Cardiff Bus and Adventure Travel attend Barry bus meet

One resident described how it was "unfair" what was happening with the Vale's ailing bus system as commercial director for Cardiff Bus Gareth Stevens explained that Cardiff Bus does not want to cut services, but run them.

However, Mr Stevens, along with Alex Corsi, commercial support officer at Adventure Travel, could not give travellers any guarantees what the future of the Vale’s ailing bus system holds as the sector in Wales transitions from Covid government support to a more traditional operating model that will see services having to make money to run.

At a meeting held in Barry, on Thursday, November 23, MP Alun Cairns put the situation in some context, explaining to weary bus travellers that passenger capacity is down around a quarter since Covid hit, and that hasn’t recovered.

It means that, going into the start of next year, bus routes under threat will come up for tender and companies will bid if they want to take them on.

One furious resident asked "how can they do this" as bus services continue to fall by the wayside in the county.

Adventure Travel's Alex Corsi (blue shirt) and Gareth Stevens (white shirt) joined MP Cairns (Image: Newsquest)

Local residents are not impressed with the state of the bus service in the Vale (Image: Newsquest)

This publication has already covered Adventure Travel’s 88 coming to a close – the service transported Tony Price on his day trips to Penarth passing crucial destinations such as Ty Hafan, Beechwood College and Penarth Pier.

Nurses Cara Norman and Sally Clarke told how, for the first time in decades, Cardiff Bus’ 95 would not be running to Barry Island any more, meaning they no longer had a direct route to Llandough Hospital and wouldn’t be able to arrive to work on time.

Then there was the meeting over Adventure Travel’s “unreliable” 304 service in October, where fed-up residents in Rhoose described their struggles getting out and about.

MP Alun Cairns helped set up the event which included representatives of Cardiff Bus and Adventure Travel (Image: Newsquest)

Read more:

• Adventure Travel first to serve Barry's bus interchange
• Vale leader Lis Burnett defends Barry's bus interchange

One resident at the latest meeting on November 23 said: “I feel you are cutting old people’s transport and that is not fair. How can you do this to them?”

Mr Stevens put it in simple terms at the beginning of the meeting, saying: “The amount of people using buses is down. We have to find a way to sustain our business.

“We do not want to cut services, we are a bus company, we want to run services. We have had to withdraw services just to make sure as a company we have a financial model we can work.”

Let us know what you think about jumping on the bus in the Vale. Message on our Facebook page, in comments, or email harry.jamshidian@newsquest.co.uk.