The Bright Fairy Lights of Swindon's Bus Policy

The loss of a million miles of bus route running in Swindon & Wiltshire since 2013 doesn't seem to bother Swindon Borough Council.

They've defended themselves with pointing out that they and central government support nearly 15 services with investment (or as government usually likes to call it in it's loaded way, 'subsidy') with the Bus Services Operators Grant and Section 106 money from developers.

Oh yes, like the £55,000 of Section 106 money that has been used to decorate the Greenbridge Roundabout with lights to make it look nice.

£55,000 would have gone a long way on, maybe employing a handful of people to act as traffic officers that could be on-call on peak traffic days around the Outlet Village.

Think how good an idea that would be, whilst your stuck on a bus, staring at the pretty lights.

Swindon Bus War Round 4 : 3 is not the Magic Number

Too many buses running around with fresh air on board has seen Stagecoach blink on the number 3/number 5 near identical route.

Stagecoach will stop the number 3 from 12th August, stating it started well, but once Thamesdown started their near carbon copy number 5, passenger numbers fell away.

This skirmish benefit mostly the residents of Park North, with a hyper frequency of buses from two operators to choose from. In a welcome comment, the Stagecoach MD Rupert Cox noted the large number of buses running round having a "negative impact on their communities".

Top marks to Stagecoach for the comments, conceding early and giving it a go.

Now, from one front in the Swindon bus war to another, that Battle for Bassett, how goes things at the front Rupert and Andrew?

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!

Routes 1, 2, 3, 4, Swindon declares a bus war

Clippies get your small change holstered, the 'alight' bell has been sounded in the first round of the Swindon bus war.

The bloodless sale of Thamesdown Transport to the Go-Ahead group has shaken things up in very short order.

Best of all for passengers are more routes as the two main companies in Swindon are now backed by two of the UK's biggest bus companies, Scottish-owned Stagecoach and Newcastle-owned Go-Ahead.

The first shot has come from Stagecoach in Swindon, with it's new route number 3, which now directly competes with Thamesdown's numbers 13/14 from Asda Walmart, to the town centre and as far as Walcot. 

The route then serves Walcot East, Park North, then provides a link to Park South (always the poor-relation in bus provision of the two areas of Parks), then terminates at the Great Western Hospital.

Good on Stagecoach for giving Thamesdown a little heat. In the grand scheme of things, it makes commercial sense, the 13/14 are easily the most heavily loaded cross-town routes (along with the 17) and at times on weekdays can be overloaded. For passengers it will provide more services, ease congestion, especially between the town centre and New College, and possibly improve timekeeping to the 13/14.

Plus the revenue abstraction from Thamesdown will probably only be marginal, though in a clever trick, the 3 shares the same bus stop at Fleming Way as Thamesdown's 13/14, making easy passenger poaching. Swindon Centric suspects the biggest improvement appreciated by passengers will be the new direct routes available, especially between Park North and Park South, the hospital, and the Orbital. 

So, 1-0 to Stagecoach, but Thamesdown have a host of new routes planned for May, more on those, and a possible levelling of the score, in a few stops time.

Thamesdown Sold - Go Ahead and dump Dayriders & Travelpasses?

The deafening silence from Swindon Borough Council on the sale of Thamesdown Transport was bound to break and it has. The company has, or is about to be today or tomorrow, sold to the Go-Ahead Group

It's a pretty poor show on SBC's part, as it essentially means SBC staff (but at arms length as Thamesdown), have been caught up in a quick sale to the private sector.

Go-Ahead are far better than some of the other big national bus companies, with a history of keeping local company names (will Thamesdown live on?).

But nothing, not a whisper, has been made to the most important people in all of this, the passengers.

Firm assurances are now needed from SBC and Go Ahead on whether DayRiders and TravelPasses will remain inter-available.

Otherwise, SBC may have just doubled the price (at the least) of bus travel for the poorest in Swindon on top of the loss of routes due to SBC cutting investment/subsidies in social necessary services.

Lets hope they didn't use the words 'innovate ' and 'vibrant' in the discussions with Go-Ahead, otherwise we are all doomed.