Was re-instated half an hour ago.
Let' say
100 people use(d) that train off Swindon and Chippenham to and via Melksham on a normal day. That used the be the figure when I had my finger on the pulse and monitored it more officially in 2018.
I would like to think that the effects of Covid would now have been out of the system but with other local changes and a general malaise over reliability, I would go for a figure more like 70 these days on a full service midweekday.
Who uses this train? The majority are people who are commuters and have travelled up earlier in the day on trains that arrive into Swindon at 07:47, 08:34, 10:29 and 12:59. But this week, only one of those is running - the other three are replaced by buses and trains connection at Chippenham. You loose passengers off 3 of the 4 services because they are buses - jerkier, slower, less tracked - people don't like that. And of those who might have made it onto the bus, you loose perhaps another 40% - a know figure for the losses if people have to change. So let's say 70 becomes 35 because of the buses, and becomes 25 when you take in the dislike of connections.
So - as I went to sleep last night, I would have suggested that rather than the 100 I was used to counting, I would have expected tp count just 25 tonight. And then I woke to see it cancelled. The hard core 25 are regulars who know how unreliable the service is, and most of them have defensive planning with an "option B". And they tend to look in the morning and see if they have to activate that plan B. I would estimate that two thirds did so today, with perhaps half of them keeping an eye on things and reverting to the train that's now running.
So ... yes - it's good that the train is running. Less than a dozen would have used a bus, and but in the circumstances
less than two dozen will be on the train tonight. It' a far cry from 100 and, sorry, I have to thank the wider rail industry for most of this appalling drop. And the restoration of the service tonight ain't going to do much for the bottom line.
Yes, that sounds a bit depressed and negative. Now if I could make a suggestion ... oh ... wait ... that needs to be made to
GWR▸ , the
DfT» , Network Rail, and their agents. Job for tomorrow morning.
