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A subsidised bus service connecting Blackwood town to Ystrad Mynach railway station will stop from Saturday July 22, the council has confirmed.

Funding of £120,000 for the Rail Linc 901 service was scrapped by councillors as part of this year’s council budget in February.

Caerphilly County Borough Council blamed falling passenger numbers, brought on by the pandemic, for the reason behind its axing.

In the 2022/23 financial year, the council paid a subsidy of £13.43 per passenger using the service, a cost it said which has continued to rise due to economic pressures.

Scrapping the subsidy was first proposed back in 2019 as part of the council’s draft budget for 2020/21.

At the time, the service cost the council the equivalent of £4.64 per passenger.

Jonathon Coles, manager of Adventure Travel, which runs the 901, confirmed the service will stop all together once the funding stops.