Stagecoach Service 66 - Swindon to Oxford

[whole diary]

[bobm]

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.

[grahame]

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!

[eightf48544]

 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.