Agree that it's probably the subject line.

That aside, does off-peak / advance purchase ticketing work against people's travel during heatwaves? During hot weather, by the time GWR's super-off-peak windows open I'd want to be nowhere near public transport. (And have to fess up that I've never managed to get my head round SWR's more recent ticketing.)

Mark

 
70 members a day logged in to our forum ... but very few votes (less than a half of the number we get in most polls). I don't know of that's because the poll was posted at a busy time and rapidly fell off the 'front page', or whether members weren't inspired or comfortable to answer. Personally speaking, I go a bit for the latter.  (( Edit to add - perhaps it's the subject line?? ))

The current train services, with so many cancellations and part runs, are something that I'm at a loss to suggest a solid fix for, and I can't see a quick fix, even if money were to be thrown at the issue.  And the problems are made that much worse by just how popular train travel has become - passenger numbers growing but available, running trains shrinking and the result is hideous overcrowding on a small proportion of trains.  But therein lies another problem.

300 people turn up for a 2 carriage train and 300 people get upset because it really can't cope, whereas another 2 carriage train with just 50 passengers and it works very well - but only 50 people report it to be satisfactory ... and some of them will return home as part of the bigger crowd and THAT is what they will report.  In the example, 50% of trains are overcrowded, but 86% report overcrowding and dissatisfaction.

So how did our voting go? 

100   Infrastructure, track and trains that can cope better with modern weather better should be acquired   
71   More trains should be available to better cope with failures   
43   Bus and train companies should work much better together to provide alternatives   
29   We should lower our hopes and expectations   
29   Key skeleton services (all stations, every 2 hours?) should be guaranteed   
14    Timetables should be reduced for summer and winter months to cope with weather extremes   
14   We should accept that timetables are much more guidance than rules   
14   Train services should start earlier, finish later and have a break in the middle of the day   
0   We should cut routes into short sections to reduce the spread of delays and cancellations
0   None of the above

Members were able to vote for multiple options and averaged 3.  100% of them (that's the first column) suggested that track and trains able to cope with modern (changed) weather should be acquired.  Of the 9 options offered, everyone who voted considered we should take at least one action - no votes at all for "None of the above".

But we have had 20 YEARS of the same team of First Group (as FGW then GWR) running our trains - they took over on 1st April 2006, and for all of those 20 years the Department for Transport have been seen / cast (with questionable allocation of blame) as the culprits in allowing the setup to "fail" in the way it is doing.  Or is it failing?  Should I accept that there will be days like Friday - 2 days ago - when 4 trains out of 18 were cancelled at my local station because there wasn't a working train available at all, or today - Sunday - when 4 trains out of 14 are already cancelled (I'm writing this at first light) because there aren't staff available to work the train.  Should we accept that providing a service that always runs as it is advertised and with capacity to take everyone is an expensive business, and that a service that works 80% of the time is adequate and affordable, and indeed people will still use it.

And people do want and use the public transport we have.  Early yesterday evening, I walked around Melksham in the Carnival Parade handing out bus and train timetables. Huge thanks to Sharon, Justin and Daniel walking with me to hand them out.  They ONLY went to those who wanted them - we were offering them and not thrusting them at people, many hands came out and we were rationing to one per family / group. We still handed out around 900 - perfectly to plan - though the parade at times moved too quickly for us to even skim-offer to every group.

One question asked of me "why aren't you running the Weymouth trains this year?".  Well - they ARE running every Saturday - there's a trough train from Melksham to Weymouth at 09:10, returns at 19:38 and it's a lovely day.  But we aren't promoting it hard and we're leaving a market untapped.  Because the train is already full and standing for the last segment of the journey into Weymouth in the morning, and we are not going to be irresponsible and cause a problem.   This year that train is 3 carriages all the way; in previous years it was 5, 6 and even 8 carriages.  If you are reading this, please don't be put off going - at Melksham there is plenty of space as there is on the evening return, you WILL get on and get a good seat both ways.

At times there are busy buses too, but they are now far more reliable than the trains.  That's perverse, seeing as they have to share road infrastructure with other congesting traffic rather than having a private right of way. And to and from Melksham for shorter journeys, the bus is dominant.  It has improved hugely over the years on the main arteries. Modern technologies such as MyTrip and Tiger offer an undreamed of ability to learn of disruption and work / travel in different ways and work with and around them.   Pure luxury, and time saving, to be able to sit at home, learn of disruption, and only go to the railway station -  or out to the bus stop for a running service.

But there remains - and 43% of my sample suggested it - a need for better information flows across all public transport.  The Melksham Bus and Train timetable - bringing together all six operators - is reached out for by people, they love having everything in one place.  Contrast that to a friend travelling to Melksham yesterday to assist in the Carnival parade.  His train into Chippenham was delayed and he was 60 minutes after his plan into there.  Which meant that the half past three train had gone and the next one would be 6 O'clock.  He asked for advice from the station staff who (I'm sure were polite) had nothing to offer, and by the time he walked out to the bus stops to see what they had to offer, he was in time to see the 16:35 bus for Melksham just leaving.

Conclusions?  None, I'm afraid.  The local bus operators are actually doing rather well.  The train system is failing to deliver a reliable service with the capacity that people are turning up to use.  And whilst we are moving on from a company operated system to a nationalised system, it's the same managers who have failed to deliver for 20 years who will still be there, reporting to the same government ministry that has failed - for 20 years - to guide and regulate the provision.  Some things are better, but realistically I have little hope of much improvement in reliability or capacity while at the same time some people are desperate to have a system that works for them, and indeed will put up with a system that includes a degree of failure to deliver on timetable, reliability, capacity and other promises.

 
Researching "on this day" - we have gaps this month as July is a quiet month in the calendar and we have gaps - I came across the Britsih "Groundhog Day".  """July 15 in the UK is celebrated as St Swithin's Day, marking the 971 AD translation of the Anglo-Saxon bishop's relics to Winchester Cathedral. According to British folklore, whatever the weather is like on this day - whether rain or sunshine - will continue for the next 40 days and nights."""

And waking this morning (10th July) I find GWR reporting 54 trains cancelled completly and 66 more not serving all the stations they are supposed to.  They tell us on JourneyCheck """The high temperatures that are forecast for today can lead to an increase in points failures."""

Publishing a timetable and then amending it on an almost-routine basis feels less than satisfactory to me, but then what are the alternatives?