Great Western Coffee Shop

Stagecoach have improved their Gold service 66 between Swindon and Oxford.  It now operates generally every 20 minutes in the morning and evening peak and half hourly between times.

I suspect it is aimed more at people going to Oxford in the morning and back in the afternoon as there is a one hour gap in Swindon departures between 17:15 and 18:15 - while there are four from Oxford between 17:10 and 18:15.

I have caught this service a few times.  At ^6.50 return (valid all day) it offers good value compared to the train on price (train fares vary between ^43 anytime day return and ^10.60 off peak day return).  Given the bus goes right into Oxford City centre the time difference is not so great either.

The buses also have wifi.

The relaunched service - which includes four new Gold branded vehicles - was being promoted in Swindon's Wharf Green today.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/bus22506.jpg)

There are certain journeys between pairs of stations where the bus is a clear winner ... and Oxford to Swindon is one of them since the withdrawal of the Oxford-Bristol trains about 10 years ago. No accident that it is / was part of the Go-op plans to address this market.

Other miss markets where the bus is sensible include Oxford - Milton Keynes, and Melksham - Bath.  And Chippenham - Bradford-on-Avon is good only by car!   An electric train from Bedford to Bristol, via a re-instated Bradford north curve, would kill an awful lot of birds with one stone!

We can only hope, miracles sometimes happen.