BUS users in an area of Gwent where the only route between Blackwood and Newport was reduced to a “nightmare” hourly service in September want more regular trips to be introduced.

Wattsville, Cwmfelinfach and Ynysddu in the lower Sirhowy valley are all served by the 56 route – which connects Newport and Tredegar. The villages were previously served by a half-hourly 56 service, however, that’s now been reduced to just one bus an hour.

Operator Stagecoach made the timetable changes from September 5 of this year.

The move has caused a great amount of frustration, particularly when people living in the neighbouring Ebbw valley are able to catch the 151 bus service to Blackwood or Newport every 12 minutes – which is five buses an hour.

Janine Reed, who lives in Cwmfelinfach, said the reduced service in the valley is making it difficult for people to access vital health services.

“The surgery in Cwmfelinfach is often shut due to staff sickness or training days,” Ms Reed told the Argus.

“It means that people have to travel to Risca for a doctor or nurse appointment. With buses running every hour it means people have to really plan ahead and could be waiting a long time at Risca surgery.”

One elderly resident said catching the bus had become a “nightmare” for them.

“Sometimes if you miss the bus, you’re then left waiting a whole hour – sometimes in the freezing cold and rain,” she said.

“You don’t always know that you’ve missed it because sometimes they run early and don’t wait around.”

Others are calling more regular bus services elsewhere to be reduced to allow an extra bus each hour for the 56 service.

Lisa Roberts said: “Take one bus off the 151 so we can have our half hourly service back, it’s simple.”

Matthew Rawley said his son takes the bus to Blackwood and sometimes even the hourly service has failed to show up and added that “the amount of 151 buses definitely needs reducing as there are plenty of other services that serve Risca, Crosskeys and Newport.”

Caerphilly County councillor Kevin Etheridge has reached out to Stagecoach to question why the half-hourly 56 service has not been introduced.

In response, Stagecoach said: “The transport sector has been badly affected by a shortage of drivers, cause by a number of reasons including Brexit, the pandemic and inability to recruit and train during lockdowns, delays to receiving provisional licenses, an increasingly competitive labour market and staffing availability exacerbated by increased levels of sickness.

“Due to these problems, we have no current plans to increase [the 56 bus] service until we can get back to some sort of normality and in the current climate there is no timeframe as to when this may happen.”