Transport in Swindon

Transport in Swindon, England, and the surroundings has directly contributed to the town's growth and the ingress of businesses and industries.

Located on the M4 Corridor and the Great Western Railway Main Line, Swindon's transport connections are adequate to the needs of a growing town.

Ermin Way passed to the east of the town and was the route from Corinium (Cirencester) to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester).

Toll houses were also placed on the roads to Stratton St Margaret, Marlborough, Devizes, Wootton Bassett and Cricklade.

Residents of Rodbourne Cheney and the Liddiard's came into Swindon via roadways that linked Shaw and Rushey Platt with the gate at Kingshill.

Locals often refer to it by the colloquial name "The Tragic Roundabout" due to the many motor accidents that occur on it, usually caused by drivers not familiar with its operation.

[citation needed] In 2009 Swindon became the first English local council to abandon the use of fixed speed cameras, arguing that the £320,000 a year cost did not represent an effective way to reduce road accidents.

Counsellor Peter Greenhalgh, the Cabinet Member for Council Transformation, Transport and Strategic Planning, linked the finding to the removal of speed cameras and resultant additional funding for road safety, alongside close working with the police.

Megabus operates long-disatance services to a number of destinations, calling at a bus stop on the eastern edge of the town, near to the junction of the A419 and A420 inter-urban roads.

Local operator Barnes Coaches offers day trip and tourism tickets, in addition to private hire.

Formerly part of the National Bus Company and operating under the name Swindon and District, it was privatised in 1986 and absorbed into the Stagecoach Group in 1993.

[1] The works covered a site of 320 acres (1.3 km2) and became the focal point for the creation of New Swindon and the influx of over 10,000 new residents in the next 50 years.

In its heyday, the railway employed over 14,000 people in Swindon and the main locomotive fabrication workshop, the A Shop was, at 11.25 acres (45,500 m2), one of the largest covered areas in the world.

As the town of Swindon at that time was over a mile away on top of the hill, a modest Railway Village of 300 homes was proposed in 1841.

[12] The nearest civilian airfield with a concrete runway is now at Kemble, with major international air traffic using Bristol Airport.