dart in 2010 parent swindon borough council founded september 1904 headquarters swindon service area swindon service type bus services fleet 85 october 2013 website www.thamesdown transport.co.uk thamesdown transport 1 is a bus operator serving the town of swindon and the surrounding area in the borough of swindon and county of wiltshire . contents 1 history 2 fares 3 fleet 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit east lancs bodied dennis dominator in december 1997 wright solar bodied scania k230ub in july 2009 yellow school buses in october 2005 thamesdown transport has its origins in 1904 when swindon corporation started to operate electric trams . bus operation started in 1927 and two years later all the trams were replaced . 2 on local government re organisation in april 1974 the functions of the corporation were transferred to the new thamesdown district and the name of the bus operation was changed to thamesdown transport . to comply with the transport act 1985 the operation was transferred into a separate legal entity . 1 swindon borough council retains ownership which makes it one of the few remaining municipal bus companies . during the 1980s operations were expanded to rural areas around swindon to replace services withdrawn by alder valley and bristol omnibus company . fares edit thamesdown implemented a fastfare system on 1 august 2005 in which passengers must pay the exact fare as change will not be given by the driver . 3 this has generated some criticism as its implementation often results in passengers paying more than the necessary fare . 4 this can be due to not having the correct change or more commonly tourists and visitors being unaware of the policy until after they have deposited money . the reasoning behind the policy is that if the driver does not have to deal with giving change passenger loading times are shortened resulting in a faster and more reliable service . it also reduces the risk of attacks on drivers . swindon s other main bus company stagecoach in swindon does not participate in the scheme . 5 tickets are valid on both companies services for the majority of destinations in the swindon urban area and beyond with stagecoach providing sunday services to the region . thamesdown have also implemented a text and go service where passengers can send an sms message containing a seven digit bus stop identifier to a premium number to receive information about the next three buses due to arrive at that stop . 6 fleet edit as at october 2013 the fleet consisted of 85 buses . 7 see also edit buses in swindon list of bus operating companies references edit a b companies house extract company no 1997617 thamesdown transport limited about us thamesdown transport lyndsay scanlan . just the exact change please . swindon advertiser . retrieved 9 january 2007 . s watson . expensive and inconvenient as well . thisiswiltshire.co.uk . retrieved 9 january 2007 . no change in bus company s policy . swindon advertiser . retrieved 9 january 2007 . text and go . thamesdown transport . archived from the original on 4 may 2007 . retrieved 9 january 2007 . bus fleet thamesdown external links edit official website swindon borough council public transport homepage swindon park and ride efe showbus photo gallery swindon corporation passenger transport department and thamesdown transport swindon vintage omnibus society fleet information and images v t e bus operators in south east england berkshire arriva shires & essex bath bus company courtney buses first berkshire & the thames valley fleet buzz reading buses stagecoach in hampshire thamesdown transport thames travel the green bus white bus services wilts & dorset buckinghamshire arriva shires & essex carousel buses first berkshire & the thames valley stagecoach east east sussex arriva southern counties bath bus company brighton & hove compass travel cuckmere buses metrobus renown coaches southdown psv stagecoach south east stagecoach in hastings stagecoach in eastbourne the sussex bus hampshire amk group bluestar damory first hampshire & dorset fleet buzz reading buses stagecoach south stagecoach in hampshire stagecoach in hants & surrey stagecoach in portsmouth stagecoach in the south downs uni link wilts & dorset xelabus isle of wight southern vectis island breezers kent arriva southern counties chalkwell coaches the kings ferry metrobus nu venture stagecoach south east stagecoach in east kent sullivan buses southdown psv oxfordshire arriva shires & essex oxford bus company reading buses stagecoach oxfordshire oxford tube thamesdown transport thames travel surrey abellio surrey arriva guildford & west surrey arriva london atbus compass travel countywide travel epsom coaches quality line first berkshire & the thames valley fleet buzz london general metrobus safeguard coaches southdown psv stagecoach south stagecoach in hampshire stagecoach in hants & surrey sullivan buses the green bus transdev london west sussex arriva southern counties arriva guildford & west surrey new enterprise coaches brighton & hove compass travel tellings golden miller minerva accord metrobus southdown psv stagecoach south stagecoach in hampshire stagecoach in hants & surrey the big lemon the sussex bus national megabus national express v t e bus operators in south west england bristol ct plus first bristol first somerset & avon south gloucestershire bus & coach stagecoach west the kings ferry wessex bus cornwall first south west plymouth citybus stagecoach south west devon the buses of somerset plymouth citybus stagecoach south west dorset the buses of somerset first hampshire & dorset yellow buses wilts & dorset gloucestershire first somerset & avon stagecoach west thamesdown transport wessex bus somerset bakers dolphin bath bus company bugler coaches the buses of somerset crosville motor services damory coaches first hampshire & dorset first somerset & avon nippy bus quantock motor services south west coaches stagecoach south west wessex bus wiltshire connect2wiltshire first somerset & avon stagecoach west thamesdown transport wilts & dorset national megabus national express retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title thamesdown transport & oldid 697174610 categories transport in swindoncompanies based in swindonbus operators in wiltshirecompanies owned by municipalities of england1904 establishments in englandtransport companies established in 1904hidden categories use dmy dates from december 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as 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