Monmouthshire school bus packed with pupils on first day back

Concerns over the number of children squeezed on to the Newport Bus have been raised following a council decision to provide secondary school pupils with free places on public services buses rather than a dedicated school bus. 

The change was introduced by Monmouthshire County Council in September 2024 which it said would mean funds used for home to school transport would also support public transport available to all members of the public. 

Laura Anne Jones, a Reform Member of the Senedd for Sir Fynwy Torfaen, accused the Labour-led council of putting cost before pupils as it attempted to tackle a school transport bill of £7 million a year. 

The politician shared the photograph which shows many pupils standing on the bus and seemingly every seat taken with few non pupils visible. 

She said: “The first responsibility of any government should be to safeguard children, protect their wellbeing and make sure they are in the best possible position to start their school day and to learn. 

“Children should arrive at school happy, safe and ready to learn, not exhausted, uncomfortable or anxious before the school day has even begun.” 

According to Ms Jones there had been 51 pupils on board the number 60 bus, from Newport to Monmouth, and operated by Newport Bus when youngsters returned to school on Thursday, September 3 after the long summer holidays. 

She said “many” pupils were standing on the bus from Usk on their way to Monmouth Comprehensive before “many more” got on at Raglan and other stops. 

The Reform MS said she had pressed the council on the issue and said a larger bus will be provided. 

A spokesperson for Newport Bus said the service operated within its legal capacity and said: ” We operate route 60 under contract to Monmouthshire County Council and the vehicle operated is to the specifications required as part of the contract.  

“The number of customers travelling did not exceed the legal limit of the vehicle. We monitor capacity across all our services to ensure we match resources to demand.” 

When concerns were previously raised about the number of pupils travelling on the number 60 bus to Monmouth, after the council introduced its new policy of using public service buses in 2024, the council said it had issued bus passes to 29 pupils on the route. 

At that time the councillor responsible said the average number of fare paying passengers was 20 meaning usually there were around 49 passengers on the bus. 

Monmouthshire County Council was contacted for comment.