He explained: 'This past month I've spend £18.90 on bus fare, then it has cost me about £40 in taxis when I can't get the bus. Jamie Larkin, who works in Sainsbury's in Bridgend, said he has struggled since the bus driver shortages became an issue. These workers have had hours docked from their pay due to bus times changing and last-minute cancellations, leaving taxis as their only way to get home. Read more: You can find more of our Bridgend stories here.īridgend County Borough Council has asked bus users to plan ahead when travelling for the time being, with NHS and shop workers among some of those impacted. Public transport companies are running some services less frequently due to problems such as drivers moving on to post-lockdown jobs driving heavy goods vehicles, a backlog in processing new licence applications and delays in delivering training for newly qualified staff.Īdditionally, as the Covid rate increases, so does the number of drivers isolating, causing further shortages.Īccording to First Cymru, staff sickness has been double normal levels, while they also face an increase in ill health retirements following the pandemic with many people taking stock of their work life. Key workers have described paying hundreds of pounds in taxi fares and facing growing debt due to difficulties in catching the bus to work.Īn ongoing national shortage of bus drivers has hit the UK, with a perfect storm of different factors creating the problem.ĭelays and adjustments have been made for school transport, however every day commuters have also been impacted as companies, such as First Cymru, have had to temporarily change their services.

Bus licence