Using public transport

Campaign for an appropriate TransWilts train service

Just two trains a day currently link the five major population centres of Wiltshire

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Using public transport - USA style

We're currently in the USA - the land of the automobile - but we don't have a car, and we're making uses of buses - "shuttles" to get around between the various places we're visiting. Illustration - Lisa (my wife, for anyone who's new to this blog) and Zyliana (our Amercan grandaughter) await the bus to Downtown yesterday evening. As ever, I look at the ~~public transport~~ transit system when I'm away and ask "what can I learn from it?".

• Buses run every 20 minutes on most routes - and with timing like that, you just turn up and ride at the bus stops. That's probably a good target frequency for a "turn up and go" service around a neighbourhood such as Melksham, and it encourages people to use the service. People with cars use the buses too - perhaps the $15 per day parking charges at places that the buses serve encourages that, as does the fact that the bus stations are close in to the destinations, 'inside' the car parks if I can describe it in that way.

• Information of buses - route maps, timetables, etc, is sadly lacking. It works very well if you're doing the standard tourist "thing", but if you need to be at an evening venue for a 09:30 a.m. meeting before heading on for a day at a daytime venue, it's hard to find out the best way to do it, services are limited at that 'early' hour, and we spent an AWFUL lot of time on the bus. Hindsight tells me that it was like taking the Circle line from Paddington to Edgware Road .... via Victoria and Aldgate.

• Routes can also be slow in "mopping up" people from stops in an area, and there's often the feeling that "I could have walked that quicker". But then all buses are easy access, and the wheelchair access is superb. ~~Pushchairs~~ strollers need to be folder, but adult powered chairs are commonplace (frighteningly so if you wonder about the physical condition of the human race as a whole) and every bus has loading capabilities, with slopes and ramps all over the place. Being a "new" country, this part of the USA doesn' have the historic UK heritage fabric to preserve which makes access hard in the UK at times.

• Health and safety seems to have gone very strong here too. You see the driver walking around his bus and checking the ~~tyres~~ tires after each journey. You see the ferry captains tying up front and back to the ~~landing stage~~ dock before they open the passenger gates, and speedwalking around in an almost comical manner to get the job done with one foot always on the ground. My more brusque approach says "oh goodness - why not just let people step on and off themselves" but perhaps the typical visitor to these parts is not transport savvy. I certainly wouldn't want to see people only being allowed onto the platform at Trowbridge when the train has actually arrived, and then the train not being able to leave until the last arriving passenger is cleared off there.

(written 2011-05-25)

Associated topics are indexed under

Z511 - Public Transport - Road
  [4032] Easier public transport from Melksham to Bristol Airport - (2013-03-06)
  [4023] Melksham to Chippenham (Station) bus services - times and routes - (2013-03-01)
  [4022] A request for all of Melksham transport groups to work integrated - (2013-03-01)
  [3951] Christmas Bus Schedule for Melksham - First Bus - (2012-12-14)
  [3938] A long overdue meeting - a steeping stone towards coordinate transport user inputs - (2012-12-02)
  [3937] Agenda for Wiltshire Link Travel groups meeting, Saturday 1st December 2012 - (2012-11-27)
  [3929] Melksham Bus Issues - to be raised at First Bus Customer Panel - (2012-11-21)
  [3904] Want to help us improve transport in Wiltshire? Here is how! - (2012-10-26)
  [3893] Public Transport across Wiltshire - a new map - (2012-10-13)
  [3879] Mixed mode travel - Information systems - (2012-10-03)
  [3877] Public Transport Services - from and to Melksham - (2012-10-01)
  [3866] Celebrate! Buses from Meksham to Bath - (2012-09-18)
  [3850] Bus times - Chippenham Station to Melksham, with London connections - (2012-08-25)
  [3849] New bus times - Melksham to Bath - (2012-08-25)
  [3699] Bristol 50? Bristol 25? - (2012-04-17)
  [3631] Getting around Dublin by public transport - some observations - (2012-03-01)
  [3580] Melksham Area - buses, trains, cycles, and roads. Meeting, 17.1.2012 - (2012-01-15)
  [3579] Transport in Cambridgeshire - seen by an outside observer. What can Wiltshire learn? - (2012-01-15)
  [3564] I wish I was not a special case - (2011-12-29)
  [3523] When competition is not a good idea - Melksham Bus Absurdity - (2011-11-16)
  [3504] Coaches from Trowbridge and Melksham to London - (2011-11-01)
  [3487] Public transport - road and rail - (2011-10-19)
  [3486] How important is public transport to people in the Melksham area? - (2011-10-19)
  [3471] Vintage Bus Running Day in Warminster. An example of good bus practise. - (2011-10-09)
  [3404] Buses on the Cambridge Guided Busway - (2011-08-24)
  [3290] Changes (and no changes) at Melksham bus stops - (2011-05-15)
  [3194] Buses - what they cost and their future direction in the SW and in Wiltshire - (2011-03-06)
  [3126] Car Parking in Melksham - thoughts on the proposed scheme, and wider thoughts too - (2011-01-09)
  [2983] Strong arm tactics in the bus industry? Poor result for the customer! - (2010-10-03)
  [2982] Travel, Transport and Tourism - A vision for Melksham, 2026 - (2010-10-03)
  [2958] What do these road markings mean? Could Confusion Kill? - (2010-09-17)
  [2933] Bath - Melksham - Devizes buses from September - (2010-08-23)
  [2919] London to Calne, Corsham, Melksham, Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham by public Transport - (2010-08-13)
  [2903] Bath to Devizes bus via Melksham - changing again in September - (2010-08-04)
  [2857] Park and Ride at Batheaston - will it solve Wiltshires Ills? - (2010-07-06)
  [2791] Bath to Melksham buses - times - (2010-06-03)
  [2789] Melksham to London (Heathrow, and Central London) - (2010-06-02)
  [2771] Melksham to Calne by public transport - (2010-05-20)
  [2672] Dear Planners, please provide viable alternatives - (2010-03-11)
  [2662] Is Melksham public transport actually used? - (2010-03-05)
  [2533] Five guests, three groups, one car - (2009-12-11)
  [2522] Integrated public Transport - what could be done for Melksham - (2009-12-01)
  [2515] Why we have two buses an hour - but not a half hourly service - (2009-11-28)
  [2431] Moving busstop! - (2009-09-30)
  [2372] Public Transport from (and to) Melksham on Sundays - (2009-08-23)
  [2328] Melksham - no trains, no southbound buses through the town - (2009-08-08)
  [2268] Westbury Bypass Refused - looking forward - (2009-07-04)
  [2083] Do you support a decent train service? Please sign up! - (2009-03-15)
  [2075] Supporting Parkinsons and Trains - (2009-03-11)
  [1777] The Rise and Rise of First Bus Fares - (2008-08-29)
  [1723] Bath - Melksham - Devizes. Bus route changes, new timetable - (2008-07-26)
  [1668] Talk on TransWilts train service to Green Party - (2008-06-07)
  [1567] Melksham - Swindon. Train v Bus v Car - (2008-03-07)
  [1560] HST Power Car TravelWatch SouthWest - (2008-03-01)
  [1511] Buses from Well House Manor, Melksham, to Bath - (2008-01-18)
  [1428] Travel Across Wiltshire - the game - (2007-11-11)
  [1315] Two years of campaigning for a train service - (2007-08-22)
  [1254] Comparing bus stops - (2007-07-01)
  [1125] Train service - petititon reply - (2007-03-31)
  [1085] Lawrence Webb's Melksham Taxi service - (2007-02-18)
  [818] Heard, yes. Considered, no. The case for the train. - (2006-07-30)
  [764] Journey planning - Xephos v Transport Direct - (2006-06-16)
  [474] Vintage Bus Day - (2005-10-23)
  [459] Kiss and Ride - (2005-10-09)
  [187] a popular bus number - (2005-01-23)
  [119] PHP course. Come by train. - (2004-11-15)

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Some other Articles

Getting away from the madding crowd - an intercontinental journey
Scones with or without fruit?
Flying tonight
Are you a half full or half empty person?
Using public transport - USA style
Wildlife and other pictures from holiday
Presidents Report to Melksham Chamber of Commerce, 24.5.2011
Quiet Monday in
A long day, a long journey, and families and similarities the world over
Dog, hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire?

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