Sunday bus services set for Gower this year

SUNDAY bus services are being re-launched on Gower to help boost tourism in the region.

Swansea Council has successfully bid for funding from the Welsh Government-led Visit Wales initiative to launch the public transport service, which will start from Sunday May 3 and run through to October 4.

The service is set to be operated by New Adventure Travel who already run weekday services to Gower.

The service will operate in a similar way to the Gower Explorer which has run during the summer months for the last four years.

Popular tourist hotspots including Rhossili, Port Eynon, Oxwich and Llangennith will all be included on the route, giving visitors more flexible options for using public transport at weekends.

Cllr Mark Thomas, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment & Transportation, said: “This is excellent news. Gower is very important to Swansea in terms of tourism and we need to do what we can to attract visitors to the area.

“Public transport is sometimes the only option for some people who want to visit Gower, so I’m delighted that through the spring and summer we will be able to give visitors and residents the option of using these services seven days a week.”

The Sunday Explorer service had previously been coordinated by BayTrans Partnership and was funded via the Swansea Rural Development Plan.

John Davies, of the BayTrans Partnership, said: “It is pleasing that four years of Sunday Explorer has succeeded in putting public transport centre stage in Gower with a 40% passenger growth.  It is no exaggeration to say it has helped showcase Gower to literally the world with over a third of passengers from overseas.

“I am delighted to see it continue and I’d like to acknowledge the strong support from Gower tourism businesses that helped to make this possible.”

Public transport services previously received a boost when the Council teamed up with a community transport operator to provide evening services between parts of Gower and the city centre.

DANSA has been providing the evening service between Gowerton and Llanrhidian for the past 12 months.

Cllr Thomas added: “There isn’t always enough demand for commercial services to operate during the evening along this route, so the community service makes much more sense.”

The new Sunday bus service will operate from Swansea City Bus Station to Rhossili on an hourly basis between 9am and 5pm, and from Rhossili to Swansea between 10.10am and 6pm.