Urgent meetings have been held in two seaside communities after “angry” passengers learned of bus service cuts to a major route which will see some buses no longer serving New Quay and Aberporth throughout the day, with some journeys removed completely.
The T5 bus service, which runs between Aberystwyth and Haverfordwest will see a major new timetable introduced from Monday, 17 June that has been greeted by anger with passengers and led to meetings over how to tackle the issue.
TrawsCymru, which runs the service, said the “adjustments to the timetable have been made to provide improved reliability and performance between Cardigan and Aberystwyth” but it will mean that buses will no longer go to Aberporth and New Quay at certain times of the day.
Elly Foster said she had met with representatives from Transport for Wales, the Welsh Government and Bus Users' Cymru where “they promised consultation regarding these service cuts by the end of May.”
“I haven't seen nor heard of any such consultation,” she said.
“There are a lot of very angry passengers on that route.”
The T5 service has had issues with missed connections, leaving passengers waiting at the roadside, and added concerns over the viability of the current timetable.
In Aberporth, meetings have been held over setting up a community bus scheme to ferry passengers from the village to the main road to catch the T5 bus, while meetings have also been held in New Quay.
New Quay councillor Matthew Vaux called the cuts “worrying.”
On the northbound route from Haverfordwest to Aberystwyth, the first journey of the day from Aberporth at 5.42am will be removed completely.
The 2pm service which runs Monday to Friday will no longer go to Aberporth, while the 3pm service from Cardigan will no longer go to New Quay.
On the southbound route from Aberystwyth to Haverfordwest, the first southbound trip from Aberaeron will no longer serve New Quay, but passenger can board the bus in New Quay on its northbound journey to Aberaeron.
The 8.10am and 11.10am services from Aberystwyth will no longer go to Aberporth while the 9.10am service from Aberystwyth will no longer go to New Quay.
There are also some adjustments to departure times from Cardigan towards Fishguard, with the later afternoon journeys re-timed to “allow additional time for journeys travelling north whilst still maintaining a connection with the T5 south at Cardigan.”