000 journeys to / from Melksham 7 years ago, 75,000 now ... with current service might rise to 120,000 in a few years.  Gaps no more than hourly in peaks, 2 hours off peak, trains 7 days / 17 hours per day and you'll add another big tranche.   Hourly all day, every day (that's the point at which infrastructure work is needed), other ducks lined up, and you'll hit quarter of a million Melksham journeys.    The proportion of to/from Melksham and through journeys is around 40% of / from Melksham and 60% through at present.  Melksham will grow faster that through in the future, so expect 50% Melksham, 50% through in a few years time.   Lots of numbers - happy to go through the background data to explain where those pretty well educated guesstimates come from, and which the other ducks that need to be in a row are.

Oh - the immediate gaps to fill ... extra calls at Melksham southbound at around 08:20, 17:00 and 23:00, northbound at around 09:10, 17:40 and 21:30