Madam,

In response to the letter in your last issue, from Joyce Porter, regarding Mid Wales Travel bus services, there are a number of issues I would like to clarify.

We are a small family-run company, running mainly commercial services, paid for by fares only. We receive little or no subsidies from the council or Welsh government.

In relation to the 512 Service, this is indeed a commercial service with no council subsidy. We try to keep such services going as best we can but sometimes changes are needed, so that they can survive. The number of passengers travelling on the 512 from Borth has dropped; this is possibly because the train now runs hourly through Borth.

The comment that Penparcau does not have a bus service between 7.30am and 9.05am is inaccurate. The 301 goes through Penparcau at 8:15am and 8:40am. Also the 302 is in Penparcau at 7.46am. Neither of these services receive any subsidy. The T1 service covers Penparcau at 8:15am into Aberystwyth. The T5 is in Penparcau at 7.48am and 8.40am; the 588 service is in Penparcau at 8.15am; the 585 is in Penparcau at 8am. All of these go into Aberystwyth. As for changes in school runs – a small change was made to a particular route in the interests of safety. This change enabled the children to be picked up in a safer location. The children get to school at exactly the same time as before.

I would be interested to know where any ‘dangerous turning around’ of our coaches takes place. We are fully cognisant of our duty of care to the public and to our employees and would never compromise safety.

As for using ‘the shorter route around scary hairpin bends above Llangorwel’, the reason this route was used on three occasions was because of road closures between Bow Street and Clarach.

As for changing the 512 route to go through Tre’r-ddôl and Talybont, we tried to do this in 2011, after consultation with Borth surgery. The service ran between 26 July 2011 and 14 January 2012. Unfortunately it was not supported by the public and had to be discontinued.

Now anyone wishing to travel to Borth from Talybont, can catch the 9.52am X28 and change at Rhydypennau, for the 9.44am 512 from town; making travelling time from Talybont to Borth as little as 30 minutes.

Ms Porter is in a position where she has access to all these details. It is rather unprofessional to make such statements, without first checking the authenticity of the accusations. Ms Porter has signed her letter as Mid Wales area representative for Bus Users Cymru. We have spoken with Bus Users Cymru and they have assured us that this letter does not represent them in any way and the comments made by Ms Porter are her own personal views. We employ 50 local people. Ten out of 13 of our local services are run commercially; only three receive subsidy. Saving fuel and driving hours is a priority for this company; it’s called survival!

Yours etc

Mel Evans

Director

Mid Wales Travel

Penrhyncoch.