| Re: Should finding your bus be easier? Better local information? Posted by grahame at 21:06, 22nd April 2026 |     |
As long as you also ensure that you post a map of both stops locations ...
You are so right. My suggestion was half-formed ... not as fully developed as it might have been,
There are other issues - the bus stop outside the surgery doesn't even have a timetable or list of services calling there. and the one around the corner has a good showing of each other routes and a combined departure list, but so high that I (at 6 foot) had to read it the lady at four-foot-nothing and he spaniel. There is much about bus stops and their information that has improved over the last years, but there is still a vast amount to do.
| Re: Should finding your bus be easier? Better local information? Posted by bobm at 18:48, 22nd April 2026 | |
Today the Swindon Advertiser has reported on issues with Stagecoach services not being updated at affected stops following service changes, apparently not for the first time.
https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/26042569.anger-swindon-bus-users-left-stranded-stagecoach-mess/
Angry bus passengers were "left stranded and made late for work or college" after Stagecoach failed to put up new bus timetables in some areas of Swindon.
Some had important journeys delayed or interrupted due to the bus schedule issue.
Stagecoach delayed putting the new timetables for revised number 7 services on stops around town, including Flint Hill in Toothill.
Cllr Sean Wilson, representing Lydiard and Freshbrook, said on Monday: "Once again Stagecoach have let down their passengers by not posting their new schedules on bus stops and shelters around Swindon.
“The same issue happened two years ago which reveals a lack of planning.
“People have been left stranded and made late for work or college as a result."
Some had important journeys delayed or interrupted due to the bus schedule issue.
Stagecoach delayed putting the new timetables for revised number 7 services on stops around town, including Flint Hill in Toothill.
Cllr Sean Wilson, representing Lydiard and Freshbrook, said on Monday: "Once again Stagecoach have let down their passengers by not posting their new schedules on bus stops and shelters around Swindon.
“The same issue happened two years ago which reveals a lack of planning.
“People have been left stranded and made late for work or college as a result."
Article continues in link
| Re: Should finding your bus be easier? Better local information? Posted by ChrisB at 18:18, 22nd April 2026 | |
As long as you also ensure that you post a map of both stops locations so those who do not know the town well know how to reach the other stop?
| Should finding your bus be easier? Better local information? Posted by grahame at 17:59, 22nd April 2026 | |
There's nothing like catching the bus to see how it works. And I did that today on a local journey from the Town Centre to The Spa Medical Centre. Now I know a bit about our bus services ... but using in anger?
I finished what I was doing, Melksham Market Place, at about 2 O'Clock. The choice of services is:
* From the King's Arms: Routes 15, 272 and 273. Also some x34 and 271 journeys
* From Bud's Bar, 14, all 271s, and 273
None of which is turn-up-and-go frequency. The bus stop timetable at the Kings Arms does give departure times from that stop, ans also directs you to Bud's Bar, but without information as to whether there will be a bus for you when you get there. I did have time to walk up to Bud's, see that I had just missed the 271 and there wasn't a 14 - which I happen to know goes all around the houses - for three quarters of an hour.
OK - I am being critical, but I should also be constructive. For a handful of journeys that are busy flows and complex - Melksham Town Centre to Spa Medical, and to Bowerhill, The Foresters to Bath, and Spa Medical to the Town Centre, a listing at each of the departure stop of all the departures from the stops around. Here's a snippet example:
