Valleys town bus route restored after new operator found

A bus route serving a south Wales valleys town has been restored after a new operator was found.

Merthyr Tydfil Council confirmed last week that the bus service for Heolgerrig and Ynysfach is re-starting from Monday, October 2 having been stopped in August when the previous operator pulled out.

The new service will be run by Peter’s Minibuses, thanks to funds from Welsh Government’s Bus Services Support Grant.

Geraint Thomas, leader of the council said: “Residents of Heolgerrig and Ynysfach, especially the elderly, have felt totally isolated since the previous bus service stopped in August.

“We are pleased that Peter’s Minibuses has stepped in to fill this gap and reiterate once again that it’s vitally important for the service to be well utilised, otherwise it will be difficult to make the case to extend the agreement beyond March 2024.”

Issue

Previously the council had announced that the service would finish from August 5 and they said this was because the then bus operator had decided to stop the service which the council said is a common issue across Wales with many bus companies feeling the effects of the pandemic on public transport.

This has left Heolgerrig and Ynysfach without public transport access to the town centre since then.

The council said that the Welsh Government has provided additional support to the bus network to deal with the impact of the pandemic but that this is being further reduced with the new Bus Transition Fund ending in March 2024.

But in September Peter’s Minibuses, with funding from the Welsh Government’s Bus Services Support Grant, applied to run a limited service of five runs a day, starting from Heolgerrig at 7.55am with the last bus leaving Merthyr bus station at 5.40pm.