Ref. 73187-11WAITING in the cold and wet for a bus should be a thing of the past, following the launch of higher frequency services in Swindon.

Bus operator, Stagecoach has begun its new popin services on route numbers 6, 7 and 8 in a bid a to get people out of their cars and onto the buses.

The company has introduced what they call a turn-up-and-go timetable with buses running every 10 minutes during the peak hours of 7.30am to 6pm, there will also be more early morning and evening buses.

The new scheme was launched yesterday at Stanton Park, in Stanton Fitzwarren, where two classic buses were lined up against their modern equivalent, which have special provision for baby buggies and wheelchair users.

The company had applied for a government grant to launch the service, but when the grant was turned down, the company decided to fund the scheme itself. Ian Manning, managing director of Stagecoach in the West Country, told the Evening Advertiser he was confident of success.

"We are pretty confident, a lot effort has gone into the marketing of the new services. Not every bus has to be full to guarantee success.

"But if passenger numbers just go up by a few per cent, it will show that we could extend it to other areas of the town."

The Popin project was first tried out in Perth in Scotland, where bus patronage as a result of the scheme went up by some 70 per cent simply because, passengers were not having to wait too long for a bus.

South Swindon MP, Julia Drown was also at the launch, she said: "I used to receive many letters of complaint about Stagecoach and its services but now I am really pleased to see the company is making a real effort to improve and expand the services in Swindon."

The Popin services can be found on route number 6, from the Town Centre to Kingsdown, service number 7 also from the Town Centre to Highworth and service number 8 from Freshbrook to the Town Centre.

The past few months have seen real changes for bus passengers in Swindon.

In April, Stagecoach in Swindon was said to be one of the country's 10 fastest growing bus firms, in terms of rises in bus passengers.

Last month, saw the launch of a text messaging service for bus users, which provides information on the next three buses from every bus stop in the town.

David Coates, group leader for passenger transport for Swindon Council said: "Although we have no statistics as yet, we have had some good feedback on the text messaging scheme."

Anthony Osborne