Wrexham’s bus station fully re-opens for the first time since start of the pandemic

Wrexham’s bus station has fully re-opened to the public for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Up until this point passengers have only been able to access the outside areas of the station where there is no seating.

Although retail outlets in the bus station have been open for several weeks (and are for sale!), the main waiting area has now re-opened with additional social distancing signage and hand sanitation points in place to ensure that passengers can be reassured of travelling in safety.

However the toilets at the bus station remain closed at this time.

The reopening of the station coincides with the introduction of additional journeys and increased frequencies of local bus routes. Wrexham Council say this has been made possible by Welsh Government who has made available an additional £10 million of funding to enhance scheduled bus service levels throughout Wales.

The council say, “Local bus services are still being operated at reduced capacity in order to comply with social distancing requirements, but with more people returning to work, or making journeys for leisure or shopping, demand on public transport continues to increase.”

“With the expectation of an increase in children using the local bus network to access some schools, Arriva has introduced a number of additional journeys to coincide with the school day times, exclusively for use by scholars, and not being available for the general public to travel on.”

These are detailed as:

• Service 1S Wrexham Bus Station to Darland School, departing the bus station at 0747, 0802, 0810, 0813 and departing Darland School at 1510, 1512, 1514, 1516
• Service 3S Wrexham Bus Station to Penycae (for Ysgol Grango) departing the bus station at 0745, and the departing Penycae (towards Wrexham) at 1544
• Service 5CS Wrexham Bus Station to Llangollen (via Plas Madoc & Cefn Mawr) departing the bus station at 0702, 07320, and departing Llangollen at 1525, 1535 & 1610
• Service 8S Wrexham Bus Station to Caia Parc (via Hightown for Ysgol Morgan Llwyd) departing the bus station at 0806 and service 7S from Ysgol Morgan Llwyd at 1547
• Service 27S Wrexham Bus Station to Mold (for Alun School, Mold) departing the bus station at 0755, and departing Mold at 1543
• Service 33S Wrexham Bus Station to Llay (for Ysgol Bryn Alyn) departing the bus station at 1535

The council also issued a reminder that on all local bus services, and on Wrexham Council provided home to school transport routes face coverings are required to be worn.

Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “This is really welcome news and a sign that we are continuing to see a gradual, but safe, return to normal.

“Please remember, the virus is still in our communities and we all need to take extra care about hygiene and social distancing when using public or home to school transport.

“We don’t want to see restrictions brought back due to an increase in positive cases in Wrexham. We all need to play our part to continue to keep Wrexham safe.”

Cllr Phil Wynn, Lead Member for Education, added: “Some of our pupils regularly use public transport in order to get to school and the additional services for schools will help make sure this continues to be the case.

“Face coverings are required on all commercial services and home to school transport for anyone over the age of 11 and parents are asked to provide their child with a suitable covering.”