All change as firm alters services (From Swindon Advertiser)
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All change as firm alters services
4:00pm Saturday 3rd July 2010 in
BUS services in Swindon will be shaken up this month after the cutting of a number of routes.
Thamesdown Transport is making changes to its services, which will take effect from Sunday, July 25.
The company said the move was necessary because of Swindon Council’s decision to withdraw funding for three of Thamesdown’s routes.
It said it was unable to continue with the services in their present form and was reorganising some routes and diverting others in a bid to minimise the impact on customers.
Paul Jenkins, Thamesdown Transport’s managing director, said: “We carried out on-bus surveys to provide us with up to date information regarding the use of our Buses and we have made every effort to ensure the new services will continue to meet the needs of our customers as far as possible.
"Unfortunately, the withdrawal of funding on services 15, 18 and 23 has left us with no option other than to make these changes.”
Earlier this year it was announced that a number of bus routes operated by Thamesdown and also Stagecoach would be cut or altered due to funding drying up.
Swindon Council pointed out that the number 18 service was financed through section 106 money, which is promised by housing developers as part of their planning permission being granted.
The council said the bus company would have known for some time that this money would run out on a specific date.
Funding was also withdrawn for the 74/75 until Gloucestershire County Council stepped in to save it and the bookable door-to-door V bus looks set to go too.
A council spokesman said: “Swindon Borough Council provides money to run a large number of bus services that aren’t commercially viable, but budget pressures mean some tough decisions have had to be made about which ones to support in future.
“The pressure on funds has been increased by the concessionary bus fare scheme for the over-60s, which the last government told councils to put into operation.
“Swindon Council now has to spend between £300,000 and £400,000 a year to meet the cost of the scheme, which is money that could otherwise be used to fund other transport services.”
Details for passengers
1A Evening service has been revised and will now run every 45 minutes after 8.30pm.
2 Evening service has been revised and will now run every 40 minutes after 8pm.
15 Revised timetable, now operating every 20 minutes between Fleming Way and Haydon Wick. Abbey Meads now served by service 24. The evening service has been withdrawn.
15A New service every 20 minutes between Fleming Way, Northern Road, Akers Way, Taw Hill, Oakhurst, Redhouse and Haydon Wick, replacing service 18.
16 Minor timing changes.
17 Minor timing changes.
18 Existing service to North Swindon has been withdrawn. Taw Hill, Oakhurst and Redhouse now served by new service 15A. Sparcells, Bridgemead and Hillmead now served by revised service 19.
19 Revised to operate every 30 minutes from Sparcells via Peatmoor, Shaw, Link Centre, Bridgemead and Outlet Village to Fleming Way. Service between Fleming Way, Park South and Great Western Hospital renumbered service 18.
21 Buses will now leave from Stop E on Fleming Way.
22 Rerouted via Devizes Road, Goddard Avenue and Okus, terminating at the Link Centre. The extension to Taw Hill is withdrawn.
23 Revised to operate between Fleming Way, Walcot East, Coleview and Stratton Park. Old Town and Okus now served by revised service 22.
24 No longer serves Ash Brake or Kembrey Park. Rerouted via Abbey Meads and most journeys will call at Kembrey Inn. Journeys towards Blunsdon now leave from Stop E on Fleming Way. Journeys towards Great Western Hospital will now leave from Stop W on Fleming Way.
25 Timetable revised.
26 The 2.15pm departure from Fleming Way will run five minutes earlier at 2.10pm.
30 Buses will now leave from Stop U on Fleming Way.
46 Timetables revised.
48 Timetables revised.
Comments(13)
Another Pedantic Swindonian
says...
10:59pm Sat 3 Jul 10
Thank goodness someone somewhere has finally seen sense!
liveinswindon
says...
3:57pm Sun 4 Jul 10
Another Pedantic Swindonian wrote:any chance you live in a new estate?
About time they cancelled the bus round here... it was a new service, set up just as they were cutting back elsewhere, and never has more than 1 passenger at a time on it. If you are unfortunate enough to be on the road at the same time as the bus, you can't go past it. And if you have anyhing wider than a Micra the bus has to go over the verge! A total, disgusting service that we NEVER wanted setting up in the 1st place!! Thank goodness someone somewhere has finally seen sense!
The Real Librarian
says...
7:18pm Sun 4 Jul 10
.
.
.
I think you will find it is 8-9 times more than that.
who dat?
says...
9:04pm Sun 4 Jul 10
Ray helps out woman who fell out of wheelchair
Top driver Ray is , always has been a credit to TT !!
John Smith II
says...
9:37pm Sun 4 Jul 10
Nice to see SBC showing once again that it is a pretty weak runt of an authority when it comes public transport provision - very thin evening services, virtually nothing on a Sunday evening, section 106 money that provides the bare minimum, which is unattractive to potential users and causes the service to disappear when the funding runs out... ...those odd evening frequencies on the 1 and 2 are going to make connections out of trains and other half-hourly bus routes awkward to say the least...
Mr Blackwell
says...
10:48am Mon 5 Jul 10
.
I get the idea that some people want a bus from right outside their door to wherever they want to go at whatever time they want to travel.
.
You know, almost like a car but with their own private chauffeur.
.
It's about time that SBC *stopped* funding the commercially unviable services. It's just more wasted money.
expmh
says...
1:31pm Mon 5 Jul 10
rmc001
says...
2:08pm Mon 5 Jul 10
I can't afford to run a car, so I'm dependent on the buses. The once great 19 which used to go to the Orbital, the Outlet, the Railway Station, the Town Centre, Old Town, and the Hospital has once again been carved up. I myself will now have to catch two buses to get anywhere, which will waste most of my day. At least we didn't lose the 23 in the end.
rmc001
says...
2:08pm Mon 5 Jul 10
I can't afford to run a car, so I'm dependent on the buses. The once great 19 which used to go to the Orbital, the Outlet, the Railway Station, the Town Centre, Old Town, and the Hospital has once again been carved up. I myself will now have to catch two buses to get anywhere, which will waste most of my day. At least we didn't lose the 23 in the end.
Mr Blackwell
says...
8:46am Tue 6 Jul 10
.
You don't seem to realise that your 'cheap' bus rides are actually extremely expensive and are simply being subsidised by everyone else.
NorthernWarrior
says...
10:06am Tue 6 Jul 10
Agree that the odd interval evening services - presumably so they can run the route with just one vehicle - are not going to encourage usage.
Public transport has always been chicken and egg - provide a frequent and reliable service, including evenings and weekends and people will use it. Run the odd bus (or train) now and again and people will stick to their cars. Expect this is just the start of it under our wonderful ConDem "no money" Government.
Election please!
John Smith II
says...
2:13pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Mr Blackwell wrote:So just to clarify, the majority of buses in Swindon are operating virtually empty? I have to say that I don't recognise this observation. It is certainly fair to say that there are a small number of routes which are less popular than others and certain sections of most routes where load factors are lower (a normal example would be at the outer extremity of a route, assuming the main traffic generator is at the other end).
@mc001: the point is that people aren't using buses. Most of them run around the town virtually empty, causing needless environmental damage and costing everyone a fortune. . You don't seem to realise that your 'cheap' bus rides are actually extremely expensive and are simply being subsidised by everyone else.
It is fair to say that in order to encourage public transport use routes must be frequent, offer direct journey opportunities and be reasonably priced. And that the bus must come before the customers (in the sense of the chicken and egg) and hence this will lead to a period of lower load factors prior to demand rising.
It is also fair to say that an efficient public transport network provides a better solution in environmental and health terms to a private transport alternative - reducing oil use, reducing air pollution and increasing physical exercise. Of course most buses use diesel fuel and produce emissions, but on a per passenger mile basis the fuel consumption and emissions are many times lower than those from private cars. In addition jobs are directly created for bus drivers. I would hypothesise that decreasing demand for foreign oil imports (which must affect our balance of payments deficit) must be a good thing.
Sadly what I see in Swindon, to an extent, is the reverse. A local authority that seems to support private car use, through lower car parking charges and the abolition of speed cameras and reduces support for the already poor evening bus services (compare these to similar size settlements of Reading and Oxford and you will see what I mean) and a local population, many of whom don't seem to bothered with the economic, health or environment effects of their actions.
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RFM says...
6:36pm Sat 3 Jul 10
The Adver 'journalists' (??) must be so disappointed that little old ladies aren't going to be stranded anywhere.....