About
A Few Words
About Us
TravelWatch SouthWest Community Interest Company (TWSW CIC) promotes the interests of public transport users in the South West of England. This is the geography that TWSW covers, from the Scillies to the north Gloucestershire border, including Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and the County Borough of Bristol.
TWSW acts as an advocate for passengers to lobby for the improvement of public transport in the region and works closely with local authorities, business organisations, partnerships and other stakeholder groups – with the dissolution of the former Rail Passengers Committee for Western England in July 2005, TWSW is the representative body for public transport users throughout the South West of England.
Active Directors
Directors of TWSW CIC
Nick Buckland, OBE, Chair
Graham Ellis
Richard Gamble
Christopher Irwin
Vinita Nawathe
Dr Graham Parkhurst
James White
Team
Bryony Chetwode – Company Secretary
Rachel Edgington – Administrator
2001
TWSW was first established in 2001 as The South West Public Transport Users’ Forum (SWPTUF)
2005
The Forum became a Community Interest Company (CIC) in August 2005
2006
SWPTUF adopted the trading name of TravelWatch SouthWest in June 2006
2008
The CIC changed name to TravelWatch SouthWest CIC (TWSW CIC) in November 2008
A Note
From the Board
We work with our many affiliated user groups from throughout the South West to enable informed and relevant contributions to policy consultations whether by local authorities, sub-national bodies, the Government or transport operators.
The government has acknowledged, and seeks to improve, the contribution rail makes to the economy, the environment and social inclusion; it has outlined the key strengths of this safe and green mode of mass transit for moving people into and across conurbations, and between population centres and international gateways; and the government has laid out some clear objectives for rail. Our stakeholders particularly welcome the government’s aim of accommodating projected demand for rail, and the objective for rail to tackle capacity constraints, grow new markets and support wider housing and economic development plans.