It will stop in nine places and save an hour in travel time, the Welsh Government says
The new service will link Bangor with Carmarthen(Image: Google)
A new coach service will launch this autumn, taking passengers between Bangor and Carmarthen. It is a Welsh Government-backed scheme to help encourage people leave their cars at home.
The service will launch this autumn. The long-distance service will save an hour compared to other public transport options, the new Plaid Cymru administration says.
No ticket prices are yet available but Welsh Government has confirmed bus passes will not be valid for travel. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
The new coach service will operate regular services every day linking Bangor to Carmarthen, via Caernarfon, Porthmadog railway station, Dolgellau (Eldon Square), Machynlleth, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth bus station, Aberaeron and Carmarthen railway station.
Setting up and providing the service has a £2m budget, as set out in the supplementary budget announced last week.
Deputy transport minister, Mark Hooper said: “We’re launching a north-south coach route, and this is the first stage as part of our 100-day plan to make sure that we were able to link up the north and the south of the country.
“It’s going to be launching for people to use in the autumn,” he said.
“We’ve got £2m in the supplementary budget that’s going through at the moment, that is a full envelope for us to deliver the service, so that includes the booking system, the marketing and the branding, and the provision of the service to the end of the year.
“Beyond that then we want to see how this thing takes off, and then we’ll be making the case for continued support for the project in the new year as well, in the new budget.”
The alternative on public transport would include getting a train into England, or via various combined services which would take six-and-a-half hours. This will take five-and-a-half hours,” he said.
He said he expects students to be one potential audience, based on demand for the Aberystwyth to Cardiff service which already exists. Mr Hooper added: “But more generally, this is a connection for people who want to connect across Wales, which people do.
“This is something which could have quite a broad appeal.
“We’ve done some analysis beforehand. It was a piece of work which was undertaken in the cooperation agreement that indicated that of the people we asked, about 60% of them said they’d welcome the service and be prepared to use it. So we expect there to be, over time, a relatively high usage of this service,” he said.
Executive director for regional transport and integration, Lee Robinson, said: “This new coach service is the result of a huge amount of work by teams across Transport for Wales, working closely with partners and drawing on insight from our Network North Wales programme to design a service that truly meets the needs of communities.
“By linking key towns and communities along the west coast, we’re creating faster, more reliable connections for work, education and leisure.
“The new service is a key step in building the T Network, Welsh Government’s vision for a fully integrated public transport system for Wales, strengthening the TrawsCymru network, helping to deliver a more joined-up, multi-modal offer and making it easier for people to travel sustainably with seamless connections to rail and local bus services.”
