65 Bus Update
31 August 2024
There are a couple of changes to the 65 Bus Timetable from Monday 2nd September. The early bus from Chepstow has been re-timed to leave Chepstow at 06.35, arriving at Monmouth at 07.30 to provide a connection with the 34 to Ross-on-Wye. The last bus from Monmouth will continue to depart at 17.30 but will run a bit slower and will arrive at Chepstow at 18.25. All 65 Bus services will now be run by Newport Transport.
Full details of the new schedule can be found at 65 & 69 BUS — Penallt Village Website.
27 March 2024
There will be changes to the 65 Bus from 2nd April 2024. From that date, most of the services will be operated by Newport Bus, with only the 07.00 from Chepstow and the 17.30 from Monmouth continuing to be operated by Monmouthshire County Council.
There will be an additional service from Monmouth to Chepstow on Mondays to Fridays and an additional return service on a Saturday. Full details of the new schedule can be found at 65 & 69 BUS — Penallt Village Website.
Newport Bus are intending to use modern electric buses with no tailpipe emissions, so we believe that these changes should be a positive step forward for the 65 Bus.
15 January 2024
Passengers may have heard that Monmouthshire County Council is undertaking a tender process to award contracts for running many of the bus services in the county. This includes our 65 Bus. F65B asked MCC for an update on what is happening and we now know the following.
Bids to run the bus services have been received and are being considered. Where acceptable bids have been received, provisional offers of contracts have been made by MCC and operators have until Tuesday 16th January to confirm their interest. Funding from Welsh Government also has to be confirmed, but this is expected to be forthcoming. New contract arrangements will commence from 1st April.
What does this mean for the 65 Bus? Subject to the outcome of the tender process, there could be a new operator and a new timetable from 1st April. MCC have said that we should know who will be operating the 65 Bus and the new timetable before the end of January. We will pass this information on to you as soon as we know.
Clearly, this will be an unsettling time for all involved in the 65 Bus, so please be understanding during this period of uncertainty.
10 May 2023
Just a couple of further updates on the 65 Bus from the Friends of the 65 Bus:
1. The Leader of Monmouthshire County Council - Cllr Mary-Ann Brocklesby - will be joining us on the 65 Bus on Thursday 11th May and will be travelling on the 10.30 from Monmouth to Chepstow and returning on the 11.15 from Chepstow to Monmouth. This is an important event for us all as bus services in Wales are very much in the political spotlight at the moment and we need to use this opportunity to demonstrate just how vital the 65 Bus is to our communities. If you are able to join us on the bus as it travels along the route on one of these services that would be very welcome and if you could also encourage other regular users to do the same that would provide just the support that we need on the day to demonstrate the value and the further potential of the 65 Bus.
2. We are pleased to have received an update from Monmouthshire County Council on paying for bus fares. Whilst we welcomed the introduction of contactless payments by credit and debit, we were concerned about their intention to go completely cashless. They have now confirmed that cash payments will continue to be accepted alongside contactless. This change was brought about by a parent directly raising her concerns with MCC that her child would no longer be able to travel home on the 65 Bus from after school activities as she did not have access to a payment card. Demonstrates the value of feedback!
The new electric bus entered service yesterday (17th April 2023). It is likely to operate the afternoon services to start with as there is still some work to do on installing the new chargers. It is smooth and comfortable with zero emissions, so an important step forward.
The 65 Bus is now equipped to accept contactless payment and MCC have decided to also move the service to cashless as of 17th April. If you know of anyone who will find it difficult to use the service as a result, then please let the friends of the 65 bus know.
The friends are concerned about a general threat to bus services in Wales due to a proposal by the Welsh Government to withdraw the emergency funding that was provided during the pandemic at the end of July and the mInister has talked about this resulting in only a "skeleton bus network" being retained across Wales. They have been contacting elected representatives to emphasise to them the importance of all bus services and to ask them to take concerns to the MInister responsible.
Proposals are explained in these links: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-64798117 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65155786