Direct Milton Keynes - Bedford services start!!!!!!!

[kieron]

You can't compare them on simply size - MK's layout and ease of car travel means there is no penalty for travel by car. So if you want people to use public transport it has to be a cut above.

By the same token, if there's money available to spend on public transport improvements, it would be better directed towards somewhere where it would make more of a difference to people.

 

[Bletchleyite]

By the same token, if there's money available to spend on public transport improvements, it would be better directed towards somewhere where it would make more of a difference to people.

That depends on why you want to encourage people to use public transport or improve the lot of people who have no choice but to do so. In MK most of the standard reasons still apply. The only one that doesn't is the congestion argument.

 

[DarloRich]

You seem to think there's a load of pent up demand for people wanting to travel from Bedford to MK and vice versa - I don't believe that to be the case.

The users group seems to think there is as do us passengers. . That latent demand will only increase when the nearly 5000 homes get built between Newton Leys & Bow Brickhill ( it will essentially fill up the arc along the A4146/Brickhill lane) and further along the line.

In the 5 years I have used the line passenger numbers have gone up as houses have been built and business tempted to MK. The remaining limiting factor is the lack of a service to MK.

The Amazon warehouse at Ridgmont has completely changed the numbers using the train. It is very busy around shift change and at times the 153 struggles to cope.

The line is getting busier and those of us who are regulars think it could be even better with a bit of thought.

The A421 improvement wasn't to improve MK - Bedford connectivity, it was to improve Bedford - M1 connectivity.

The X5 doesn't go anywhere near the A421 interestingly - Stagecoach have decided it's still better to use the A422.

Indeed - but the A421 has made the journey to Bedford much easier. Once the last bt from the M1 to MK is sorted it will be a great road. I wonder if the X5 will switch then?

And even with electrification, you're unlikely to make the train journey match the X5 from MK to Bedford. The train takes 43 mins on average to do Bedford - Bletchley - at best, you might be able to take 10 mins out of that with electrification (the MK services will have to be the stoppers), but you then have a reversal at Bletchley and the journey from Bletchley to MK, so that's going to be 10 mins. So your back to almost 45 mins - same as the X5, except the X5 will also pick you up or drop you off in the town centre near the shops - which doesn't happen at either Bedford or MK.

While I would agree about the X5 the target for rail has to be commuters of which most will be going to office close to the station - that is the one part of MK the train IS good for - and those looking to connect into fast long distance services. There are much better northbound and faster southbound connections at MK

I would suggest People would prefer to use the train over the bus as the X5 isn't a busy bus route despite being good quality. However the change at Beltchley and the perceived unreliability of the chuggers puts them off. Journey time isn't really a factor. The key limiting factor is the change at Bletchley.

For a specific event - which attracted a lot of people where otherwise parking would have been an issue. Bedford ordinarily on a Saturday or Sunday attracts probably 10% of the numbers it did on the weekend.

You can't use a special event as the basis for an ongoing service. The Olympics was a case in point, there were various services laid on to support that, but they've not continued after the event ended.

The direct trains last weekend aren't the tool to justify a service. They merely show that a service is feasible - remember it was said it simply couldn't be done!

 

[Bletchleyite]

The X5 is hugely, hugely busy!


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[A0]

The direct trains last weekend aren't the tool to justify a service. They merely show that a service is feasible - remember it was said it simply couldn't be done!

I don't think anyone said it wasn't feasible. The basic infrastructure is in place, though admittedly finding slots between Bletchley and MK may have been a limiting factor.

Whether its viable though is a different question.

 

[swt_passenger]

I don't think anyone said it wasn't feasible. The basic infrastructure is in place, though admittedly finding slots between Bletchley and MK may have been a limiting factor.

Well I for one have never said it can't be done. I've just regularly pointed out the various official looking documents saying that it won't be done because it isn't necessary in addition to the planned EWR routes...

 

[kieron]

That depends on why you want to encourage people to use public transport or improve the lot of people who have no choice but to do so. In MK most of the standard reasons still apply. The only one that doesn't is the congestion argument.

A lack of congestion reduces pollution (both locally and globally) as you don't have cars and lorries sitting around with engines running for as long. It also reduces the benefit of building special infrastructure for public transport* as buses can get around pretty quickly without it.

If (as you suggest) the likely cost of an improvement is higher in Milton Keynes than it would be somewhere else, and the likely benefit lower, spending the money elsewhere seems to me to be a more rational response than spending twice as much in Milton Keynes so people appreciate the difference it makes.

The council will still subsidise private bus companies (as councils do elsewhere), and the government will still ensure that there are lots of trains to London, so the spending is there.

* Beyond bus stops and stations, of course.

Well I for one have never said it can't be done. I've just regularly pointed out the various official looking documents saying that it won't be done because it isn't necessary in addition to the planned EWR routes...

The thing about planned routes is that, until they start building them, they don't get in the way of what anyone wants to do now. I don't know if anyone wants Bedford-Milton Keynes trains enough to make it happen, though.

 

[DarloRich]

The thing about planned routes is that, until they start building them, they don't get in the way of what anyone wants to do now. I don't know if anyone wants Bedford-Milton Keynes trains enough to make it happen, though.

The people who want the servcies don't really matter being merely the paying passengers, users groups, local councils etc. The ToC doesn't have any interest in the service