Newport Bus and Pride in the Port launch new Pride bus

The LGBTQ+ group, in partnership with Newport Bus, ran a competition in March to launch the pride bus.

This week, the winning design by students Zoe Elyes-Vaughan and Ceirios Bebb from Ysgol Gwent is Coed was revealed at the Newport Bus Depot.

Morgan Stevens, operations director at Newport Transport, said: “We are delighted to show our support for Pride in the Port by featuring a vibrant double decker bus as part of our fleet.

Newport Bus (Image: Newport Bus)

Morgan Stevens - Operations manager of Newport Bus. Picture: Newport Bus

“We take pride in our community’s diversity and believe that this is an excellent way to celebrate inclusivity.

“It is a great opportunity to remind everyone that public transport is available and secure for all.

"We hope that the people of Newport will ride with pride this summer.”

The new design features the red Welsh dragon with the pride colours across its chest, along with colourful triangles and a rainbow.

On the other side of the bus is shows a small Pride in the Port logo, with the word transporter written in giant capital letters along with the colours of the pride flag.

Pride in the Port (Image: Pride in the Port)

The winning design by Zoe Elyes-Vaughan and Ceirios Bebb. Picture: Pride in the Port

The final design was selected from eight youth groups in Newport, all designs included love, embrace, education and expression.

Dan Earnshaw, community engagement coordinator, added: “It has been a pleasure to see the growth of these initial drawings taken up by local LGBTQ+ focus youth groups in Newport.

“The final design was selected from eight fantastic submission groups. They all expressed the love, embrace, education, and expression we wanted from the brief and each designer should be proud.

“Standards were high and we at Pride in the Port are very much so and to see everyone including the winners come together and ride with pride was fantastic.”

Newsquest (Image: newsquest)

Cllr Laura Lacey far right with Adam Smith (L) and supporters of Pride in the Port. 

The bus was designed to celebrate pride month and will be running across routes in Newport until the end of October.

Cllr Laura Lacey, who attended the launch in March added: “Pride in the Port have amazing support from our partners across the city, but Newport buses are an absolute statement of allyship.

“We are blown away by the design from Zoe and Ceirios who are two very talented pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Gwent is Coed.”