11th October 2024 - Travelwatch Southwest general meeting, Taunton

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

That'll be me in my wheelchair - I'm hoping Bryony has organised me an accessible taxi both ways - too far to push myself....

[JayMac]

Should anyone require assistance getting from the station exit to the TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) location, I'd be happy to offer a ferry service with my car.

Drop us a PM with your train arrival details.

[Chris from Nailsea]

My train from Nailsea & Backwell at 9:06 gets me to Taunton at 9:56.

I'm happy to stand around on the platform there, offering help to any of our members who may require assistance on their way to the venue.  It's really not that far - we can arrange it!

To avoid any possible confusion with official railway staff, I'll choose to wear a yellow 'TransWilts' tee-shirt, rather than 'hi-viz'.  Please do wave me down if you need any assistance.

Chris from Nailsea. 

[ChrisB]

That'll be me in my wheelchair - I'm hoping Bryony has organised me an accessible taxi both ways - too far to push myself....

Bryony has sorted me out - her daughters have (been?) volunteered....thanks for the other offers!

[grahame]

The venue - the Firepool Digital Innovation Centre - is a new one and walkable for the majority. Leave the station from platform 2 (the one you'll normally arrive at if you come on a train heading for Exeter and beyond) and walk ahead / left past the new multistory car park and cross the road to the venue.

[Mark A]

Appropriately, the Innovation Centre is itself built on the site of an historic innovation - the first of the shortlived Grand Western Canal's lifts - the first to be put into commercial service in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

A watching brief was kept during the construction of the centre's foundations, and some structures from the lift were revealed. The lift itself had a chequered start to its life, and required modification before it would work.

The structure with its modifications survived long enough to be recorded on the OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) 1:500 plan for Taunton.

Mark

https://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/44129

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=20.1&lat=51.02218&lon=-3.10196&layers=117746211&b=GoogleSat&o=100

[Mark A]

Rail travel to Taunton is disrupted by a line closure ~Bridgwater. The 06:00 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PNZ has been turned at Bristol and will run via Westbury.

Mark

[infoman]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tweets saying its a points failure at Weston-s-m and trains are unable to call at WSM.

[JayMac]

Trains are now running Bristol - Taunton following an earlier incident at Highbridge, but are not serving Weston-super-Mare due to a points failure unrelated to the incident at Highbridge.

Also, my apologies. I won't be attending as I'm feeling a little under the weather.

[grahame]

Excellent meeting .. not quite the usual full house due to rail (and motorway!) issues.  I have typed in my notes and being gone through for the worst of typos / will summarise too.

[ChrisB]

Congratulations to TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) - it was one of the best meetings - good speakers & excellent content!
The space wasn't bad either!

[Trowres]

... however I found those seats to be inferior in comfort when compared to the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) seats encountered on the way home. 

[Mark A]

Congratulations to TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) - it was one of the best meetings - good speakers & excellent content!
The space wasn't bad either!

It was so helpful to hear examples of good/best practice + clear identification of what's needed to make a success of something, especially with regards to buses - and the value of identifying customer needs and also of partnerships. It's something that shone a glaring light on a couple of the current issues with buses local to me and it would be good to see the local operators (and local authority) more involved in Travelwatch Southwest.

There was some really good stuff coming from the audience too, particularly the person at the back towards the end of the day who spoke up on the need to ensure that people under, say, 26 years old were treated a lot better - yes, a minority are taking a complete liberty as far as public transport goes, but then, some public transport staff are leaning heavily into tarring the whole cohort with the same brush.

Mark

[Chris from Nailsea]

Trains are now running Bristol - Taunton following an earlier incident at Highbridge, but are not serving Weston-super-Mare due to a points failure unrelated to the incident at Highbridge.

Also, my apologies. I won't be attending as I'm feeling a little under the weather.

Thanks for posting that, JayMac. 

To explain my own non-appearance at the meeting:

The train I was planning to get from NLS, the 09:06, was horribly delayed - eventually arriving some 70+ minutes down.

While I was standing on the fairly basic platform at NLS still waiting for it, I felt increasingly unwell, so I decided to abort my journey.  I was sick when I got home, so I'm glad I didn't travel on that train to Taunton - which apparently arrived there 90 minutes down, despite skipping Weston-super-Mare.

I'm glad to read that the meeting still went well without us. 

CfN.

[grahame]

Excellent meeting .. not quite the usual full house due to rail (and motorway!) issues.  I have typed in my notes and being gone through for the worst of typos / will summarise too.

Slide set (66 pages) at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/TWSW_autumn_2024.pdf (for members)