THREE Gwent communities, left without a bus service for months, could soon get their buses back.

For the subsidised service to the villages of Llanwern, Bishton and Magor should be up and running once more in three weeks, after transport chiefs stepped in.

Residents in the three communities first complained about delays and cancellations soon after the private company Gwent Buses took over the publicly subsidised No. 61 bus route in April.

Gwent Buses was given notice that its contract would be terminated next September, and the service fell off completely - despite the company being reported to the Transport Commission, the national agency that oversees the licensing of public transport.

Now the Joint-Gwent Passenger Transport Unit, responsible for arranging bus services, has told Gwent Buses to cease operating the route at the end of the month.

The tender has instead been awarded to another operator, Terry Ward, which will take over the route on Friday, August 4.

Susan Lewis, of Ringwood Hill, Newport, relies on the bus to visit her housebound mother in Llanwern.

She said she was glad to see the back of Gwent Buses but disappointed by the three-week wait.

"I'm the only person my mother sees. I can't afford to keep paying £12 for a taxi," said Ms Lewis.

"It's ridiculous that nobody has informed us what's going on - and they still haven't had the decency to tell us anything now."

Llanwern councillor Carole Atwell emphasised the need to maintain bus services to rural areas.

"The people in many of these villages have nothing - no pub, no post office, no swimming-pool, no shops," she said.

"Term is breaking up next week, many pensioners don't drive and need to get to a post office to collect their pension, and the people in the villages are faced with no buses."

Mrs Atwell added: "The decision to use private contractors seemed the right decision 25 years ago, but it's not working for the people in these villages."

Private bus companies bid for the level of public subsidy they require to run services that local authorities deem "socially necessary".

Gwent Buses was awarded 10 contracts to run subsidised routes in April out of a total of more than 60 tenders, but all but one of those contracts have now been terminated.

No one from the company was available to comment.