Newport Bus (the operating name of Newport Transport Limited) is the main provider of bus services in the city of

Newport, Wales Newport ( ) is a city and Principal areas of Wales, county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. The population grew considerably between the 2011 and the 2021 Unit ...

. A

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

whose shares are wholly owned by

Newport City Council Newport City Council () is the governing body for Newport, one of the principal areas of Wales. It consists of 51 councillors, who represent the city's 20 wards. The council is currently, and has historically been, held by the Labour Party. ...

, it is one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom.

History

In 1901, the Newport Corporation took over the town's horse-drawn bus service, establishing a municipal bus operation. Motorbus services began in April 1924, although the corporation was prohibited from running services beyond

Rogerstone Rogerstone (, meaning "Black house") is a large village and community (parish) in Newport, Wales. The area is governed by Newport City Council. The village falls within the ancient parish of Bassaleg and historic county of Monmouthshire. ...

and Langstone without the assent of local councils by the Newport Corporation Act 1925. This prohibition was removed in 1981, allowing then-Newport Borough Council to operate more extensive services. By 1985, the Borough Transport Department held responsibility for the town's bus services. Following passage of the

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October 1986. The act was created as a response to growing ...

, which

deregulated Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental Economic regulation, regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 19 ...

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. Initially named Newport Buses Ltd, the company was renamed Newport Transport Ltd on 9 October 1986, before formally taking over operation of bus services in Newport from the Borough Transport Department on 26 October 1986. In the 1980s, Newport Transport was the largest operator of Scanias in the United Kingdom. It also operated Renault 50

midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...

es. The bus operation was rebranded from Newport Transport to Newport Bus in 2011. After receiving a £1 million grant from the

Office of Low Emission Vehicles An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road and rail vehicles, electric boats and submersibles, electric aircraft a ...

in February 2019, the company placed an order for 15 fully-electric, zero-emission

Yutong E12 The Yutong E10, also sold as the longer Yutong E12, is a battery electric single-decker bus manufactured by Yutong in Zhengzhou since 2016 for both Chinese and international bus operators. The Yutong E10 debuted in China in 2016, transporting ...

buses. The first demonstrator vehicle, funded by the grant, began operating in August 2019, with the remaining vehicles entering service in 2020, the first electric buses to operate in Wales. Following additional funding of £2.8 million from the UK

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

(DfT) and commercial partnerships, a further 16 Yutong vehicles were ordered in April 2021. On 1 March 2020, the company introduced the Ticketer

contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) for making sec ...

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. 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. However, Newport Bus does not currently allow "tap-on, tap-off" payment, unlike Cardiff Bus and Stagecoach South Wales; contactless payments are accepted for printed tickets, but there is no cap system. On 18 May 2020, in partnership with

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...

(TfW), and its parent local council, Newport Bus transferred some of its routes to Fflecsi, a

demand responsive transport Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

service in the city, in which Newport Bus continues to operate the service but is commanded by TfW. The scheme is to end on 25 September 2022.

Services

Newport Bus operates a network of services from Newport bus station throughout the city; services extend as far as

Chepstow Chepstow () is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western end of the ...

in the east, including three local services within Chepstow,

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

in the north, and

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

in the west. Route 30 to Cardiff is operated in partnership with Cardiff Bus. As of 4 January 2021, Newport Bus operates TrawsCymru route T7 from Chepstow to Bristol via Cribbs Causeway. , discussions are ongoing with TfW for the network to form part of the

South Wales Metro The South Wales Metro () is an integrated heavy rail, light rail and bus-based public transport services and systems network being developed in South East Wales around the hub of railway station.The development will also include the electrif ...

rail and bus project. The company operates Fflecsi services in two zones (1 and 26) centred on

and

St. Julian's Saint Julian's () is a town in the Eastern Region of Malta. As of 2020, its registered number of inhabitants stands at 13,792. It is situated along the coast, north of the country's capital, Valletta. It is known for tourism-oriented businesse ...

respectively (overlapping in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

), which replaced solely operated Newport Bus routes 1, 1B, 11A and 11C in Zone 1, and 26A and 26C in Zone 2. The service is a trial project, but was extended beyond the initial time frame for a further year following funding by TfW. The Fflecsi scheme is to end after 25 September 2022 and Newport Bus has introduced or amended other routes from 4 September 2022 as a replacement. Newport Bus operates four tendered services in the

Forest of Dean District Forest of Dean is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in west Gloucestershire, England, named after the Forest of Dean. Its council is based in Coleford, Gloucestershire, Coleford. Other towns and villages in the district inc ...

on behalf of

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in England. The council was created in 1889. The council's principal functions are county roads and rights of way, social servi ...

. These are: 72 (Chepstow - Lydney - Cinderford - Mitcheldean); C4 (Chepstow - Sedbury - Beachley); 710 (Cinderford town circular); 711 (Buckshaft - Cinderford - The Pludds). 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 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

File:Newport Bus Station - geograph.org.uk - 1781614.jpg, Metro-Scania at Newport bus station in 1976 File:NEWPORT TRANSPORT - Flickr - secret coach park (10).jpg, Scania OmniCity at Newport bus station May 2013 File:Newport Bus in Cardiff Central station.JPG,

Scania OmniCity The Scania OmniCity is an integrally constructed Transverse engine, vertically-engined Low-floor bus, low floor city bus that was available from Scania AB, Scania on the European market between 1996 (across Europe)/1997 and 2012. The OmniCity ...

at Cardiff Central bus station in May 2014

References

External links

Newport Bus website
{{Coord, 51, 35, 12.515, N, 2, 58, 57.83, W, display=title Bus operators in Wales Bus operators in Bristol Companies based in Newport, Wales Companies owned by municipalities of Wales Transport companies established in 1901 Transport in Caerphilly County Borough Transport in Newport, Wales Transport in Torfaen 1901 establishments in Wales