The Party of Wales Arfon Standing up for the people of Arfon

The County Councillor for Gerlan, Bethesda, is delighted that bus company, Arriva, has listened to local pleas to restore a bus service from Bangor to Gerlan from the first of November.

“We all understood when bus services were reduced during the lockdown over the summer and that the bus from Bangor would terminate in Bethesda during that period” explained Councillor Paul Rowlinson, who represents Gerlan on Gwynedd Council.

“But when the new timetable was published in September, we saw that the company intended to make that a permanent change. This would have caused major problems to people living in Gerlan who depend on the bus, particularly older people.

“The village is at the top of a hill and it is hard to walk home when you are struggling with heavy shopping. It was unfair to people in Gerlan for the bus service to terminate in Bethesda.”

Councillor Rheinallt Puw, who represents the Ogwen Ward, added: “It is important that public services are available to all the people in Dyffryn Ogwen. It is vitally important that we make it easy for people to use public transport when the pandemic is over, for the sake of the environment too.

They were supported by their fellow Plaid Cymru members, Siân Gwenllian, Member of the Senedd for Arfon and Hywel Williams MP, who had also pressed Arriva to restore the service to Gerlan.

Councillor Rowlinson concluded: “I’m delighted that Arriva has listened to us and agreed that six buses a day will make the journey all the way up to Gerlan from the first of November. The bus will travel to Gerlan every two hours during the day, which will be a great help to the people of this area. I am grateful to everyone for working together to find a solution.”