‘Use the buses or lose them’: A bus operator has warned customers after heavily reducing its services ahead of a crucial six months for the future of the Ceredigion network.
Mid Wales Travel announced on Monday it has been forced to reduce the 512, 301 and 304 routes - which are not subsidised by Ceredigion County Council - from the end of January (see timetables below).
The Aberystwyth-based firm operates six services across the county and its owner, Mel Evans, told the Cambrian News the ‘last thing he wants to do is walk away.’
Many vented their frustration at the ‘terribly sad’ news and said how disastrous the reductions would be for increasingly isolated Borth, Bow Street and Llandre in particular.
But enormous hikes in fuel prices, plummeting passenger numbers, driver shortages and an end to government subsidies mean buses all over Wales are under threat.
The Cambrian News revealed regional services were in jeopardy in October with industry challenges resulting in the scrapping of three other routes in November – and the reduction of the 585 service.
The main operators in Ceredigion are Mid Wales Travel, Evans Coaches, Lloyd’s Coaches and James Coaches. Many of them are now being forced to consider reducing timetables.
Mr Evans said passenger numbers need to improve if the bus services are to be salvaged – because companies cannot continue running at a loss.
“We don’t get any subsidies from the council (for the services we’ve had to reduce),” he told the Cambrian News.
“We’re doing our best to keep our services going to be honest with you. I’m not making any money I can assure you of that.
“The last thing I want to do is walk away. Because Arriva weren’t making money and they walked away.
“If enough people use the services, we’ll keep it going. People will say they aren’t running when they want them to run but we just can’t cater for everybody – it's the best we can do.
“We certainly don’t want to walk away from these services at all, but we can’t constantly sustain a loss.
“We hope we can carry on. We think there’s a good chance.
“To give you an idea of cost increases, when the fuel prices started going up last year, our weekly fuel bill for school runs only went up by £6,000 – and service runs were similar.
“We’re just trying to save these services – we're not trying to cut them; we’re trying to save them.
“And hopefully we can go on longer than six months by doing something now. Hopefully by working with passengers we can get numbers back up and save the services.”
The services now operating a reduced timetable are the 512 service from Aberystwyth to Ynyslas via Bow Street, the 301 from Aberystwyth to Penparcau via Waunfawr and the 304 Penparcau circular.
The 512 has been cut from an hourly service of 11 buses, to only six. The 301 is down from an hourly nine buses to four per day. And the 304 is down from an hourly service of nine buses to five.
The subsidised 525, 526 and 588 services will continue at previous levels.
After stinging criticism from customers on social media in the wake of the company’s announcement, Mr Evans released the following statement: “These are not changes that we want to do.
“These are changes that ensure the service continues. Firstly, please understand … these services survive purely on takings from passengers.
“The passenger numbers are below 50 per cent pre-Covid. Therefore, with 50% less money coming in and the help from the government coming to an end, we are facing serious challenges.
“Added to that the rising cost of fuel, wages, parts, maintenance and utilities, we must make changes or the services will stop completely.
“We understand this is not the ideal situation and are very sorry we cannot carry on as before.
“We thank everyone who supports us and hope you can continue using our services; the more people who use the service, the more chance we can continue to support it.”
