TravelWatch SouthWest online member meetings - Friday afternoons

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Starting this Friday and for the following six weeks, TravelWatch SouthWest is inviting members to zoom meeting discussions.

In session 1 this Friday 8 May 2020 at 4 pm TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) asks:
Should we give up on the community ambition for better public transport, and what does "better" mean in the current climate?  Could COVID-19 be a catalyst for behavioural shift and a better passenger transport experience?


Is this the dress for future public transport travel?

TWSW Member groups should have received email invites from our secretary late yesterday with a meeting invite, and diary links for the following weeks. Further topics to be announced, and arrangements tuned, after the first meeting.


For newcomers to TWSW ... http://travelwatchsouthwest.org/about-us/ ... a Community Interest Company which acts as an advocate for passengers to lobby for the improvement of public transport in the region and works closely with local authorities, business organisations, partnerships and other stakeholder groups. 
Declaration of Interest - I am on the board of TWSW.

P.S. The meetings are scheduled for every Friday afternoon, and we are aware that the first one is on a public holiday.

[grahame]

Excellent meeting ... a number of speakers with very valid points.  I suppose things are best if they end with one wishing "another 15 minutes would have been useful".

25 attendees ... and people were alerted to it being recorded.



A 45 minute discussion can take an hour and 45 to write up ... notes to be reviewed ...

[grahame]

My meeting notes - Errors and Omissions Excepted -  from

Friday 8 May 2020 at 4 pm TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) asked: Should we give up on the community ambition for better public transport, and what does "better" mean in the current climate?  Could COVID-19 be a catalyst for behavioural shift and a better passenger transport experience?

Attended by 25 members and guests. Facilitated by Bryony Chetwode, chaired by Chris Irwin. Admirably done - big THANK YOU to both.

Paul Clifton (BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Transport Correspondent for Southern England)

Transport was top of the agenda as the shutdown started but has now fallen back behind all the other news. As services start to rebuild in a very new environment it will come back to the top of the agenda.   There will be looses and Paul especially highlighted airlines and coaches.

Someone said "Never waste a good crisis" and there is a real opportunity to (re)start better. Talk less air and more rail travel, but note the risk of more cases and capacity issues. Not viable until [?] next.

Chris Irwin (TWSW)

We are likely to be in "abnormal" for 18 months

Survey - 74% of people in the South West do not want to use public transport until (?)immunisation(?) is in place
Highest proportion in UK^▸ (United Kingdom)

Particulates encourage spread of the virus /private cars not the answer from a health viewpoint.
Only 12.5% capacity on platforms (Milan Central example).  London - capacity of Victoria Line train, 125 to 21 per carriage.

Mitigation -> Communications -> rebuild to a new environment

David Redgewell (Transport Campaigner)

Worried  about disable people being left behind.
With just 10 or 20 passengers on the bus, will there be enough places for wheelchairs?

Tim Bellinger (Director, Policy and Investigation at London TravelWatch)

Current "do not use public transport" plays into "dirty" idea and hard to get people back

Condensing passengers into smaller vehicles / shorter trains has not been helpful

Maps show large areas with poor public transport in the UK have relatively less COVID

It needs passengers co-operating with operators to get a good flow

We need to plan to make changes

Concern at commute journey length - before shutdown journey was typically one hour

Paul Johnson (Chair, TransWilts)

Are we looking at short term fixes or long term fixes?
Will a vaccine in 12 months make a difference?

Compulsory reservations for all [train?] journeys to add confidence

Staggered shifts / split work teams and use different exits and entrances per team
Example of Knorr Bremse quoted.

Jane Jones (Head Of Public Affairs at Great Western Railway)

Mandatory reservations ... Yikes!  Cycle reservations on IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) were enough of a problem to bring it
How could that be done with Driver Only trains and unstaffed stations?

Planning for key workers and staged return
"We are connecting with schools". Return at Whitsun (? was that Jane or someone else's comment)

John Burch (Confederation of Passenger Transport)

Distancing [buses and coaches] leads to reduced capacity.  Need more staff if more vehicles needed.
So far, for the most part, drop in passenger numbers has been more that drop in distanced capacity HOWEVER
- needing 3x the number of vehicles and drivers to get people to Hinkley Point
- some Bristol peak time services are having to be doubled

Many operators rely on older drivers, and many of those are leaving and never want to return.  Staffing problem.

Talking about better screens (someone spoke of individual passenger screening /)
Air cleanse, etc, too - so much of it about customer confidence.
Business rescues needed.

Ian Harrison (Heart of the south west LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about))

Changing work practise

Spread and shift changes

Beware infrastructure changes

More core Cross Country capacity needed?

Move to cashless - will cash payment option be removed?

Chris Irwin with a summary

Are we being dynamic enough in our thinking?

Impossibility of distancing and bus stops and other public transport access points

Opportunities are worth addressing

Within follow up chats / other points I noted from Richard Gamble looking at taking buses / trains with better facilities per person - going up market so people can work at seats rather than useless space around.  Talk (not sure if it was Richard) about eastern European examples of train and bus passenger compartments already being modified to suit new norm.


Enormously useful session

Next TravelWatch SouthWest event - next Friday.  Topic and details to be announced following review of how yesterday went. I will start a new thread.

[Bryony]

Going forward, we could be looking at a very different work pattern as more people work from home, Possibly some those who must travel will have staggered shift patterns to their working day.  Handled in the right way this could also present enormous opportunities for an improved passenger experience but we need to get over the inevitable challenges which situation presents to the businesses which inherently rely on numbers. 

Most immediately, TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) are keen hear from member groups about safety, reassurance and what it will take to persuade them to choose public transport over the car where there is a choice. There are some really good figures available from Transport Focus which demonstrate passenger fears Which we can use as a basis for discussion with our members which may produce some really good ideas about measures which can be taken to provide adequate safety & reassurance.

We need to make sure that public transport remains affordable for all and we bring the opportunity to use public transport to everyone.  Connectivity must be appropriate for whatever a new norm is, while we accept the system we make now may determine the new norm.

[ChrisB]

Question - if there's something in these write ups that we want to discuss - here, or open another thread? If the latter, which board?

[grahame]

Question - if there's something in these write ups that we want to discuss - here, or open another thread? If the latter, which board?

Probably a new thread (or carry on another thread elsewhere if there's an old topic on the same matter) - quote the TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) notes, but new thread in an appropriate board.     Don't worry if you make a guess and it happens there's another thread already - 'mods' can join it up and move around.

[grahame]

SESSION 2 “PLANNING FOR RESTART/OPPORTUNITY FOR LASTING CHANGE”

TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) is inviting you to the second of 6 scheduled Zoom meetings. In this week’s discussion we will be agenda building, questioning how to align Users’ needs with Government Minister Grant Shapps MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)’s declared aspirations:

https://facebook.com/events/s/public-transport-planning-for-/575235696692690/?ti=icl

[grahame]

SESSION 2 “PLANNING FOR RESTART/OPPORTUNITY FOR LASTING CHANGE”

TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) is inviting you to the second of 6 scheduled Zoom meetings. In this week’s discussion we will be agenda building, questioning how to align Users’ needs with Government Minister Grant Shapps MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)’s declared aspirations:

Meeting notes posted at http://www.passenger.chat/23476 ; I have stated a separate thread on our "buses board" - http://www.passenger.chat/b5

[grahame]

SESSION 3 - About Clean Air, Health and Transport

TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) is inviting you to the third of 6 scheduled Zoom meetings. In next week’s discussion (22nd May at 16:00) we will be focus on clean air and health and how sustainable transport can significantly help.  I expect climate change will get the odd mention too 

More details including a link to sign up at the start of next week.

[grahame]

SESSION 3 - About Clean Air, Health and Transport

TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) is inviting you to the third of 6 scheduled Zoom meetings. In next week’s discussion (22nd May at 16:00) we will be focus on clean air and health and how sustainable transport can significantly help.  I expect climate change will get the odd mention too 

More details including a link to sign up at the start of next week.

Public Transport Going Forward and the ‘New Norm’ SESSION 3 “POLLUTION: CAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT BREATHE LIFE INTO CITIES"

Please join us for the 3rd Webinar in our series during lockdown via Zoom.

Please register for the event via the link on eventbrite and I will send a link with passcode for the meeting by tomorrow lunchtime.

 
Best wishes

Bryony

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/planning-for-restart-and-taking-the-opportunity-for-lasting-change-tickets-106209708096

[grahame]

In this week’s webinar we focus on links between public transport and health, as we continue agenda building and aligning Users’ needs with Government Minister Grant Shapps MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)’s declared aspirations.

High concentrations of fine particulate matter pollutants have been called the greatest environmental risk to health by WHO. Although air quality might be an obvious consideration for those living on the side of major roads, air quality around homes and the places we connect to have devastating long-term impacts on health. Health risks mount with transport activity, most significantly caused by combustion engines.

"Air Pollution Kills 5 people in Bristol each week". This figure is just one example of the death and damage from pollution in the South West.
TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) encourage you to submit questions in advance to meetings@travelwatchsouthwest.org for discussion on the day ahead of the webinar, e.g.:
Consider:
* impacts upon health from transport choices
* the available timescale for action
* the street scene which enables connectivity without pollution
* the barriers, drivers, and incentives for change

1. Would less pollution benefit passengers.
2. Should joined-up pollution reduction be a priority?
3. How could we achieve less polluted urban areas and pollution generating journeys?
4. What are the barriers to less polluting journeys?
5. Where must the a) direction and b) leadership come from?

Could it be that one of the great causes of inertia is reluctance to take unpopular steps, and therefore the time to do it is when whatever offer given is better than the experience of now. Containment v. Freedom

[LiskeardRich]

I messaged David an answer to his question in post one surrounding wheelchairs.
Wheelchair capacity remains unchanged.

[Lee]

SESSION 3 - About Clean Air, Health and Transport

TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) is inviting you to the third of 6 scheduled Zoom meetings. In next week’s discussion (22nd May at 16:00) we will be focus on clean air and health and how sustainable transport can significantly help.  I expect climate change will get the odd mention too 

More details including a link to sign up at the start of next week.

Public Transport Going Forward and the ‘New Norm’ SESSION 3 “POLLUTION: CAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT BREATHE LIFE INTO CITIES"

Please join us for the 3rd Webinar in our series during lockdown via Zoom.

Please register for the event via the link on eventbrite and I will send a link with passcode for the meeting by tomorrow lunchtime.

 
Best wishes

Bryony

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/planning-for-restart-and-taking-the-opportunity-for-lasting-change-tickets-106209708096

Ive registered but no link or passcode received as yet. Will they be sent out before the meeting starts later today?

[grahame]

Ive registered but no link or passcode received as yet. Will they be sent out before the meeting starts later today?

That's what I'm told ... "lunchtime" was the message I had - but perhaps a late lunch.   Probably last minute to give people as long as possible to register via Eventbrite and have as few as practical last minute "extra"s

[Lee]

Thanks grahame - Its just appeared in my inbox now