Leading South Wales transport provider Adventure Travel will see some of its routes changed on April 1 following a recent tender process and subsequent contract awards.
During the pandemic, public bus routes across Wales that became unviable without additional financial support were granted emergency funding from the Welsh Government.
Since then, passenger numbers have gradually increased, but have not reached pre-Covid levels on many routes. Concessionary pass holder passenger numbers remain well below pre-pandemic levels, whereas fare paying passenger numbers are stronger.
From April 1, the emergency subsidy scheme will be replaced by a series of local authority tenders for all public bus routes other than those that can operate commercially (i.e. without additional subsidy).
As a result of these tenders, some services currently operated by Adventure Travel will change operators, while others such as the C1 and 102 will remain unchanged, and new routes have also been won.
Adam Keen, Managing Director at Adventure Travel, said: “Following the removal of the emergency subsidy scheme, many routes that were previously commercially viable will now be replaced by local authority tenders due to passenger numbers not consistently reaching pre-pandemic levels.
“Although it is a disappointing for the company to lose certain routes, we have also gained six new routes while also maintaining some of our key routes across South Wales.”
The operator will look to expand the private hire element of the business in the coming months, known as Adventure Coachlines. This will include the recruitment of additional drivers and the sourcing of more work across their depots.
Further details of the route changes can be found below:
Unchanged routes
- 102 (Glyncoch – Pontypridd – Nantgarw) with timetable change from 1 April
- C1 (Cardiff CrossCity: Culverhouse Cross – Pontprennau via City Centre)
- 905 (Cardiff Airport – Rhoose)
- 65 (Bridgend – Talbot Green)
- 800 series school services (various Cardiff school services)
- 100 (Barry town circular)
New routes from 1 April
- 88 (Barry – Penarth)
- B3 (Barry town service)
- 612, 613, 614, 615 and 618 (Cardiff school services)
- 404 (evenings only)
- 130 (Sunday only)
- 112 (Sunday only)
Change of operator
Other services will change operators from 1 April. For more details, please visit the Adventure Travel website www.adventuretravel.cymru
