Free bus scheme in Newport starts today – What you need to know

From today - Tuesday, March 1 - until the end of the month, bus journeys in the city have been made free to the general public.

It comes as part of plans to tackle climate change – with the hope that it will encourage people to leave their cars at home.

And, while the scheme was launched at the Newport Bus depot on Corporation Road, the offer extends to other bus operators in the city.

This includes Stagecoach South Wales, which operates a number of routes in and around the city.

How does the free Newport bus scheme work?

It might sound obvious, but the free bus service only applies to journeys which start and finish in Newport.

This means that any trip which takes a passenger outside the city borders is not covered, and a full ticket is required.

But, if a passenger hops aboard a service which leaves the city – the Newport city centre to Blackwood service, for example - they would be able to travel for free, provided they only travelled as far as Rogerstone, or one of the other stops within the city boundary.

The scheme has been rolled out across the city

Routes operated by Newport Bus, Stagecoach, Cardiff Bus, and Fflecsi are all covered in the scheme.

It also applies to schoolchildren who would normally pay a fare.

Any pass holders, such as over 60s pass holders, must also show their passes to travel.

How did we get here?

News of the free bus scheme was first announced by Welsh Government deputy minister Lee Waters at Newport Bus’s depot on Corporation Road last month, where he revealed that this was one of 58 recommendations in the Burns Report – which was commissioned to find alternatives to car travel in the South East corner of Wales, which covers Newport and the wider Gwent area.

Free bus travel was first trialled in the city over the Christmas period, and was believed to have proven successful, with passenger journeys up by 80 per cent.

Now, the new free bus period in Newport will serve as a testing ground for the rest of Wales, with the potential similar measures to be introduced nationwide.

A number of bus operators have signed up to the scheme

Could the sceme be extended to Caerphilly?

Ultimately, the aim of the report is to find alternatives to private car journeys on the congested M4 motorway, in a bid to prevent the looming climate emergency.

And, given Newport’s position near to the major roadway, many of the proposals will have an impact on the city – such as the proposed removal of Old Green Roundabout.

What has been said about the scheme?

Following the free bus scheme announcement, deputy minister for climate change, Lee Waters told the Argus: “It was a huge success when it was tried before Christmas, and this is one of the measures we’re introducing off the back of the Burns report, looking at the alternative to the M4, to try and give Newport a modern public transport system.

“We’re seeing huge investment in brand new electric buses, we’re now going to try giving you free access to them, as well as a huge amount of work behind the scenes to bring in changes in the years to come, to make using public transport the easy thing to do in Newport.

“What we want for Newport is a functioning public transport system, which turns up and goes, that’s what we’re working towards. And that involves lots of different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle coming together. So for example, making a priority in the way the roads are laid out for buses over cars, looking at fares, and looking at timetables and information, a whole bunch of things that need to come together to make this work smoothly.

“Before Christmas I think passenger numbers were up by 80 per cent by having free travel, we’ll see if that is also true in March, and then we’ll look at what are the benefits of that, versus the costs of that.”

Meanwhile, Newport City Council leader Cllr Jane Mudd said: “This scheme will definitely boost the footfall to the city centre.

"We know from the evidence of our Christmas scheme that ran through December that it did increase passenger travel, and it also increased the number of people going into the city centre.

“As this is launched for the whole of March, what this means is that all of the people of Newport will have an opportunity to travel for free into the city centre, so experience some of our new projects that are just about to be completed.

"So people will be able to travel in, go into the market – see what’s on offer there, go and have a look at the fantastic Market Arcade, have a look at the Chartist hotel, and they’ll be able to see all of these scheme’s we’ve been working on for so long, to benefit them, are actually starting to deliver those benefits – and they’ll be able to do that, free of charge.

“It’s a real boost to the economy, it gives people money in their pockets when you know the cost of living crisis is starting to impact, so it’s really important that we work together to do all that we can to support people, and also, to enable people to get about in the city in a way that’s sustainable in the long term, and this has such a brilliant impact on the environment.”