Oldfield Park Railway Station:- Update from Passenger Focus

The additional carriages leased in to ease the capacity problems created by the timetable change last December are being returned to Northern Rail at the end of this week. Eight units are going back but FGW have leased in an additional 12 units to replace them so they will have more than enough carriages to service the new timetable which starts next Monday. I have been concerned at the amount of short-forming of trains that has been occurring in this area over the past couple of months and have taken this matter up directly with the new Chief Operating Officer in the company. He is fully aware of the issues affecting our part of the route particularly the Cardiff/Portsmouth short-formings which have a significant impact on cross-Bristol routes during peak times. As a result of my intervention, I am hopeful that a ‘spare’ unit will be stabled at Westbury from next Monday onwards to cater for breakdowns or shortages which may occur during the morning peak. This will provide the facility for the ‘spare’ to in-fill if there are problems with the allocated train heading towards Bristol.

I have also managed to persuade the company to strengthen its contingency plan in respect of stopping High Speed trains at Oldfield Park and Keynsham during the morning peak IF local services have failed and passengers are left stranded at those stations. This contingency has been used a lot more this year and I will be monitoring its use as the new timetable unfolds.

What would be extremely useful for me would be if you could report back occasions where you have been left stranded at Oldfield Park due to the cancellation of a local service and then suffered the frustration of seeing a High speed train flying past on its way to Bristol. A short email would suffice and would then allow me the opportunity to make an early challenge to the company as to why the contingency plan was not used. (Note : readers please post a comment on the blog and I will forward to Passenger Focus) Sometimes they may decide not to stop as there may be another local service a few minutes behind it. This is fine as long as there is sufficient capacity on the following train to pick up the total number of passengers waiting at Oldfield Park. If there are occasions where this happens and passengers are left behind then please let me know asap.

Mike Greedy

Passenger Focus

Have you say on the University of Bath Masterplan

Have your say on the the future of the University of Bath campus at Claverton Down.

The University of Bath is holding a public consultation exercise as senior staff begin to prepare a masterplan for the Claverton Down campus. The plan will outline future proposed developments at the campus, and the university's other sites elsewhere in the city. And before the final plan is published next summer, the university says it wants residents' views on a number of issues. These include transport and parking, sustainability and the provision of student residential accommodation both on campus and elsewhere in the city. The plan also includes areas for campus development, including new teaching and research facilities.

You can have your say via the web at: www.bath.ac.uk/masterplan2007 This site is availble until Monday 17th dEcember for your comments. Please make use of it!

Recycling promoted to flat and house-share residents

A new campaign to help publicise recycling services for people living in flats and shared houses is being launched by the Council.

Some people living in flats and shared houses find it difficult to find out about and use recycling services, particularly when they move into new or temporary accommodation, so funding has been granted by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) to make this easier.

This funding has the Council the opportunity to organise a series of visits to accommodation including flats, shared or rented properties to tell people about the Council’s recycling services and answer any questions that they may have.

Information packs containing posters with collection days and magnets and stickers showing what can be recycled will be distributed as part of the campaign.

Additional services provided by the Council, including talks about recycling to local community groups and residents’ associations, and the chance to sign up for a quarterly e-newsletter to help keep up to date with developments to the service, will also be promoted.

If you would like to sign up for the e-newsletter, request a talk to a local group or find out more about recycling in Bath and North East Somerset, please contact Council Connect on 01225 39 40 41, email: councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk or see the Council’s website www.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices

Traveline – new telephone number

Traveline - the public transport route and timetable information line - has a new telephone number.

Following a decision made by Ofcom (Office of Communications), the new number (0871 200 22 33) will run parallel with the original number (0870 608 2 608) until January 2008.
Traveline provides route and timetable information for all public transport operators (bus, coach, metro, train, and GB ferry) in England, Scotland and Wales. In addition to the telephone information service, timetables and journey planning facilities can also be accessed from the website: www.traveline.info

Last year, Traveline reported over 586,000 calls made to the South West call centre, accompanied by 4,684,000 hits on the website.

As a member of the Traveline partnership, Bath & North East Somerset Council is responsible for the supply of data for most of the bus services that operate within the authority. The Council works with local bus operators to ensure the accuracy of the route and timetable information. In recent months, this work has also allowed the Council to add information to the Traveline database about which bus services are usually operated by low-floor vehicles.

Over the course of the next few months, Bath & North East Somerset Council and First will be updating the Traveline number where it appears on bus stop flags and timetable displays within the authority’s boundaries.

Calls to Traveline from landlines cost 10p per minute. Mobile charges vary.