Cutting vital bus services in Wrexham just a month before launching Catch the Bus Week has been branded a cruel farce by Plaid Cymru.
Catch The Bus Week (April 28 – May 4) is an initiative set up by the large bus companies urging people to catch the bus to work or to the shops. However Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Clwyd South, Mabon ap Gwynfor, said that it was a hollow initiative after Wrexham County Borough Council decided to cut several bus services, effectively cutting off many isolated communities.
“Catch the Bus Week would be great if there were buses to catch! But if you live in the Maelor, Glyn Ceiriog or in the Dee Valley, as I do, you will find that the bus services have been cut and that people, especially the vulnerable, have been left isolated with little or no public transport to get to work or the shops.
“There are many elderly people who may wish to visit friends or family in the hospital but can’t because the evening bus service has been cut. There are young people working flexible hours in factories, bars and restaurants but have to find alternative transport because their bus service has been cut.
“An effectively run public transport service is a vital service for the most vulnerable. But yet again what we see is this Council abandoning the vulnerable and the poorest in our communities.”
Nearly 600 people have signed the Plaid Cymru petition calling on Wrexham County Borough Council to stop its cuts to evening, rural and Sunday bus services.
Mabon ap Gwynfor 