Barry: Buses to arrive at interchange next year

The hub was built to bring more people to the docks area of Barry, but buses have yet to stop there

A £3m bus hub at which a bus has yet to stop is to get some next year.

Vale of Glamorgan Council announced the Adventure Travel B3 bus service will start from Barry Transport Interchange from 8 January.

The service between Cadoxton and Barry will be the first to run from there since the first part of the project was finished in the summer.

Council Plaid Cymru leader, Ian Johnson, said one service was not enough.

He said: "The aim of the bus station was to have a regular connection between buses and trains at Barry Docks.

"And while it's good to have the new service, if you know that you could spend an hour waiting for the bus because of a train delay, you're probably not going to take the risk."

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The council-funded service will run seven times a day instead of eight - which the authority said would improve reliability and punctuality.

Mr Johnson said: "If we have eight trains an hour at Barry Docks but only seven buses a day then it's going to be pot luck whether a bus is there waiting for you."

There needed to be, he believed, more services from the facility, which is next to Barry Docks train station.

Adventure Travel's number 88 service was originally planned to take passengers to and from the hub but that did not happen.

And hopes Cardiff Bus might operate from it failed to come to fruition.

The council's sustainable places cabinet member, Bronwen Brooks, said the changes to the timetable would make the service more reliable.

"A large number of residents depend on bus transport to travel around the county, which is why we want to provide a more useful, effective service," she said.