Thamesdown Transport



Thamesdown Transport is a bus operator serving the town of Swindon and the surrounding area in the Borough of Swindon and county of Wiltshire. The company is owned by Thamesdown Transport Ltd and Swindon Borough Council holds almost all of the shares. As such, it is one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the UK.

History
Thamesdown Transport has its origins in 1904, when Swindon Corporation started to operate electric trams. Motor-bus operation started in 1927 and two years later all the trams were replaced by this form of transport.

On local government re-organisation in 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. When bus services were deregulated in 1986, Thamesdown Transport was transferred to a limited company at arm's length from the owning council.

During the 1980s, operations were expanded to rural areas around Swindon, to replace services withdrawn by Alder Valley and the Bristol Omnibus Company.

Operations
The current fleet is composed of 114 buses and 5 ancillary vehicles (including recovery and repair vehicles). Low Floor single decker buses have replaced double deckers in the major routes with the larger buses now repainted yellow and used mainly as school buses during term time.

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.

Swindon's other main bus company Stagecoach in Swindon does not participate in the scheme. Tickets are valid on both companies services for the majority of destinations in the Swindon Urban Area and beyond, with Stagecoach providing Sunday services to the region.

Thamesdown have 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.

Bus types

 * A Fleet - fitted with ticket machine and for general service.
 * B Fleet - Contract Bus (not fitted with ticket machine).
 * Training fleet - for use in training new drivers.
 * Withdrawn - taken out of service for refurbishment, repair or sale.

Paint schemes
The majority of the A fleet is painted in the standard livery apart from the following -
 * 207 - 208: Hospital Express livery
 * 213 - Rear Advertising

The majority of the B fleet is painted in the predominantly yellow student livery except for -
 * 299 - 1970s retro livery

There Was also one single decker painted Gold in commemoration of the company's centenary, a couple of years ago.

Fleetline Farewell
On Saturday 16 February 2008 Thamesdown Transport ran special journeys between Haydon Wick and Eldene to say farewell to the Fleetline double-deck bus after 40 years of service.

For the last few years these buses had been used as school buses.