Newport Bus
Newport Bus (the operating name of Newport Transport Limited) is the main provider of bus services in the city of Newport, Wales. A limited company whose shares are wholly owned by Newport City Council, it is one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom.
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![]() Alexander Dennis Enviro200 in Sudbrook in July 2014 | |
Parent | Newport City Council |
---|---|
Founded | July 1, 1901 |
Headquarters | Corporation Road, Newport |
Locale | Newport, Wales |
Service area | South Wales |
Service type | Bus |
Routes | 45[1] |
Destinations | Cardiff Chepstow Monmouth Newport Retail Park Newport railway station Cribbs Causeway Bristol |
Hubs | Newport bus station |
Fleet | Diesel 75 OmniCity 7 Trident 2 7 Olympian 6 Meridian 5 Enviro400 Electric 15 Yutong E12 (ordered) Midibus 18 Enviro200 18 ALX200 |
Annual ridership | 7.6 million[1] |
Fuel type | Diesel Electric |
Operator | Newport Transport Limited[2] |
Chair Managing Director | Cllr Debbie Harvey[3] Scott Pearson[4] |
Website | www |
History
In 1901, the Newport Corporation took over the town's horse-drawn bus service, establishing a municipal bus operation.[5]
Motorbus services began in April 1924,[6] although the corporation was prohibited from running services beyond Rogerstone and Langstone without the assent of local councils by the Newport Corporation Act 1925.[5][7] This prohibition was removed in 1981, allowing then-Newport Borough Council to operate more extensive services.[5][8]
By 1985, the Borough Transport Department held responsibility for the town's bus services.[9][10] Following passage of the Transport Act 1985, which deregulated the UK bus network and required local councils to transfer the functions of their bus operations to commercial entities, a stand-alone company limited by shares was incorporated on 10 March 1986.[2] Initially named Newport Buses Ltd, the company was renamed Newport Transport Ltd on 9 October 1986,[2] before formally taking over operation of bus services in Newport from the Borough Transport Department on 26 October 1986.[9]
In the 1980s, Newport Transport was the largest operator of Scanias in the United Kingdom.[11] It also operated Renault 50 midibuses.[12]
The bus operation was rebranded from Newport Transport to Newport Bus in 2011.
After receiving a £1m grant from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles in February 2019,[13] the company placed an order for 15 fully-electric, zero-emission E12 buses from Yutong. The first demonstrator vehicle, funded by the grant, began operating in August 2019,[14] with the remaining vehicles expected to enter service in 2020.[15][16]
On 1 March 2020, the company introduced the Ticketer contactless payment system on all its routes, a system used by Cardiff Bus since 2018, enabling payment by card and NFC-enabled devices, as well as recognition of QR codes from paper day/week tickets.[17][18] The company also aims to provide ticket sales and journey tracking though a mobile app in the first half of 2020, to be followed by real-time bus information.[18]
Services
Newport Bus operates a network of services from Newport bus station throughout the city; services extended as far as Chepstow in the east, Monmouth in the north, and Cardiff in the west.[19] The service to Cardiff is operated in partnership with Cardiff Bus.[20]
As of 4 January 2021, Newport Bus operates TrawsCymru route T7 that operates from Chepstow to Bristol via Cribbs Causeway.[21]
As of 2020, discussions are ongoing with Transport for Wales for the network to form part of the South Wales Metro rail and bus project.[22]
The company also offers various commercial transport services.
Livery
The original pre-war livery of maroon was changed to green and cream in the 1940s[23] and remained the same until August 2009, when it was replaced with a livery of dark green and white with lime green and grey logos at the rear. From 2018, a new livery of all-over green was introduced.
Gallery
- Metro-Scania at Newport bus station in 1976
- Scania OmniCity at Cardiff Central bus station in May 2014
- Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Cardiff in April 2015
References
- "About Newport Bus". Newport Bus. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Newport Transport Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- https://democracy.newport.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=62
- "A Christmas Message". Newport Bus. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- Millier, Noel (5 September 1981). "Newport plays the Scania variations". Commercial Motor. pp. 27–29. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Cardiff and Newport as Bus Centres". Commercial Motor. 3 April 1928. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Bus Developments in South Wales". Commercial Motor. 4 August 1925. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
These [extra-boundary] services are to be established under the newly obtained powers of the authority under which the assent of the local councils concerned in the routes had to be obtained.
- "The Newport (Revocation of Restrictions) Order 1981". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- Newport Transport Limited. Newport Transport Limited, Directors Report on the Accounts for the Period 10th March 1986 to 31st March 1987 (PDF) (Report). Companies House. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "About Newport Transport". Newport Transport. Archived from the original on 5 December 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Newport sticks with Scanias". Commercial Motor. 20 September 1986. p. 20. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Renault order well received". Commercial Motor. 7 January 1988. p. 17. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Electric buses for Cardiff and Caerphilly win funding". BBC News. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- Bird, Nelli (19 August 2019). "Electric buses: Wales' first to hit the roads in Newport". BBC News. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Announcing our own fleet of zero emission fully electric buses" (Press release). Newport Transport. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Newport Transport orders electric Yutong fleet". Coach & Bus Week. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "Newport Bus to launch contactless fare payment from Sunday". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- "Make the switch to zero emissions with Newport Bus". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- "Journey Planner - Route Timetable 2020". Newport Bus. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- "New Service X30". Newport Transport. 19 November 2007. Archived from the original on 1 January 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- https://www.newportbus.co.uk/traws-hafren-t7-route
- Barry, Sion (7 December 2015). "The South Wales Metro project explained". walesonline. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
- Thomas, DB; Thomas, EA (1982). Trams and Buses of Newport 1845 to 1981. ISBN 0903434482.