Swindon's Buses : Our Local Councillors' Political Panic Room

If you catch the bus in Swindon, whether it's Stagecoach, Thamesdown, Wilts and Dorset, or even National Express, you may not have realised that your method of transport has become a political safe ground for the town's politicians.

Since the reduction in bus subsidy locally by Swindon Borough Council and the reduction in the Bus Service Operator Grant, the attitude of councillors towards this method of transport has become something to observe.

But even back in May 2010, we got an early warning of what was to come in terms of councillors attitude (http://swindoncentric.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/omnibus-obfuscation.html).

However, after the cutting of carparking charges in the town centre and the rise in people walking through the town centre, those two events were linked as cause and effect. Something that was not taken into account included businesses taking car parking spaces for their employees (that would also show up as a 'shopper' in the council view of things, with an office worker walking past the cameras recording the numbers whilst doing their Monday to Friday '9 to 5') and the number of 'shoppers' traveling to and from the town centre by bus (or indeed train).

Why was the effect of bus travel on town centre footfall not distinguished? It could be the love-hate relationship that Swindon Borough Council appear to have with their own bus company, Thamesdown Transport. Don't forget, the council own Thamesdown Transport. Love, because in the good times, it can generate a welcomed income for the council and the fallback is always available of selling TT if things get really bad and we build even more roads to nowhere at Wichelstowe and we suddenly have to really pay for them. And hate because councillors can (and indeed have been doing a lot recently) of faux outrage when TT announce a proposed change to a bus route to keep themselves in the black. 

These route changes wouldn't be needed if Swindon Borough Council hadn't decided to cut it's bus subsidy in half from £400,000 to £200,000 to balance it's books. What's made worse is that councillors continue to play politics as they 'battle' to save services that everyone knows don't have a hope in hell's chance of lasting commercially because there aren't enough passengers.

But instead of explaining that the only way to keep them running is to put council subsidy into them, councillors rally against the bus companies (including Thamesdown, which the council and therefore every single taxpayer in Swindon owns) and blame the big bad bus companies!

So once and for all, Swindon councillors, stop cutting bus subsidies for unprofitable routes and then blaming the bus company when they can't make it pay it's way with a handful of passengers a day and need to close it.

The town, it's bus passengers and especially all those staff at Thamesdown Transport deserve better transport politics than using the bus as your political safe ground.

By The Numbers on Honda and BMW

A statistical analysis of North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson's weekly column from the Swindon Advertiser about the Honda news.

Frequency of works and phrases within the column -

I = 4

We = 7

Investment = 6

Manufacturing = 4

Debt = 1

Reckless = 1

Financial Sector = 1

Our = 5

Skilled = 2

Jobs = 2

Recession = 0

Yes, Dear, Erm Minister, What Time's Dinner?

This story seems to have flown pretty low, but with this MP's track record this is hardly surprising. One of Mr Gray's constituents, Ken Edwin-Scott brought things into stark relief when he reported that the North Wiltshire MP has four other staff, alongside his girlfriend as his diary keeper.

Eddy Shah, spokesman for the North Wiltshire Conservative Association, didn't choose his words very carefully when he tried to defend the MP saying it was "logical to have one's partner as your diary secretary because they know where you are all the time."

Swindon Centric Says ; Oops! Since Mr Gray's previous diary secretary was his wife, who he cheated on with his current girlfriend (who's the new diary keeper), Mr Shay's words have as much conviction as Mr. Gray has integrity among his constituents, none.

Swindon's Stale Air ; What We Already Knew

Jonathon Porritt, the straight talking environmentalist was in Swindon yesterday, telling the Borough Council that it's not doing things sustainable enough.

This is rather shocking to local residents after the comment by Francis Maude recently that Swindon's authority is an all singing all dancing "model". Mr Porritt added that the council has to "make it work for people and the environment".

Swindon Centric Says ; Lets hope a vast improvement in the track record of refuse and recycling collection happens which would make things "work" for the environment and the people who have to live in it.

"No Minister" - That's None Of Your Business

The publication of the expense accounts for our MPs always throws up a handful of stories which mostly are non-stories, but this one this one we just had to mention.

When asked how many staff he employed in his personal office the Member for North Wiltshire replied "it's none of your business". A wonderful example of Mr Gray's 'Sir Humphrey' attitude to open government and the general voting public.

This is despite the more reasonable response from the two Swindon MPs.

Swindon Centric Says ; If you live in Mr Gray's boundary and he knocks on your door come election time to ask who you're voting for, you know the answer. That's none of your business.

Hospital In Danger Of Collapse

A desperate announcement was made this weekend for the return of crutches to the Great Western Hospital due to a serious shortage.

'' We can't believe how low we are on crutches, we're asking as many former patients to return any which they might have after treatment''. That comment from Doctor Laura Darling of the GWH, who was very low on her pair, barely three foot six inches.

People visiting the GWH will have to be careful of the North wing of the hospital, which is leaning at a dangerous angle and is currently being propped up by the limited number of crutches the hospital still has.

Rumour that the IVF clinic offices are in danger of falling into the maternity ward if a supporting wall and floor gave way were unfounded. Though it was made clear that in the event of any serious trauma caused to desperate couples could be swiftly dealt with as the psychiatric department would the next floor to come smashing through the opposing wall.

The Swindon Centric Blog Says ; It could be worse than the episode of Fawlty Towers with the builders and Carry On Doctor combined! Return those crutches!

Ok, so 'House' walks with a stick but it is a good show!

Swindon To Merge With Reading ; Signmakers Shares Rise On Announcement

With the news from the National Archives at Kew that Britain considered a merger with France in the 1950s, a story which we're following tonight has remarkable similarities.

Senior members of the business community in Swindon say that the local government of Reading and Swindon are agreeing on the small print in the last stages of a deal to merge both towns.

With both towns losing out in the 'small provincial towns in the south with high employment and hi-tech firms but mediocre town centre' catergory to other hip young places such as Peterborough and Guildford, a merger was deemed the most effective solution.

'' Legally, both towns don't need to ballot or even consult their citizens. I don't really mind what happens, as I live in Chippenham '' , that comment by Norm Orkin, local-ish regional government constitutional expert.

Swindon Centric is going to bring you the very latest on this as we get it. Some residents are worried they may be made homeless, their houses being knocked down and moved toward Reading. Others have suggested it could lead to a great big town that has a virtual monopoly on the 'small towns' market, limiting competition.

Councillor Curtis from Reading South has suggested the new name for the merged town be Reading since there are less letters in Reading than Swindon. It was later pointed out by Councillor White from Swindon West that both towns have the same number of letters and that Curtis was a fool for suggesting such an idea. Councillor White waded further into the naming debate by saying the name should include the same number of vowels and consonants as both names have when you take into account the mean average.

Although media should remain impartial, Swindon Centric must voice concerns that it fears for its own future, we may even have to change our name. And this domain name wasn't easy to get.

Since both places have the letters 'i' and 'n', this blog suggests the new name could be 'Nining'

Nining Centric, hmm, lets see if anyones got that registered. Bet no-one's cybersquatted on that yet.

Bristol Gets A Run-Away Runway

With the full reopening of Bristol International Airport last week, the actually cause was far more embarrassing to it's owners than the popularly circulated version.

The mass media reported the cause was the lack of traction grooves cut into the temporary surface, making planes skate about like a drunk Olympic athlete on braking after landing.

However a tip-off from a Captain who would only identify himself as B.I Ggles told Swindon Centric that early 7th January Friday morning, after bring in his Sopwith Camel that a 227 foot section of the runway was missing. '' There was just an area of freshly disturbed mud where the concrete and tarmac-topped section should have been, I thought perhaps we'd had the Groundforce team in and they were installing cheaper and nicer looking decking.''

A hasty repair job ensued, giving Bristol Lullsgate back its 227 feet and safe to operate flights.

The exact whereabouts of the section of runway remain unknown this hour, but rumours that Heathrow has attached an extra 227 feet to its runway 27R to accomodate the introduction of the new A380 super-jumbo remain hearsay.