Stagecoach reduce Wichelstowe bus service

Both Swindon’s Bus Company and Stagecoach West are making changes to their buses services through Wichelstowe from Sunday 4 September. The changes by Swindon’s Bus Company on service 11 are mainly because Fleming Way in Swindon town centre is closing major roadworks, with temporary bus stops added elsewhere in the town centre.

In addition to changes to divert services around the closed Fleming Way, Stagecoach is also reducing their service 9 from three buses an hour during the day to just two, and completely withdrawing their Sunday service through Wichelstowe. In addition, service 9 will only run between Wroughton and Swindon town centre, with the northern part of the route to Tadpole Garden Village now run as a separate service.

Whilst there will be four buses each way between Wichelstowe and Swindon town centre during the day, Monday to Saturday, the buses are not evenly spaced – there will be two buses within 5 minutes, then a wait of about 25 minutes until the next service. This is a result of both operators trying to maximise their revenue to the disadvantage of the other operator.

Both bus operators are making cuts to their services in Swindon, as a result of the end of subsidies from government at the end of August. These subsidies were brought in to keep bus services running during the Covid pandemic. After service cuts were announced by bus companies throughout England, the government said it would introduce new subsidies from October, leaving a gap of at least a month for those services that get funding under the new subsidies.

We’ve created a timetable of the combined bus service from 4 September, and will update our main bus timetable page after the last bus on 3 September.