Melksham buses to/from Chippenham, Trowbridge, Bath, Devizes, London
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2009-11-05 19:59:43 - Graham EllisUpdate - August 2010 As from 5th September 2010, there are major changes to the buses from Bath to Melksham, Devizes and beyond. See [here] for route diagram and times.
First (Bristol bath and the West), Faresaver, Frome Minibuses, AD Raines, Bodmans and National Express all operate scheduled bus services to and from the Melksham area, and First Great Western operate train services. As these companies compete with each other, there are no easy combined printed timetables - here is a list to the best of my knowledge, November 2009.
Buses from BATH to Melksham are operated by First (7 days a week, hourly on Monday to Saturday and every 2 hours on Sunday) and by Faresaver (Every hour, Monday to Friday). AD Raines also run one bus a day, Monday to Friday. First's services also run, but less frequently, in the evening. Links: First - routes 271/272/273, Faresaver - see route X72.
Buses from CHIPPENHAM to Melksham are operated by First (Monday to Saturday, hourly), and by Faresaver (Monday to Friday, hourly). First run a less frequent service in the evening, and there is no service on a Sunday. Links: First - route 234, Faresaver - see route X34.
Buses from FROME and TROWBRIDGE to Melksham are an extension of the services from Chippenham - see links in that paragraph. An additional service, Monday to Saturday about every 2 hours is provide by Faresaver on their route 237 from Trowbridge via Holt. There is a further additional service run by Frome Minibuses from Frome via Bradford-on-Avon to Melksham in early morning, returning in the late afternoon. The National Express coach on route 402 runs from Frome via Westbury and Trowbridge to Melksham early EVERY morning (including Sunday - so it's the only service that day from Trowbridge or Frome) and return in the mid evening. Finally, route 235 runs once a day (morning peak) Melksham to Trowbridge and it returns in the later afternoon.
Buses from DEVIZES to Melksham are an extension of the First service from Bath - routes 271, 272 and 273. See the links in the Bath paragraph. One Faresaver bus is extended to Devizes and back in the early afternoon. These buses run beyond Devizes to Potterne, West Lavington, Market Lavington, Easterton and Urchfont. An additional daily service is provided by the National Express coach bound for London on route 402.
Trains from SWINDON and CHIPPENHAM to Melksham run twice a day (once on Sunday). They continue to TROWBRIDGE, and WESTBURY. Trains from WESTBURY and TROWBRIDGE to Melksham run twice every day, and continue on to Chippenham and Swindon. The trains are operated by First Great Western. Some trains continue to / start from Worcester, Cheltenham, Gloucester (to the north) and Salisbury and Southampton (to the south).
A long distance coach runs from Victoria coach station, LONDON and London's HEATHROW airport to Melksham late in the afternoon, every day of the week. It return from Melksham to Heathrow and Central London at Breakfast time. This is route 402. See this link.
A bus from MARLBOROUGH and CALNE to Melksham is run by AD runs in the morning and returns in the afternoon. Marlborough (but not Calne) is also server by the daily National Express coach to / from London.
Buses from CORSHAM to Melksham are provided by Faresaver on their routes 72 and 73.
The town bus (service 14) runs every 30 minutes through the day, linking the Melksham Forest and Queensway areas with the town centre and Sainsbury's. Faresaver's 72 and 73 services provide local bus to North Melksham area, and also Berryfield. The buses to Devizes (plus service 235 and Faresaver X72) provide services to and from Bowerhill.
Most of the times mentioned above are included in the Wiltshire Council Bus Timetable which, however, is not up to date, and there have been changes.
See here for insider's tips on bus services to and from Melksham