Our public bus re-route proposal to access Llwydcoed Crematorium
Currently, public buses that travel between Merthyr and Hirwaun use the Heads of the Valleys to transport passengers. We proposed a re-route which would have buses travelling from Hirwaun through Croesbychan and joining back on to the Heads of the Valleys Road after passing the Crematorium. This change would allow residents from the Cynon Valley and Merthyr to access the Crematorium if they don’t drive and allow residents along the proposed route to benefit from public transport.
The Council provided the following response to that request:
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the commercial viability of all bus services, with substantial Welsh Government funding being needed to support bus operators to maintain pre pandemic levels of service. However, whilst the industry continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic, they face additional cost challenges, which further affect their ability to operate a consistent network of services.
The 9 bus service is operated on a commercial basis by Stagecoach, with only the Sunday and evening network supported by the Council. Unfortunately the service has been significantly impacted by the ‘Heads of the Valleys’ roadworks, and Stagecoach have had to invest additional vehicle resource into the service to maintain the current frequency/timetable. In addition, the service not shown significant growth in patronage to reflect these increase in costs to operate the service, and therefore it is going to be imperative that once the roadworks are complete, Stagecoach are able to reduce their vehicle commitment back to an affordable level. As it is not anticipated that the patronage and subsequent revenue achieved from passengers attending Llwydcoed Crematorium will be anywhere near the level required to maintain the additional vehicle requirement, it will not be possible for them to introduce a change in the route as requested.
Whilst providing appropriate access and public transport solutions for residents is important, and residents will be disappointed with the above outcome, public transport solutions will always need to be practicable and affordable for the situation at each particular location.”
Contact us either through here or
07956994348 /Karen.Morgan2@rctcbc.gov.uk 07940174216/Adam.O.Rogers@rctcbc.gov.uk
Diolch, Karen & Adam
