(Title Image: South Wales Argus)

The Welsh Government has announced that NHS staff will receive free bus travel for the next three months as a condition of a £69million hardship fund for bus companies. Bus passenger numbers are said to have fallen by 90% since the emergency shutdown period started.

Transport for Wales is already offering free travel for NHS workers, while the hardship fund will also ensure some bus services continue to operate as usual. However, free weekend travel on the long-distance Traws Cymru network and the Anglesey air link have been suspended.

Economy & Transport Minister, Ken Skates (Lab, Clwyd South) said: “Our priority at the moment is to protect the public, people working on public transport and our NHS. We must act now to ensure when the pandemic is over, we will have a bus and rail network to allow us to achieve this ambition.”