REGIONAL Senedd member Altaf Hussain is lobbying BCBC to bring back the evening buses to Maesteg using new money announced by Welsh Government this week. He will also press for bus services to be reinstated for Penyfai.
The Bus Network Grant makes £39m available to local authorities throughout Wales to run bus services that are not commercially viable. Welsh Conservative Dr Hussain said he will be pressing BCBC to bring back the evening buses to Maesteg which also serve residents of Cymer and the upper Afan valley.
He said: “This was one of the last subsidised bus services that the council supported but was axed last September when there was still great uncertainty about future bus funding from Welsh Government.
“Now that this new scheme has been announced, which comes into effect on April 1. I will be pressing BCBC to apply for funding to reinstate this service.
“Local residents complain that the last bus running up the valley from Bridgend leaves too early – before many workers have finished their shift. It has left shop workers and others unable to get home on the bus.
“It also makes it difficult for Maesteg residents to visit relatives in the Princess of Wales Hospital in the evening and also take part in social activities. Although the town does have a rail service, there have been many complaints that trains are being terminated at Tondu and not travelling up to Maesteg, leaving passengers stranded.
“Without an evening service, people cannot complete their journey by switching to the bus and are having to rely on friends and family to pick them up at Tondu or to try and get a taxi home which is unaffordable for many people.
“I will also suggest that BCBC offers a subsidy to local bus companies in a bid to get a bus service reinstated for Penyfai. The village has no buses at all now and although the previous service was discontinued because the owner of the company was retiring, it was profitable although no other companies would take it on. I think that if a subsidy was offered it would take away any risk factor and may encourage one of the other companies to divert a bus that it is already operating via Penyfai.
“Welsh Labour talks a lot about driving people out of their cars and onto public transport but until there is a proper integrated transport system of buses and trains which are available at the times people need them, their anti-car strategy will not work.”
