Swindon Bus War Round 3 : The 2nd Battle for Bassett

Someone did blink first, it turns out to have been Stagecoach, but not in the way expected.

They've increased the frequency of their 55 service to every 10 minutes Monday - Saturday and up to 15 minutes on Sundays.

A small but welcome move will see westbound services serve Lydiard Fields in weekday morning peak times.

There will now be 9 buses an hour in each direction when the 55 is combined with Thamesdown's R1 route, and a hyper 5 minute frequency at some parts of each hour.

As robust a bus route as Swindon to Wootton Bassett is, unless there is fundamental modal shift on the corridor, the capacity will not come close to break-even on those frequencies.

Meanwhile, if you want a personal taxi at a reasonable price with wi-fi to Bassett, you're quids in.

Swindon Bus War Round 2 : The Battle for Bassett

Engines are being revved in the second round of Swindon's bus war, as a key route is set to be fought over.

Thamesdown Transport are to launch at the start of May a service in direct competition with Stagecoach in Swindon to Royal Wootton Bassett. R1 will run on a 15 minute frequency Monday to Saturday daytimes, hourly in the evenings and half hourly on Sundays. At some times during each weekday daytime hours, this will give Bassett a 5 minute frequency when combined with Stagecoach's 55 service.

There are clearly not enough passengers to demand this level of frequency across both operators, so it remains to be seen who'll blink first and thin out their timetable after a month or so.

The same saturating of routes and markets is happening with Thamesdown's other service changes on the 14th May, Cavendish Square will have the newly created number 5 from the severing of the current 13/14 running on a 7/8 minute frequency weekday daytimes, the rerouted 17/17A to serve Park South, plus the hat-trick of frequency with Stagecoach's number 3.

There are other welcomed minor changes, especially the 1/1A remaining on it's combined cross-town route to the GWH on evenings and Sundays.

Welcome changes in the second battle, and if you live in Swindon's Cavendish Square, you've never had it so good bus-wise!

Bright Eyes Not So Bright For Some Cats

Things are getting desperate in the county if this story is anything to go by, from the mean (and slightly less reflective) streets of Broad Town. Sounds like a case for DI Maggie Forbes and the CATS team.

Swindon Centric Says ; Are there vast amounts of cash to be made from the flogging of cat's eyes to, either blind cats, or road construction companies? Lets check the market conditions of ebay...

Up The Creek : Rowers Enter Record Books For Record Council Fine

Swindon Rowers, Stuart Turnbull and Edward Baylis reached Antigua yesterday after a record unsupported row across the Atlantic.

Not wishing to detract from the huge achievement by the pair from the region, Swindon Centric has to bring some exclusive story to our readers attention.

The 24 foot boat they used to carry-out this historic crossing of the 'pond' is actually a Swindon Borough Council issue row boat which has been missing for several weeks.

The craft, number 17 was noticed missing from the main lake at Coate Water by a employee tying the boats-for-hire up one evening. There was then a report several hours later of two men carrying the boat down Fleming Way but no-one really thought anything of it at the time.

A council spokesman refused to be drawn on how much the fine for non-return of the boat would be but a source in the leisure department did say they were getting quotes for a new dome roof for the Oasis Leisure Centre.

Swindon Centric Says ; Hope you've got a Swindon Card to get a discount on that fine lads!

North Wilts Supervisor Snoozes ; Leisure Centres Lose

In a exclusive for Swindon Centric, we can reveal the reason for the proposed closure of leisure centres in Cricklade and Wootton Bassett, due to set of spare keys being lost.

A senior supervisor for both centres went on a two week break to Italy and seems to have misplaced the spare set of keys that are allocated to both facilities.

The North Wilts Authority has proposed closure of both centres as its only a matter of time before the master set is lost, possibly during operating hours, meaning either people couldn't get in, or more seriously, couldn't get out.

A mass petition has been arranged to make the council rethink and have a mass search down the back of the authority owned three piece suite.

See, or maybe don't see those missing keys and those missing facts here