Following recent press reports on the lack of bus services in Maesteg Park, the issue of bus services in Bridgend was raised in the Senedd by Huw Irranca-Davies MS (Lab, Ogmore) at yesterday’s First Minister’s Questions.
Ironically, within hours of that Bridgend Council confirmed that local bus company Easyway will cease trading from 31st July 2022.
Easyway currently runs several routes in and around Bridgend town itself including services 16 (Bridgend-Bettws via Wildmill), 49 (Bridgend-Oaklands Road & Broadlands) and 81 (Bridgend-Penyfai via Wildmill).
Talks have started with other commercial operators on whether they can pick up the routes, but in the meantime affected passengers have been asked to consider using the Bridgend Community Transport “town rider” service.
“Radical reform” of bus services promised
Huw Irranca-Davies blamed “a decade of austerity” on cuts to bus services. There are some excellent initiatives such as the on-demand Fflecsi bus services in some areas, but he criticised what he described as “a lack of joined-up-ness”. Update: Huw has since published a call for an integrated transport plan for Bridgend county – which you can read in more detail here.
“I have a direct question….and it’s whether he and his (Climate Change) Minister would be willing to sit down with me and officials from Bridgend as well to look at how we can….join this up, so we don’t have hilltops like Maesteg Park, remote Valleys communities – such as Pont-y-rhyl and others – who are isolated because of the cuts we’ve seen over the last decade and more.”
– Huw Irranca-Davies MS
In response, the First Minister said that since the start of the Covid pandemic the Welsh Government has provided £130million in funding to keep bus services going.
The long-term answer will be reform of bus services.
Those reforms will be brought forward in a Bus Bill at the Senedd (more background on this at State of Wales – How Wales Works: Bus Services & Funding). The First Minister hopes the Bill will reverse “those 30 and more years of marketisation” which had left communities without bus services for commercial reasons.
