Bus passengers in Merthyr Tydfil have described the "shambolic" service which can see them waiting hours for transport at the town's new station. Construction of the £11m bus interchange began in 2019 before it opened in May 2021, with services transferred from the former station on Victoria Street.
However, since its highly anticipated opening locals have complained that the service, run by Stagecoach, has deteriorated beyond belief with some routes now running fewer buses per hour. On Tuesday, WalesOnline visited the depot on Swan Street after receiving more than 100 messages on social media about buses turning up late - if at all - and causing chaos.
On arrival at around 10.15am we were met by a substantial queue at the T4 bus gate, which is the service to Cardiff. We were told that four buses used to run the route per hour, but in recent months it had been reduced to two.
Read more: Merthyr Tydfil exploring plans for large expansion of the railway station with a new platform
On top of that, a number of people in the queue seemed stressed and told us the 10.03am bus had not turned up. One man waiting, who did not want to be named, said he had lost £100s from his wages in the last month because bus delays and no-shows regularly made him late for work. A Stagecoach spokesman said the ongoing A465 roadworks is currently causing "significant disruption and delays" to services in and around Merthyr Tydfil.
The maintenance engineer said: "I've been travelling on the buses down to Cardiff for the last six years. Since this bus station opened it's been nothing but a shambles. Every morning, the first bus doesn't turn up. With the train strikes I'm having losses of about £50 a week. I've been on to Stagecoach about it and all I get is a generic reply. There is nobody here to help you out in the bus station to ask questions.
"Today I have been waiting since 9.45am. By the time I get into work now, I will have docked an hour's wages. It said on the website this morning that all buses are running from Merthyr. All the screens have on them is the timetable, it doesn't say if a bus isn't coming. There are bus replacements on the trains, but I can't take them because they take two hours. January was atrocious. Since January, I have lost £100s in wages."
We bumped into him again at 10.30am. Still waiting and with an ever-growing queue behind him, he said the next bus wasn't due until 11.03am. In the same queue, we spoke to one young woman who said she would now miss a job interview and another named Lianne Jansen who said she is moving to England to get away from the bus service between Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff which regularly makes her late to work.
The 38-year-old said she had been waiting since 9.50am that morning. "I catch a bus here daily. They are delayed every day. Yesterday they were delayed by 15 minutes. Then when we came back from Cardiff to Merthyr six hours later, it was still delayed because of the knock on," she said. "Today it's delayed by 20 minutes so far. While the train strikes are on, the rail replacement bus takes two hours to get to Cardiff. I'm supposed to get a train to my job in Bristol at 11.30am - I'm supposed to be at my job at 2pm in Bristol and that's not going to happen now. I now have to move to England because of the impact on my job."
We were told by someone in the T4 bus queue that two more problematic services included the 33 route from Merthyr Tydfil to Galon Uchaf (through Penydarren) and the 35 service to Rhydybedd (through Pant and Dowlais).
At 11am we spoke to Tammy-Leigh Ashton who said she was waiting to catch the 35 service to her home in Dowlais following the school run and a shopping trip. She said her bus was due at 11am, but there was no sign of it while we spoke. She told us she had a doctor's appointment to attend later that afternoon and she was concerned about missing it.
The 28-year-old said: "I catch buses here five days a week for the school run. I've missed school runs, doctor appointments and MRI scans, then you get chucked off the waiting list. I've tried to get taxis, but getting taxis at this sort of time is impossible too. The bus is due now but it isn't here. It's ridiculous. It impacts my mental health, it's cold and it affects my children. It's chaos for everyone's routine.
"I see the same people here waiting every single day and everybody rants at the drivers, but it's not their fault. It's been an issue since the new bus station has been built. There is a cafe here, but the cafe is closed and you have to pay 20p to use a toilet while you're waiting. In the past, I've waited more than an hour and a half. I've spoken to Stagecoach about it and they said lack of drivers is the issue."
Mary McDonald said once a week she catches a bus to Cefn Coed. The 79-year-old said around two weeks ago her bus didn't turn up for her at all. She said: "I was waiting half-hour. I can't walk that far - I know it's only about a mile to my house but I have trouble with my legs. My husband took me up to Cefn.
"When you have asthma and the weather is cold it's very inconvenient. It's been going on for a long time. I know the roadworks don't help. There was one lady at the bus stop who said to me: 'You just don't know when they're going to turn up now' and she watches from her house to see if one goes up. They tell us to use public transport as much as possible, but this is what's happening. If I caught the earlier bus, it would be too early for me. I used to drive up there but the parking is so bad."
Lynda Powles said she doesn't drive so relies on buses a lot and takes various routes. She said in January there was around a 50% chance that her bus would turn up, but things had slightly improved in recent weeks. When we spoke to her on Tuesday, she said she had turned up to get the earlier bus in case hers didn't turn up.
The 71-year-old said: "I catch the bus regularly and it often doesn't turn up. If I have to be somewhere, I always go for the bus before in case that doesn't come. Today I came for the 11.03am bus. I don't mind if that one doesn't come as I can get the 11.33am bus. It's terrible. I usually take the bus to town as I live in Cefn-Coed. Pre-Covid it used to be four buses an hour and now it's only two. There is all that disruption on the A470 as well. Taking the T4 to Cardiff. I know that some people have waited an hour for the bus, I won't wait that long. I haven't got the patience so I just walk to Cefn unless it's raining and then I'll get a taxi."
A spokesperson from Stagecoach South Wales said: “The A465 dualling project is currently causing significant disruption and delays to our services in and around Merthyr Tydfil . Our teams continue to work incredibly hard to ensure the vast majority of services are running and to keep passengers connected across our most popular routes. We welcome any feedback from our customers regarding services, they can contact us via the feedback forms on the Stagecoach website or on Twitter @StagecoachWales.
"Our teams tweet out live updates and share information about service disruptions in advance on our Twitter profile @StagecoachWales which gives our customers an opportunity to seek alternative arrangements if necessary. We will continue to keep our passengers regularly updated on our website and social media channels and are working hard to resume full service across all areas as quickly as possible, giving advanced notice of any planned alterations to our services in the meantime. We would like to thank all of our passengers for their patience.”
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