A FREE bus service has been launched that will take rail users to Melksham Railway Station in the morning and back again in the evening.
The service called Melksham Rail Link will run twice in the early mornings at 6.50am and 7.20am. The bus will run through Bowerhill, East Melksham and Melksham Forest to ensure rail passengers connect with the commuter trains that leave at 07:20 and 07:48.
In the evenings, the bus will leave Melksham Station shortly after the arrival of trains at 18:03, 18:48 and 19:17. If the train is delayed, the bus will wait for the train to arrive and for passengers to transfer.
This bus service is organised by Wiltshire Council under a Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) grant from the Department for Transport, operated by Frome Minibuses and supported by the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership and First Great Western. No charge will be made for the use of this bus (though you will have to pay a train fare – e.g. £9.20 return to Swindon).
Graham Ellis from the Transwilts Community Rail Partnership said, “This is an innovative example of forward looking travel planning – it will allow commuters, business visitors and others to leave their cars at home.
“The train runs to Swindon, but connects to London, Bristol, Reading and so on; I’m already planning to use the service to reach a series of all-day appointments in Oxford, for example. For job seekers living in Melksham and without access to a car, it’s now practical to accept employment in central Swindon, and perhaps in central Bristol. And I already know of at least one family who have cut down from two cars to just one as a result of the improved train/public transport services.”
