Thamesdown Transport have announced the expansion of free onboard Wi-Fi to Swindon buses, doubling the number of connected vehicles.
The bus operator first deployed Icomera Wi-Fi to twenty-nine vehicles operating on the 11, 12 and 15 routes in 2013. A further twenty-nine vehicles operating on the 1/1A, 13, 14, 17 and 27 routes will now supply Wi-Fi to passengers wishing to use the service to work, catch up on news and social media.
The rollout is thanks to funding provided by Swindon Borough Council’s Swindon Travel Choices scheme, which seeks to increase the popularity of public transport and reduce congestion.
Councillor Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for sustainability and transport, said: “This one-off government money provides another small reason to help encourage people out of their cars and onto buses. Swindon is two years into a five-year programme of improving the borough’s road network in order to cope with future traffic levels but ultimately, if we are serious about reducing congestion, we need to reduce the number of cars on the road, and that number is increasing by two per cent every year.”
Paul Jenkins, managing director of Thamesdown said: “Last year’s customer satisfaction survey showed that free Wi-Fi was highly valued by our customers and so, thanks to Swindon Travel Choices, we can now offer this service to more passengers. Since Wi-Fi has been available on these extra vehicles we have seen a 150 per cent increase in the use of Wi-Fi, with a 50 per cent increase in the number of users. The latest Wi-Fi units funded by Swindon Travel Choices are 4G-enabled, so in some cases you may get a faster internet connection when travelling on the bus than at home.”
