Bridgend Council has early plans to close the Bridgend bus station at some point from April 2025 onwards. You’re probably all aware of that.
While there are no plans to close the bus station in the forthcoming financial year, the draft budget included closure as an option for the 2025-26 financial year. BCBC estimate it’ll save £239,000 across two financial years.
That means there’ll be a year for Bridgend Council – and other interested parties like the Cardiff City Region and Welsh Government – to come up with a solution if they want to keep it open.
Will there be as many buses using the station?
Bus services across Wales face uncertainty over funding.
It’s not a joke to question whether there will be enough routes to stop at the bus station in the future; people are already (half-seriously) asking the same question about Porthcawl’s new bus station.
Additionally, the Cardiff City Region is undertaking a review of bus services across its 10 member local authorities. That could change how many routes there are and where they go.
There are plans for a new Bus Bill at the Senedd which would effectively re-regulate buses. Other plans include route franchising, new minimum services standards and the potential for councils to run their own bus services again.
What are the likely options?
1. Keep Bridgend bus station open
If the funding situation improves or BCBC finds the money from elsewhere, plans to close the bus station may be abandoned.
As for where that money would come from your guess is as good as mine. It could be a council tax increase, reintroduction of parking charges or savings found from things like home-school transport.
2. Close the bus station building, but retain the stops
This is what I assumed would happen, but the wording of the draft budget report suggests that wouldn’t be the case.
Stands 9, 10 and 11 can be used from the street.
Stands 1-8 are only fully accessible from inside the bus station. They could be made accessible – which would be capital expenditure meaning the council could dip into its reserves to fund the cost.
The risk is we would be left with yet another large empty building in the town centre and all the problems that brings with it.
3. Community Asset Transfer
It is unlikely that a Community Asset Transfer will be supported by a grant due to financial constraints.
Bridgend Town Council wouldn’t be able to afford to run the bus station without a massive increase to its precept – though departure charges and other commercial income could partially cover the cost.
4. Cheapside
Cheapside has been used as a temporary bus station in the past and some scheduled routes stop there anyway. It’s still close to the town centre and only a bit further away from the railway station on foot.
There’s enough room for maybe 3 buses to stop there at any given time; though BCBC could always extend the bays. It would support a business case for reopening the public toilets opposite ASDA too.
This is probably the most workable short-term solution if the bus station is closed, but it could be impacted by Bridgend College construction works, which would likely see Cheapside closed from time to time.
5. Designated town centre stops for particular buses
This is what’s been done in Cardiff since the original bus station closed.
It’s another cheap/obvious option, probably using stops along Derwen Road and Nolton Street combined with Cheapside.
6. Make the proposed Tremains Road bus-rail interchange a high priority
The Bridgend town centre masterplan includes a proposed interchange. A public consultation was conducted on the plan, which involves building a new mini bus station accessible from Tremains Road and a Platform 2 concourse for Bridgend railway station.
This would be great for those catching a train, as it would be far better than the existing bus station. However, it may not be that great for those going into town as the railway would still act as a barrier.
So it suggests that the plan was always to move the bus station there, but budget issues have forced BCBC to suggest closing the existing bus station earlier than they would have liked.
Improving connections between buses and trains is a priority for the Welsh Government too. The Cardiff City Region is also pursuing similar plans in Caerphilly as part of the South Wales Metro and has already built a bus-rail interchange at Barry Docks station, with a similar project nearing completion in Porth.
If the bus station were to close, this interchange would become a higher priority. However, it would likely depend on Welsh Government and/or city region funding.
