A DRT full of passengers. Yes, really.

Thursday 29th May 2025

I’m pleased to report my follow up visit to Kemble to try out the recently extended Wiltshire Connect DRT operation went without a hitch last Friday as well as throwing up a few surprises.

After the abortive attempt over a week ago, this time I forewent the offer of a pick up from Kemble station between 11:45 and 12:15 and instead cautiously booked a pickup between 12:15 and 12:45 giving over half an hour from the 11:43 train arrival to allow for any late running. It dosn’t pay to be too ‘seamless’ when using ‘integrated transport’.

In the event the train was on time and the DRT minibus arrived outside this delightful station at 11:53 also allowing plenty of time.

I made myself known to Rocco, the very friendly driver, who explained another passenger, Joseph and his family, had booked a departure at 12:10 so we’d need to wait for them.

But at midday Joseph also arrived early and introduced himself. It turned out he and his family had arrived on the same train as me but had gone to the exit on that platform with a number of other passengers catching taxis rather than cross over the footbridge to come to the main exit from the Swindon bound platform.

He explained they had a lot of luggage and asked if Rocco could drive round there to save lugging it over the footbridge.

At first Rocco was reluctant but wanting to be helpful agreed so Joseph walked back over the footbridge to wait and we set off in the minibus for the one mile route around to the other side of the tracks.

Except we met a problem in the form of a low height barrier so had to do a U-turn and retrace our way back to the original starting point.

I offered to walk back over the footbridge and let Joseph know he’d have to come over that way and Rocco also came to help with the luggage.

But when I saw the amount and size of the luggage including a four wheel trolley to carry some of it, including a tent, I thought better of offering to help – they looked so heavy.

All credit to Rocco for pitching in and helping (he’s got one of the cases on his shoulder in the photo below)…

… and eventually the family of four and all their luggage were safely stowed aboard and as the Ford Transit was laid out with only five seats in the main compartment Rocco let me sit in the front seat alongside him.

The family were off to the three day Shindig Festival taking place over the bank holiday weekend in the grounds of Charlton Park, not far east of Malmesbury.

Rocco had already dropped a passenger off there earlier that morning and explained it would get very busy later on Friday and over the weekend as more festival goers arrived.

We made our way into the acres of grounds of Charlton Park…

… where there were a lot of cars parked…

… and more arriving all the time…

… as Rocco found the taxi set down/pick up area and pulled up.

Joseph was disappointed to be told Wiltshire Connect doesn’t operate on Sundays and Bank Holidays so Rocco gave him the number of a local taxi firm to book his return journey with.

Which may end up being Rocco again as he’s also a taxi driver as well as working for Via which has the contract to operate this latest DRT for Wiltshire Council, set up with a policy of not employing drivers but using them, as needed, on a zero hours contract.

Furthermore the vehicles are licensed as taxis so taxi drivers are a ready source of supply. Rocco thought between three and five vehicles were operating this latest DRT venture although not all are on the road at any one time.

Having dropped Joseph, his family and all their luggage off in the grounds of Charton Park…

… Rocco took me over to my intended destination in Royal Wootton Bassett which involved a lovely rural ride showing off Wiltshire’s attractive scenic countryside at its best.

We arrived there at 13:00, 45 minutes after leaving Kemble which was not bad going considering Google maps reckons a direct route would take half an hour and I’d enjoyed a deviation via Malmesbury and the Charlton House festival site.

Rocco explained the SatNav wasn’t indicating for him to enter the extensive Charlton House grounds but instead drop Joseph and family off at the roadside entrance but as he rightly pointed out with all that luggage he couldn’t have done that and good for him for ‘going the extra mile’, literally.

People understandably often comment on my DRT travels that it would be cheaper to provide subsidised taxis and in essence this is what this operation is.

Licensed six seater vehicles at bus fares, including the £3 cap, meaning my ride would have cost just £3 (but concessionary passes are valid too) and Joseph would have paid £9 for his family of four. Rocco reckoned a taxi fare for the same journey would’ve been many times more than that.

It was good to see a poster promoting the new service, which began on 25th April, outside Kemble station and Rocco had a supply of a colourful leaflet on board to hand out.

As a commentator added to last week’s blog about my abortive attempt, it’s disappointing to see Wiltshire Council has abandoned its semi-flex arrangement for DRT in the Pewsey, Devizes and Marlborough areas. This perviously had combined fixed timetables for three/four routes (eg 101 Pewsey-Devizes) with the ability to book deviations to serve hamlets along the way, supplemented by a fully flexible arrangement across three separate zones introduced in three stages in 2023.

But from last month these three zones have been combined into one (south of the new zone for Royal Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury as shown below) and reduced the number of fixed timetable journeys with no ability to book a minor deviation off route.

So the semi-flex arrangement I used to rave about has now been abandoned. Here’s the 2023 semi flex timetable for route 101…

… and here’s the latest one with reference to DRT.

A retrograde step.

Finally, news reaches me Uber are launching a new Route Sharing service in the USA: in New York CIty, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston and Blatimore. Riders have to pre-book their journey and are directed to walk to common pick up points (we call them bus stops) and must arrive at predetermined times (we call them timetables) and use predetermined routes (we call them bus routes) to their destination including sharing the ride with other riders (we call them bus passengers). I wonder if it’ll catch on over here?! Interestingly that’s the model Black cab booking app Gett tried in London in 2017 and Ford had a go with their Chariot in 2018 – both lasting a matter of months as why would passengers want the faff of pre-booking when you can just turn-up-and-go.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS

12 thoughts on “A DRT full of passengers. Yes, really.”

  1. The vehicle you rode in is licenced as a PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE, not a Taxi (Hackney Carriage). There is a difference, PHVs must be pre-booked and Hackney Carriages may be hailed as one does in London for a “black cab”. In my local authority area, Elmbridge in Surrey, the plates on the back are different: blue for HCV and red for PHV. In other local authority areas PHVs also show on the front doors “Pre Booked Only”. The hailings in Elmbridge are almost 100% done at the ranks outside railway stations.

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  2. Many thanks for this report, and it was good to hear that – yet again – the people at the sharp end are providing good service, and making up as far as they can for the bloomers made by ‘management’ or the app-providers. Surely just arranging a trial visit to Kemble station by a person unfamiliar with the locality would have picked up the lack of signage for which exit to use to catch the DRT.

    I know integration is sometimes seen as a bit of a joke in the bus and train industries, but until it is addressed properly, we will continue to face figures like ‘percentage of travel by public transport – 10%’. Decent integration should make serious improvement to this, to the benefit of passengers, companies, the environment, and even non bus-and-train-users (less congestion). I may have already set out my priority suggestions – based on a lifetime of travel/trying-to-travel by public transport – but here they are, for the transport professionals reading this:

    1 – Place (make interchanges quick, easy, and pleasant to wait at)

    2 – Timetable (integrate – or at least consider and consult when planning)

    3 – Publicity (large, clear Wayfinding signs, Timetable info., through to Websites, Facebook etc.)

    4 – Ticketing (through ticketing etc.)

    5 – People (knowledgeable staff at interchanges, with authority to hold connections if circumstances demand: this could be considered part of H&S, as people running to try and make a connection is dangerous)

    The existing situation, from a passenger persepctive, feels as if the bus and train industries are hanging out a large sign saying ‘Do Not Bother to Try and Make Journeys Involving a Change, as We Will Not Help You’ – and I know that some transport professionals really do believe that bus/train companies should forget integration and concentrate on selling ‘single-seat’ journeys; hence the 10% figure!

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    1. We do need much better integration between bus and train and at present it is simply not happening

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    2. I can’t see train companies rushing to integrate with local buses when they mostly fail to co-ordinate with other train companies.

      Paul

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    3. @Rick your categorisation of requirements complements Jarrett Walker’s 7 requirements of public transit (see Wikipedia).

      MilesT

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  3. Joseph and family were an extreme example with their load of luggage, but it’s perfectly conceivable that someone could arrive from the Swindon/London direction and not be capable of heaving their one item of baggage over a standard railway footbridge. Would anyone even think of booking assistance from GWR for that purpose?

    It’s a classic case of lack of joined-up thinking. One problem is solved by the height barrier -presumably to stop caravan dwellers parking there. In another unconnected office someone else plans a DRT scheme with due regard for the less able, but fails to realise that most minibuses cannot now access a significant part of a major local transport interchange.

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  4. A key for the height barrier for DRT vehicles ?

    The Event and things like them should have to have transport management plans including things like bus service locations (arguably things like Taxis are designed for this kind of event , arguably it should be provision of a mass public transport route/s)

    Nice to see the Swindon and Cricklade railway marked on the map.

    J B C Prestatyn

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      1. Presumably because it was a bank holiday? Makes me appreciate Edinburgh’s Lothian Buses (and Lothian Country and East Coast) as they operate either a normal weekday or Saturday service on all bank holiday Mondays.

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  5. Via which has the contract to operate this latest DRT for Wiltshire Council, set up with a policy of not employing drivers but using them, as needed, on a zero hours contract.

    This is the bit that stood out for me. Typical tech bro gig economy exploitation.

    Peter Brown

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  6. Totally agree with Peter Brown’s comment above. Presumably the only way to make the operation VIAble.

    Richard Warwick

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  7. Amazingly, I saw a full DRT vehicle on Saturday 24th May. It was a Herts Lynx one. It left the Town Hall bus stop in Berkhamstead at midday with 12 passengers. All of them were bound for Cstle Village in Potten End, which is a retirement complex. One of the other passngers at the bus stop, waiting for the badly delayed Red Eagle 500 wryly comments that the Herts Lybx bus was the 12:00 departure for God’s waiting room!!

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