Swansea
Swansea business leaders support council’s free bus offer

Businesses leaders in Swansea are calling on the public to make the most of the city’s local attractions when a new free bus travel offer starts.
Swansea Council has announced plans to offer free travel on buses for everyone throughout August in a bid to get the city back on its feet. The travel initiative is part of the Council’s wider recovery plans which will see £20million invested back into services.
From July 30, all bus journeys which start and end in Swansea will be free to everyone using buses. The offer will be available from Friday – Monday all through August.
Rob Stewart, Leader of Swansea Council, said: “The public response to our announcement has been fantastic so far. Everyone understands what this means in terms of giving our residents support over the summer. It also means we can support local businesses and our leisure and tourism industry by providing free transport to many of these destinations.
“The past 16 months have been really difficult for everyone but now as we emerge from the Covid restrictions we want to do everything we can to support residents and businesses to recover and succeed post pandemic.”
Organisations involved in tourism, leisure and business have since praised the free travel plans, urging the public to get behind it.
Nic Beggs, Swansea Area Manager for Freedom Leisure, said: “Opening up free bus travel across Swansea is certainly going to help the local population get around the region.
“Freedom Leisure would certainly hope this makes it easier to visit a local leisure centre or access the city centre to visit the LC Swansea’s waterpark. I could certainly see this improving our carbon footprint which is certainly a focus for Freedom Leisure as an organisation’

Stephen Crocker, Chair of Tourism Swansea Bay, said: “Great to see such an opportunity for Swansea people to explore Gower and the surrounding area during the summer period.
“There is no excuse why everyone can’t visit destinations such as the beaches, the Gower Heritage Centre, Mumbles Pier and Clyne Park and enjoy the summer weather.
“Also people can come into town if they wish and visit attractions like the Plantasia which is a great venue for families.”

Adam Keen, Managing Director of New Adventure Travel, one of the bus companies helping to provide the free service said: “We are extremely pleased that Swansea Council has created this promotion, which will encourage bus use and help to get the public transport sector back on track after a very difficult 18 months.
“This kind of proactive, positive promotion of bus services is exactly what is needed and I hope to see much more of it across Wales.”
Transport for Wales
New trains for Wales and Borders services go on show

Brand new trains that aim to transform services across Wales and the English borders have been on show today at Chester railway station.
Assembled by CAF at their factory in Newport, the first Class 197 train with its ‘Made in Wales’ tag was revealed to the public today (Friday 1 July), offering a taste of what’s to come for customers in the next few months.
TfW are spending £800 million on new trains throughout their network and the Class 197 will be the first of the brand-new stock to enter service in North Wales before the end of this year.
Providing an increase in capacity, reduced emissions and enhanced comfort onboard, these trains will allow TfW to run faster and more frequent services to key routes including services in South West Wales – Manchester to Milford Haven, Cardiff to Fishguard and Swansea to Pembroke Dock.
Offering leather seats, modern air conditioning systems, wider doors and customer information screens, the new trains will transform the customer experience. They’ve also been fitted with electronic charging points and disability features for those with limited mobility.
The Deputy Minister for Climate Change with responsibility for Transport, Lee Waters said: “I am pleased to welcome the new Class 197 trains to the rail network. These new vehicles represent a real transformational improvement on the trains that they will be replacing, providing comfortable and frequent services, encouraging people to leave their cars behind and move onto a more sustainable form of transport.”
Alexia Course, TfW’s Director of Transport Operations, said: “At Transport for Wales we’re continually moving forward with our transformational plans to improve public transport for the people of Wales and the borders.
“The Class 197s on show at Chester railway station today will be an important part of the transformation of the Wales and Borders network, and when they enter service, they will enable us to run more services and carry more customers in comfort.
“The construction of our new trains has been four years in the making, and customers and colleagues are incredibly excited to welcome passengers onto them from later this year.
“It’s also important to recognise that these trains have been made in Wales at the CAF factory in Newport and the building of them has provided jobs and supported the local economy”.
Richard Garner, UK Director CAF said: “CAF is thrilled that the first of our Class 197 trains for the Wales and Borders network has been officially launched.
“We are immensely proud of our key role in delivering Transport for Wales’ vision to transform rail travel for passengers.
“The manufacture of our trains is taking place at our state-of-the-art facility in Newport, South Wales. We see ourselves as a local manufacturer, supporting highly skilled jobs and bringing employment opportunities to the local area whilst focusing on sustainability issues and addressing the needs of the Welsh economy.
Our trains are being built in Wales to serve the Welsh communities”
(Lead image: Transport for Wales)
Education
Pontarddulais school’s physical education department supported by Amazon

A comprehensive school in Pontarddulais has received a £1,000 donation from the Amazon fulfilment centre in Swansea.
Pontarddulais Comprehensive School plans to use the donation to purchase new safety mats for use in PE lessons.
They say this will allow their pupils to enjoy activities such as gymnastics and inspire more pupils to follow in the footsteps of their peers who have recently succeeded at a national level.
Christopher Law, General Manager at Amazon in Swansea, said: “At Amazon, we recognise the value of extra-curricular development, and we are pleased to lend a helping hand to Pontarddulais Comprehensive School with this donation. We wish the school well as it seeks to inspire and engage the leaders of tomorrow through both academic and physical education.”
Nigel Hughes, who is an engineer at Amazon in Swansea and put the school forward for the donation, added: “My children receive a fantastic education and genuine support at Pontarddulais Comprehensive School, and it’s great that Amazon is providing this donation to help fund new equipment.”
Julie Evans, Area Coordinator for Health and Wellbeing at Pontarddulais Comprehensive School, said: “We want to thank Christopher and the Amazon team in Swansea. This kind and generous donation will support us in continuing to create the high-quality facilities required for a first-class educational experience. It will be a great addition allowing us to strengthen and expand our school’s physical activity opportunities.”
The donation to Pontarddulais Comprehensive School was made as part of Amazon’s programme to support the communities in and around its operating locations across the UK.
(Lead image: Pontarddulais Comprehensive School)
Lifestyle
Swansea man’s delight as he scoops combined £37,000 cash-and-car prize

A Swansea man who was feeling lucky during the working week was left in a state of delighted disbelief on finding out he had won a combined £37,000 cash-and-car prize with online competitions company BOTB.
Anthony Brain from Swansea could not believe his luck when BOTB’s Christian Williams picked up the phone to let him know he was the winner of its Midweek Lifestyle competition.
Anthony, who works for Swansea-based automotive products company Marelli, scooped a brand new BMW 128ti, as well as a cash prize of £2,000.
After recovering from his initial shock, Anthony said: “It’s absolutely unbelievable – I’m over-the-moon and still on a real high from it. It’s rare that I take part in the Midweek Lifestyle Competition – I think I’ve only entered it once or twice before – but I was feeling lucky during the working week, so thought ‘why not?’ When I got the call to say I’d won, I was stunned.
“Being a car enthusiast, I’m really excited about winning the car but the cash is brilliant too. We’ve already booked some holidays with some of the winnings, including to Italy and Florida. It’s nice to have something to look forward to.”
Anthony said his prize win has prompted colleagues to throw their hat in the ring and give BOTB’s competitions a go.
He added: “The thing is you’ve got to be in it to win it – and I think once you know someone who has won, you feel more hopeful that you could be in with a chance. I’d encourage anyone thinking about entering to try it for themselves.”
Other recent winners have bagged a motorbike, a luxury holiday to Barbados and £15,000 in cash.
The company, listed on the stock market, was founded by William Hindmarch in 1999 and has given away more than £47m worth of cars so far.
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