Organisers of the Cellan and Llanfair Community Bus project were ‘amazed’ and ‘blown away’ when they found, within only a day of launching it, that their fundraiser had reached its goal of £500.
The organisers of the service, many of whom were members of the 585 action group campaigning against the loss of the service, spent months setting up the Cellan and Llanfair bus project.
The group secured funding through the Llanfair Community Council, and found help training their volunteer drivers from the Dolen Teifi transport organisation, who also provided them with the bus used for the community service. But then they needed to find volunteers to drive the bus.
After months of organisation, the community service launched in the run up for Christmas, and though successful, it wasn’t long before the issue of funding threatened the project.
On 2 January, 2024, an organiser of the project, Martyn King, launched a fundraiser on GoFundme. In only 24 hours, the fundraiser would reach its target of £500.
One of the project’s organisers, Christine Lambert, said: “We were amazed and absolutely blown away by people's generosity in donating to the GoFundMe page, the fundraiser exceeded its target of £500 within 24 hrs. It is still open and now stands at £705.
“The group is reviewing passenger numbers, mileage, costings and feedback from both drivers and passengers on a monthly basis to get a better picture of the use of the bus and the most appropriate timings for passengers.”
“These donations mean the pilot scheme can continue to run well into the spring and hopefully beyond that. This will give us a more complete picture of passenger numbers throughout the seasons and greater flexibility to offer a more regular service to our users.”
Christine said the Community Bus Group had also held a ‘refreshing’ meeting about future funding with Emma Bingham, Senior Development Officer at the Community Transport Association in Wales - an organisation supporting community groups tackling local transport problems.
Christine said: “The members of the Community Bus Group were grateful to Rod Bowen, Dolen Teifi Community Transport Organisation, for arranging a meeting with Emma Bingham, Senior Development Officer with the Community Transport Association in Wales .
“Emma was delighted to meet with us at this very early stage of our pilot scheme and was very positive about the progress to date, especially at this time of year and with limited funds so far.
“It was very refreshing to hear someone who understands the social value of the community bus and not just its financial cost. If the pilot scheme is a success, Emma will be able to help us with sources of funding for the future.”