Saturday 3 January 2009

Further to Barry Doe's article in an earlier Rail magazine in which he criticised the WSR for failing to provide a daily service to and from Taunton, I note Barry has now responded publicly in his Rail column to the many people who complained. It would seem he has failed to acknowledge the simple facts of business (there must be a market and there must be the infrastructure and staff to make it profitable). He says he had a positive phone discussion with the WSR General Manager and was clearly pleased to learn the WSR have distant plans for a park-n-ride at Bishops Lydeard, by which distant visitors can change trains. Whilst the WSR GM is clearly better placed than I am to make comment about future WSR plans, I would suggest the obstacles I so carefully pointed out to Barry Doe would still remain, even if such as facility existed at Bishops Lydeard. Indeed, it would not even be a "park and ride". It would be more of a "ride-change-ride". Unless there is a main line company willing to run their trains, daily, every hour or so, to Bishops Lydeard, and the WSR can itself provide a regular, daily service, throughout most of the day and evening, and there is sufficient passenger traffic, then the whole idea will not provide the kind of service Barry Doe requires. I am impressed by how easily Barry Doe has accepted things, even to the extent of mention in his column. Like many long-time WSR supporters, I do not accept such ideas lightly, and although I would love to see a regular service to and from Taunton, it must only be done when all the pegs fit in the right holes. Sorry, Barry.