Adventure Travel's 'unreliable' 303/304 Rhoose service

Adventure Travel's 303/304 service is described as a “lifeline” for Rhoose and Llantwit Major residents living in rural settings who need connections to larger towns.

For Andrea Williams, of Rhoose, she needs to use the service to make crucial doctor’s appointments and uses it to visit her family in Barry.

Ms Williams, 48, bemoaned the amount of cancellations and delays which she says is impacting people's lives.

She said because of the unreliability of the service she has been left stranded, while she knows families struggling to get their kids to school on time.

Ms Williams said: “I am late for my appointments to the doctors, families cannot get their kids to school, and people are left stranded in Barry.

“There is no supermarket in Rhoose so I have to go to either Barry or Llantwit.

“One business owner in Rhoose has to close up his shop during trading and help take people home.

“And what about the OAPs? For them this is a lifeline to do anything. Why do they have to catch the train when they can get the bus for nothing?”

Andrea Williams struggling to make doctor's appointments because of the unreliability of the bus (Image: Andrea Williams)

A crucial public meeting on the state of the service is going ahead next week, with MP Alun Cairns and representatives of Adventure Travel said to be in attendance.

Mr Cairns described reliable bus services as “essential” to the area.

“Too few decision-makers use buses or appreciate their importance.

"I am determined to ensure the public has good, reliable, and frequent service."

People in rural communities struggling to connect because of the bus service (Image: Google Maps)

Adventure Travel confirmed there will need to be changes made to the route.

A spokesperson for the company said: “We are aware of some reliability issues recently on routes 303 and 304, related to vehicle reliability and timetable adherence.

“In response to the vehicle issues, we will be making some changes to the allocation of buses to the 304 route, which will improve reliability in that respect.

“In terms of the overall timetable adherence, unfortunately the route has been struggling more and more to keep to time since the gradual increase of car usage post-Covid and we are now at a point where we need to make changes to the route in order to ensure that we can operate a punctual service.

“We are working with public transport officers from the Vale of Glamorgan Council to finalise a solution and we will release further details in the coming days, outlining our plans to restore reliability to the 304 service.”

The public meeting about the 303/304 service takes place from 3pm to 4.30pm, Tuesday October 10, at St Peters Church and Hub Café, Station Road, Rhoose.

Having trouble with the 303/304? Let us know by emailing harry.jamshidian@newsquest.co.uk.