At face value what can you can write about a collection of 27 bus stops?

After three years of disruption, Swindon's £33m "Bus Boulevard" has opened to traffic.  Since September 2022 the road has been closed and buses diverted to other stops around the town and the bus station.  In the meantime contractors have moved underground utilities and removed the underpass which led to the town centre.

Now all services, both town and rural, will leave from the same road - which is closed to all traffic apart from buses and cyclists.





Swindon has been without real time bus stop information for some years but now there is a wealth of information for travellers including departures from the railway station which is a five minute walk away.







The shelters are some of the largest I have seen and are wheelchair accessible.   They also include magnetic charging pads for mobiles, useful if your device is compatible with one.



In publicity material much play has been made of the plants and 180 trees which have been placed along the road.  For the moment at least, they seem to be surviving the drought which has wrecked my garden,





It is also now a flat walk into the shopping area



At a time when a lot of councils are doing away with public toilets, a block has been included as part of the plan.  They are pay on entry to reduce the risk of vandalism.



Helped by a sunny day, first impressions are good and a big improvement on the rundown bus station (pictured below in July), which will now be demolished.  Most cross town routes are now 3-5 minutes quicker as they no longer have to do the loop round to the bus station and the congestion that happened at times within the station.  Fleming Way being buses only means even vehicles which need to run the full length of the road to resume their journey can do it relatively quickly.





A couple of observations I do have.  One of the criticisms of the bus station was the conflict between buses arriving and those reversing away from the stands.  Almost all the stops in Fleming Way are parallel to the kerb.  However buses to Cricklade, Cirencester and Cheltenham plus the Amazon staff shuttle all leave from a group of four bays, where vehicles need to reverse before moving away.   It is not ideal but does provide four extra stops rather than doubling up.

The other concerns the real time displays.   It is a nice touch to include rail departures but they might want to consider removing a train from the display five minutes before departure.   Even the fittest of us is unlikely to get from Fleming Way to the railway station and onto the platform in any less than that.

 

Thank you, Bob - you done quite a bit. 

With the re-organisation of bus running and bus routes, do any services still call at the railway station itself, and if so which ones?
 
Is there / are there maps to show which bus you need to go where if you are not familiar with place names, and indeed directions to which of the 27 stops it was?   That can be quite a challenge as I found in early August at Leer when looking for the (rail replacement) bus to Groningen - nearly missed it.

Is there any secure covered parking for bicycles, as you would expect to find at major transport hubs these days - certainly rail ones?

There has been concern in the local press at day-out coach rides from the likes of Barnes no longer being able to pick up / drop off at / within the core bus [station/boulevard] area, with people having to some in by bus then walk elsewhere in the morning, and having to walk from the dropoff point into the boulevard when they get back in the evening. Is there an update on this story?

I am overrun with catching up but may well visit Swindon to get a first hand view in the next week to 10 days.  The old bus station as centainly showing its age and "something needed to be done".  Has the right thing been done?   Can these questions be answer, bedded in, and the whole inevitable tuned a little based on early experience?

 

Yes, as before the 7, 53 and 55 (Stagecoach) and 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 21 and 22 (Swindon's buses) all call at the front of the station either before or after Fleming Way.


There are several posters based on this one, backed up with finger signs pointing to the various stops

https://images-swindonbus.passenger-website.com/downloads/Swindon_Poster_%20Where%20to%20board%20UNBRANDED_%20645x1035-0525_v1_1.pdf


I didn't see any and there has been no mention of any in the publicity I have seen.


The current plan is for those services to stop in Princes Street which is about a five minute walk - which is a challenge with luggage or mobility issues.   There are two bays set aside for National Express services.   I am not sure how frequent they are but there may be capacity there if the likes of Barnes can run to some sort of timetable and dovetail in.

 

Bear in mind that Bob is an experienced journalist: they can write it as they go. 

 
https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/09/02/swindons-33-million-new-bus-station/

This week sees a raft of bus services improvements with new Bus Service Improvement Plan funded routes in many areas as well as major changes to the TrawsCymru network and other services in Powys. I hope to sample many of these changed routes over the next few weeks but first up was a visit yesterday to see the long awaited new bus station in Swindon which opened on Sunday.

...........snip..........

 
To go with it. One of Swindon's new PSPOs https://www.swindon.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/11646/town_centre_and_broadgreen_public_space_protection_order_-_2025-2028.pdf
Which I presume includes the new facilities.

 
It does include Fleming Way and the shopping area of the town centre as well as the GWR park which has been a bit of a disorder hotspot.

There was a PSPO for the town centre in the past which concentrated on public drinking, begging and pedal cycles in the pedestrianised area.  However it was rarely enforced and ultimately not renewed.   This latest one has already seen some scooters confiscated and destroyed.