Plaid Cymru Dwyfor Meirionnydd The Rt Hon. Liz Saville Roberts MP and Mabon ap Gwynfor MS

A year on from controversial cuts to the Traws Cymru bus route timetable and people reliant on public transport in rural Dwyfor Meirionnydd have been well and truly abandoned, according to local Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Mabon ap Gwynfor.    

Demanding that the Cabinet Secretary for Transport make a statement on the impact removing services from the bus timetable has had on his constituents, Mr ap Gwynfor said vulnerable people and those in education were bearing the brunt of the cuts.

Mr ap Gwynfor has repeatedly raised concerns about the impact bus service cuts are having on communities in his constituency such as Garndolbenmaen, Llanuwchllyn, Llandderfel and others.   

Speaking in the Senedd, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said:

It's almost a year since we saw changes to bus timetables on the Traws Cymru routes, and this follows cuts implemented by your government. If my inbox is anything to go by on this, then it's clear that the changes have been a disastrous failure, with vulnerable people not being able to access services, and children and young people not being able to get to sports clubs, and so on. So, can we have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for transport, outlining an assessment of the impact of these cuts over the past year since they were introduced?

Mabon ap Gwynfor MS added:

The importance of bus services within our rural communities cannot be understated. For the elderly and vulnerable, they're vital lifelines for medical appointments and shopping - whilst many other residents are reliant on them for travelling to and from work and to attend school and college. The paucity of buses in rural areas are leaving more people than ever before isolated – with those who cannot independently get to work, the shops or to see the doctor having to turn to friends, taxis, and community transport to get them from a to b. I repeatedly warned the government about the likely impact of these cuts. We’ve seen places like Llanuwchllyn and Llandderfel losing out on a crucial connection for the people in those communities not to mention the impact on people in Garndolbenmaen with the removal of the valued T2 service. These cuts were brought in without any prior meaningful consultation with communities and local bus users. This unsustainable situation is having catastrophic impact on our rural communities, together with undermining wider public transport commitments.