Swindon's Bus Company (formerly Thamesdown Transport) is a bus operator in England, serving

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

and the surrounding area. Previously owned by

Swindon Borough Council Swindon Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Swindon in Wiltshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. As such, it is administratively separate fro ...

, in February 2017 ownership passed to the

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

and the operation was rebranded as "Thamesdown...Swindon's bus company", later simply "Swindon's bus company".

History

Thamesdown Transport had its origins in 1904, when Swindon Corporation started to operate electric trams. Bus operation started in 1927, and two years later all the trams were replaced. On local government re-organisation in April 1974, the functions of the corporation were transferred to the new Thamesdown district, and the name of the bus operation was changed to Thamesdown Transport. A blue, green and white livery was used. During the 1980s, operations were expanded to rural areas around Swindon, to replace services withdrawn by

Alder Valley Alder Valley was a bus operator in South East England. National Bus Company era Alder Valley was formed when National Bus Company (NBC) subsidiaries Aldershot & District Traction (A&D) and Thames Valley Traction (TV) merged on 1 January ...

and

Bristol Omnibus Company The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History ...

. To comply with the

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October of 1986. The Act was created as a response to growing concern ...

, the operation was transferred into a separate legal entity.

retained ownership from 1986 until the company was sold to the

in February 2017, and was integrated into its

Go South Coast Go South Coast is a bus operator on and around the south coast of England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History In August 2003 the Go-Ahead Group purchased the business of Wilts & Dorset, including its Damory Coaches and Touris ...

subsidiary.Thamesdown Transport sold to Go South Coast
''Bus & Coach Professional'' 3 February 2017 From April 2017 the branding "Swindon's bus company" was employed, together with a new livery in green and blue, with red and yellow highlights.

Fares

Thamesdown implemented a ''fastFare'' system on 1 August 2005 in which passengers must pay the exact fare as change will not be given by the driver. This has generated some criticism as its implementation often results in passengers paying more than the necessary fare. This can be due to not having the correct change or, more commonly, tourists and visitors being unaware of the policy until after they have deposited money. The reasoning behind the policy is that if the driver does not have to deal with giving change, passenger loading times are shortened, resulting in a faster and more reliable service. It also reduces the risk of attacks on drivers. This policy was scrapped in 2017, when Thamesdown Transport was sold to

. Thamesdown has also implemented a Text and Go service, where passengers can send an SMS message containing a seven digit bus stop identifier to a premium number to receive information about the next three buses due to arrive at that stop. Since

has taken over, they have introduced new ways to buy tickets. Contactless payments have been introduced, and in 2018, the Clickit2ride app was made available, in common with the rest of Go South Coast. The app can be used to purchase time-defined tickets, but not single or return tickets. The app produces a QR code, which is scanned by the bus's ticket machine.

Fleet

As at February 2017, the fleet consisted of 85 buses.

References

External links

* * {{Go-Ahead Bus Companies Bus operators in Wiltshire Companies based in Swindon Go South Coast companies Transport companies established in 1904 Transport in Swindon 1904 establishments in England

History

Fares

Fleet

See also

References

External links