Top Ten Things Heard On Swindon's Buses Last Week ; 101

Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.

10. It's called Walk On Woman, by The Boy Done Good.

9. I can see her intentions from here, especially when she bends down.

8. Probably use it for landfill or something.

7. What does the 'a la mode' mean when people have apple pie?

6. You better have put cream on that, I'm not rubbing it in.

5. Sadistic, like the person who keeps re-commissioning Last Of The Summer Wine.

4. Such a beautiful horizon.

3. Every other person is huge, like Chief Wiggum on holiday.

2. 'Crop circles in Lawns', now there's a headline.

And the number one overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is...

1. Park & Ride is too modern an invention for the Council to work out how to run, they're all being sent on training courses to use their kettles next week.

Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.

Missing The Stop ; Transport Policy Can't Keep To Time

The inability of Swindon Borough Council to have a coherent transport policy is the one clear thing to emerge from the murk of the closure of the Groundwell Park & Ride.

After ten years of operating the Park & Ride from the Groundwell (formerly The Copse) site, the Council decided to close it, due to a lack of sufficient numbers to cover the cost. This failure of policy (how long do you need to make changes to a service to make it cost neutral, ten years would seem to be more than enough time?) has been clouded with councillors now saying that the Groundwell site was in the wrong place all along, the phrase, a poor workman blames his tools, springs to mind.

The Groundwell closure, combined with the news of the extension of the number 11 into Wichelstowe, with council subsidy, (a district with just one family in residence) shows a vast lack of joined-up-thinking in the transport policy.

Firstly, the council was unwilling to subsidise the Park & Ride at Groundwell further. But, if over 10 YEARS, the council had worked to make it revenue neutral and tried, it wouldn't have to.

Secondly, the council is willing to subsidise the route extension of the 11 into East Wichel, before a bulk of people move in, because it believes it's better to have a service up and running before people are there to use it.

Thirdly, the 11 is a route that combines a usual service route with that of serving the Wroughton Park & Ride site. Did the council learn nothing from this route, that they could have combined the Groundwell site with a current route and share costs through cross-subsidising?

Swindon Centric Says ; Swindon, overall, has an excellent bus network, development over the last years has seen more regular evening services, the GPS at bus stops (for Thamesdown only) and a young fleet of modern vehicles, from both Stagecoach and Thamesdown.

However, our inability to operate more grown up 'add-ons', like Park & Ride and night buses, smacks of a town that comes across as amateurish and that doesn't pay attention to detail when it comes to vital core policies.

If other places can do these, why can't we?

Hide & Ride ; Transport Policy Gets Thrown Under The Bus

So, did Thamesdown Transport apply within the 56 days and keep it under wraps, or under the shorter timescale?

Either way, the last three days of the Groundwell Park & Ride are the final gasps of Swindon Borough Council's corpse of a transport policy.

Swindon Centric Says ; In the end, the Council didn't want it to stay open, if they had, they would have merged it with the 17 or some altered service to keep it open.

The decision had already been made before the consultation happened, full stop.

Park & Ride Has Two Numbers On It's Side - 56 & 17

The recent rumours about the closure details of the Groundwell (The Copse) seem to have omitted one small, but important, detail.

Under the 1985 Transport Act, a period of 56 days notice is required before a change to a bus service.

However, an application may be made at short notice for various reasons, including 'to meet an urgent and exceptional public passenger transport requirement', or, 'for reasons which could not have been foreseen at 56 days notice.'

Now bar the transport commissioner interpreting the 'urgent and exceptional' or 'not have been foreseen at 56 days' as the council being incapable of formulating a transport policy and believing in it, looks like the 56 days grace will apply before any closure.

Swindon Centric Says ; Just divert a current service bus,(17 perhaps?) into the park and ride and allow the facility to continue in use while allowing a more successful route to absorb some of the cost.

Top Ten Things Heard On Swindon's Buses Last Week ; 100 Not Out

Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.

10. I always get those two mixed up.

9. Never mind his eyes, I think he needs an IQ test.

8. Looking right over her shoulder at me.

7. Ben Affleck was surprisingly good.

6. It's on it's last legs.

5. The Illuminati runs most of Swindon, weekdays only of course.

4. It's all based on anti-matter, which isn't the most solid of foundations.

3. They now do breakfast, which is a form of small evolution, as they now cover all the days meals from dawn till dusk.

2. There was more interference than you'd expect with an aerial of that size.

And the number one overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is...

1. It's the last of the series, now I can get back to having a life, of sorts.

Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.

Top Ten Things Heard On Swindon's Buses Last Week ; 99

Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.

10. Celebrate diversity, yeah, we did all that.

9. I'll have to stop you right there, because I really don't care.

8. It's being diverted, which should be, well, diverting.

7. Take the 2, the 14 or whichever even number you like, they all go there eventually.

6. It's all funny voices and hackneyed old jokes, how funny.

5. It's a tradeoff between letting it fall to pieces because it's not 100% original, or having a functional building with modifications.

4. It's what makes me the delight that I am, even at 7.30 in the morning.

3. He wasn't in the room, it doesn't matter, that's the end of it.

2. Black pumps would set off the trousers perfectly.

And the number one overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is...

1. They reported it to me, I weighed the pros and cons and didn't agree with them not one, single bit.

Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.

Oh So Quiet... Granville Street Development On Hold

A day after the scheme for the residential tower at Regent Circus was shelved, due to the recession, another part of another area due for building has been announced to be going the same way, fast.

The Regent Place (not to be confused with the college site at Regent Circus) area of 'The Hub' area of the rebuilding of the town centre, on the Granville Street carpark, has been shelved for the moment as the retail sector readjusts during the recession.

An attempt at reassurance came out of Councillor Young that the 'Union Square' area (formerly called 'The Exchange' and located on the swathes of land between Fleming Way, the bus station and the railway station) is signed and sealed contract-wise.

Swindon Centric Says ; The New Swindon Company don't seem to be doing much to justify their existence, except renaming the development areas as a marketing team might do the same for a theme park.

Expecting a runaway mine money train to be put into the plans for Regent Place any day now, once the market picks up of course.

Every Little Helps, But Tesco Might Not Be At Regent Circus

Where Swindon Centric leads, others follow, with the Adver today publishing details about the Regent Circus back-and-forth discussions.

So the majority of the scheme is still alive, but the tower plan has been put on hold for the moment, maybe after the recession it'll rise with the green shoots. But the supermarket will either be Morrisons, Waitrose, Somerfield (soon to be the Co-op) or Tesco.

Swindon Centric Says ; As long as the cinema scheme is retained, then, after 5pm, the area won't go dead like most of the town centre at the moment.

Every Little Helps With Regent Circus Development

A short story on BBC Radio Wiltshire this morning suggested that contracts are on the verge of being signed for the supermarket that will be part of the Regent Circus development. This ties with this post at the end of last month about the redevelopment negotiations.

Coincidentally, an overheard conversation in the town centre today suggested that Tesco, currently hidden away underneath Debenhams, will relocate "further up town".

Swindon Centric Says ; Will it be Tesco that will sit on the former college site?

Top Ten Things Heard On Swindon's Buses Last Week ; 98

Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.

10. Don't start until you get enough.

9. Get out of the shower now.

8. Apparently, Swindon wasn't amused by Franz Ferdinand.

7. No-one wears a watch anymore.

6. Sensational isn't too strong a word.

5. That wind couldn't be stiffer if it had been starched and ironed.

4. I've had comments from others and they don't like it either.

3. You've lost your locking nut, I can tell from the rattling.

2. Don't sit there, are you mad?

And the number one overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is...

1. It was funny, but only to those in a suicidal mood, that crowd isn't that discerning.

Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.