Buses in Swindon

Buses in Swindon have been the major method of public transport in the region since the beginning of the 20th century.

Introduced in 1927 and replacing the tram system in 1929, the area is now served by numerous operators.

Swindon Corporation was the local council formed by the 1901 Municipal Borough charter, and Swindon Corporation Tramways started to operate electric trams in 1904.

Motor-bus operation started in 1927 and two years later all the trams were replaced by this form of transport. In 1942 Swindon became one of the first authorities to take delivery of the "Arab" made by Guy Motors. One of these, No. 51 (DHR 192), is now preserved at RAF Wroughton near Swindon which is an Annex of the National Museum of Science and Industry and open to the public on certain days of the year.

On local government re-organisation in the early 1970s the name was changed to Thamesdown Transport under which it operates to this day.

Rural and inter-urban bus services around Swindon were mainly operated by Bristol Tramways (later known as Bristol Omnibus Company), which established a branch in Swindon in 1921. Bristol became part of the National Bus Company, and in 1983 the Swindon branch was transferred to a new company, Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company, operating in Swindon under the name Swindon and District. Cheltenham & Gloucester was sold to its management in 1986, and absorbed into the Stagecoach Group as Stagecoach in Swindon in 1993.

Before 1966 Swindon had no bus station, and buses departed from street stops in and around Regent Circus. The first bus station was opened in 1966 on the site of the tram station in Corporation Street. Following expansion it eventually took up most of the land between Manchester Road and Fleming Way. The site was redeveloped in the 1980s on construction of the current facility, with the bus station replaced by office accommodation now used by Zurich Financial Services.

...
Wikipedia