FRUSTRATED commuters have demanded answers from a city bus company after weeks of late or cancelled services have led to work-place warnings and stranded school children.

But while enraged customers have taken to Facebook and Twitter to vent their fury at Newport Bus, the company say the reliability issues have been caused by increased traffic volumes at the start of the new school year, and major road works affecting the network, particularly around Tredegar Park and Caerleon Road.

Clare Gray, 35, from Duffryn, works for a mental health charity in Newport. She told the South Wales Argus she relies on Newport Bus to get to and from work in the city centre twice a day. Last week, she explained late or absent bus services made her late four days out of five.

“I rely on Newport Bus as I don’t drive,” said Ms Gray.

“The past few weeks it has been just awful. Last Monday there was no number 35 service at 8.25am, which meant I got in to work at 9.30am.

“On Tuesday, this bus simply did not turn up. I had to wait for the 8.55am bus which was late and I got in to work at 9.50am. I have to make that time back.

“I decided to get an earlier service on the Thursday and Friday. But on both days this bus didn’t turn up, so I had to wait for a later service.

“This week has been no better.

 

(A Newport City bus makes its way down the pedestrian part of the High Street as part of a scheme to help market traders)

“It isn’t just the Duffryn service which I use; it is all over Newport. My colleague’s daughter attends Nash college and she was waiting for a bus this week from 3.30pm until 5pm.

“My colleague ended up picking her up when she had finished work as she was still waiting.

“I pay £48 a month for a bus pass which I can only use with Newport Bus and we are not getting the service we pay for.”

Ms Gray added that her complaints to Newport Bus often go unanswered, although a spokesman for Newport Bus commented that when she had used their official complaints channel the company had made every effort to respond to her queries. 

A spokesman for the company said the aim was to respond to all correspondence from customers, including through social media platforms.

“But where we require further details we have requested some complainants raise issues formally with as much information as possible to allow any investigation and response to be given directly,” they added.

“Ensuring school children arrive at school on time is a priority for Newport Transport.

“Currently four major schools we operate to and from are in close vicinity to the M4 and the roadwork's at both Tredegar and Pont Ebbw roundabouts.

“We have already received compliments from some of those schools about the way we have managed the new school term.”

 

(Newport bus station)

Matthew Thomas, who works for KFC in Newport, told the Argus that the bus services in Duffryn were so bad that he had received warnings from work after consistently being late.

“On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week I have had to wait for nearly an hour and a half when I need to get to work.

“I called the Newport transport office and they told me that they had taken the bus off for a school run.

“I was meant to be in work for 7am but only made it at 8am because of the buses. I could end up losing my job.”

Bettws councillor Kevin Whitehead ( Newport Independents), said that a lot of his constituents relied on the bus service to get to their jobs as shift workers.

“A lot of people are really unhappy,” he told the South Wales Argus.

“Just like everyone else, I’ve contacted Newport Bus myself as a member of the public, and the negativity is just ridiculous. ‘Basically,’ they say, ‘what do you want us to do about it?’

“What Newport Bus say is that they have no drivers. The Bettws News page I run on Facebook has more than 8,000 members. Some days the page is being choked up with complaints and there’s lots of people that were actually physically contacting them and not getting anywhere.

“It’s got to be looked at. I have heard that it’s across Newport.”

 

(Newport Bus have said the problems are caused by road works around the city and the start of the new school year)

Responding to this, a Newport Bus spokesman said: “In early August we worked together with Unite to enhance the Term and Conditions of our driving staff which included a return of overtime enhancements and a return of paid breaks previously negotiated out by previous Unite branch officers.

“We can confirm we have not had any recent discussions with Cllr Whitehead on any issues regarding services in his ward.”

But Carol McGill, a regular Newport Bus customer from Bettws, said she thought the morale of Newport bus drivers was noticeably low.

She added: “We used to have a good service . It’s now been cut . And mornings we are lucky if a number 16 turns up . Morale is very low with these drivers . A few will say good morning, but most are very rude .

Another Bettws commuter, Shannon Grace, 21, who suffers from mobility problems, added that she often doesn’t have a seat in the mornings.

“My bus hasn't been on time in the mornings this week. I have a disability, so when they are late I don’t get a seat because people won't move for me after waiting for so long,” she explained.

Corinne Cope, who works at the Intellectual Property Office in Newport, shared a letter sent to Newport Bus with the Argus regarding the 37 Rhiwderin bus service.

In it, Ms Cope asked why electronic screens are not updated to show delayed or cancelled services outside the IPO office on the A48.

The letter sent on Tuesday, September 18, reads: ”My reason for asking is because the 2.47pm bus yesterday (which I rely on to take me from work to collect my three children from school) did not turn up again.

“The bus is often late so initially I thought perhaps it was just delayed a little longer than usual but then began to get concerned so rang Newport Bus and was advised there was no driver available for that bus so it would not be running.

“This made me an hour late yet again for picking my three children up from school.

“Had the electronic board in the bus stop been updated promptly to advise us the bus was cancelled, we may have had enough time to make alternative arrangements but as it was not, we had to ask the teachers yet again to take care of our children for an hour while we waited for the next no. 37 bus. Cardiff buses go past the same stop frequently on schedule so it is very frustrating to see Newport Bus offering an inferior service.”

In their response, which has also been seen by the South Wales Argus, a spokeman for Newport Bus explained that the company are unable to update the electronic signs which are programmed to show the expected time of arrival, the word 'DUE' as a service gets close to the stop or, failing either of those options, default to the scheduled service time.

A spokesman for Newport Bus added they were working on improving passenger information, including a public address system, and also to make changes to the traffic light priorities to enable faster exit from their city centre facility.

However, they added, this would only be possible with support from the bus station owners.

The spokesman also said: “Some timetables changed on July 22, reducing frequency on a number of routes in an attempt to improve reliability because of the increased journey time caused by congestion.

“We thank our customers for their patience and continued loyalty whilst improvements are made to the road and rail network in Newport, and can assure you that all our staff, are equally as frustrated by the problems that the service faces at the moment.”