There are stories to tell of the tail of 2015. Of traffic levels well beyond target on the TransWilts. Of volunteer and professional help in nurturing and monitoring it. Of wider stratgies looking at upcoming opportunities via franchise changes and other means. Of learning meetings where we meet with people working in rough parallel elsewhere and learn the best practise, and of getting out and seeing public transport in a wider sense and learning what lessons there may be for us in Wiltshire and the wider South West and wedge-from-London areas. Less positive news, I fear, on buses; we lost a number of services in August - sevices such as the 07:20 Bowerhill to Melksham Station and the 18:35 Chippenham to Melksham and Trowbridge, both of which carried double figure passengers on a daily basis, and some indications are that could be just the start of a trend. Further writeups, and images, to come. Another selection follows.
And - in this post (and in alphabetic order by first name) my "Thank you" list for support beyond the call of dury from so many people, including but not limited to Bob Morrison, Chris Hankin, Chris Irwin, Chris Wilding, Claire Perry, Dan Okey, Daniel Pickford, David Phillips, Duncan Hames, Eddy Watts, The spirit of Gordon Dodge, Heather Blake, Horace Prickett, Jane Jones, John Glen, John Hamley, John Money, John Pickford, Lee Fletcher, Lisa Ellis, Margaret Blackburn, Marianne Hamley, Michelle Donelan, Miriam Zacarrelli, Moderators at the Coffee Shop, Natacha Tagholm, Nick Reid, Nigel Bray, Operational staff on our trains., Other CRP officers and their team, Other officers at Wiltshire Council, Pat Aves, Paul Johnson, Peter Blackburn, Phil Groocock, Phil McMullen, Phil Wakely, Richard Gamble, Robert Gordon, Roger Witt, Rolf Brindle, Rosemary Buchan, Terri Welch, Terry Chivers, The team at ACoRP, Tom Steward and Tony Smale.
(written 2015-12-25)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z406 - TransWilts Community Rail Partnership [3881] Wiltshire Public Transport User Group co-ordination - (2012-10-05)
[3986] Rail services in Wiltshire - up in the air? We need to say what is best required. - (2013-01-20)
[4142] Passenger survey at Chippenham - report and pictures - (2013-07-24)
[4148] Special General Meeting, Adoption of Constitution for TransWilts Community Rail Partnership - (2013-08-01)
[4160] Bank Holiday Monday - pictures of a great train trip to Weymouth - (2013-08-27)
[4163] TransWilts Community Rail Partnership - formally constituted - (2013-09-01)
[4191] Getting people to and from Melksham Station - not 20 but 700 times a day - (2013-10-12)
[4194] TransWilts Link - meeting notes from 19th October - (2013-10-20)
[4196] Official - Trowbridge and Melksham to London train improvements - (2013-10-22)
[4198] New trains for 2014 - Swindon to Westbury. Meetings Melksham, Swindon, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Westbury - (2013-10-24)
[4218] A THANK YOU to those who have brought the new train service to fruition - (2013-12-06)
[4219] TransWilts train services - up from 2 to 8 per day - (2013-12-09)
[4225] Melksham Resident? Commuter? Save yourself 2000 pounds and 100 hours in 2014, and have a better journey! - (2013-12-20)
[4229] Thin end of the wedge - plan to be thicker in 2014 - (2013-12-26)
[4243] Taking Greyhounds and Lurchers to London for the day - (2014-02-23)
[4284] Talk and walk to promote train service - Melksham Carnival - (2014-07-11)
[4287] TransWilts CRP - walking in Melksham Carnival - (2014-07-13)
[4288] Some questions on how our Community Rail Partnership works - (2014-07-13)
[4291] Train Online article - ACoRP / TransWilts introduction - (2014-07-25)
[4309] Even in the dark of night, the train comes bearing passengers - (2014-09-28)
[4313] Moving community rail support from amateur to professional - (2014-11-16)
[4328] Folk music train, Westbury to Swindon round trip, 14th December 2014 - (2014-11-24)
[4343] Politics and the railway the connects Wiltshire - (2014-12-06)
[4351] A little thing can make a big difference - (2014-12-13)
[4353] Celebration pictures, year 1 - (2014-12-15)
[4362] What a difference a year makes - (2014-12-23)
[4371] Why are people using the TransWilts? - (2014-12-29)
[4397] TransWilts / Press and Publicity report for AGM / 30th January 2015 - (2015-01-17)
[4424] Looking Forward - TransWilts Community Rail Partnership and TransWilts CIC - (2015-02-12)
[4435] Images of our rail promotion campaign - (2015-02-21)
[4463] Rail Conference, Nottingham - (2015-03-16)
[4467] Neighbourhood Plan - travel and transport thoughts - (2015-03-29)
[4494] Monday to Friday / TransWilts train times from 18 May to 11th December 2015 - (2015-05-17)
[4497] Around the world from Melksham - (2015-05-25)
[4500] The TransWilts Community Intergrated Transport Corridor - (2015-05-29)
[4510] Learning from the others - Community Rail - (2015-07-12)
[4512] The Weymouth Wizard - Saturdays in August from Wiltshire - (2015-07-31)
[4513] Yesterday, Weymouth - (2015-08-02)
[4568] Moderation - and the tendency to over-moderate - (2015-11-02)
[4612] TransWilts - robust these days - no longer the first service to be cancelled - (2016-01-03)
[4638] TransWilts Community Interest Company AGM - 13 Feb 2016, Swindon - (2016-02-05)
[4647] On the problems of a printed train timetable - (2016-02-15)
[4688] Melksham Station - as at May 2016 - Part 5 (services and prices) - (2016-05-30)
[4695] Melksham Rail Development Group becoming Melksham Rail Users Group - (2016-06-21)
[4704] Three months in community rail pictures - (2016-08-27)
[4706] Melksham trial train service is to be made permanent - (2016-10-02)
[4726] TransWilts Partner Update for Melksham Area Board - (2016-11-07)
[4739] A year of changes for Lisa and Graham Ellis, and Well House - (2017-05-27)
Some other Articles
Hello World - in Perl 6Perl - version 6 - official version launched at ChristmasHappy New Year. Our customers are our ambassadorsTraining course and hotel room prices - 2016Management view - TransWilts and transport at the end of 2015A big change in AugustHappy Christmas - and a Christmas thought21 places to get your train and bus timetables for TransWiltsNot standing as your local councillorCall for help counting passengers - TransWilts, 12th to 14th December