'I hope the public don't think that we relish making these tough choices, or that we are happy with them'

Andrew Morgan, the leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, spoke with local democracy reporter Anthony Lewis about some of the challenges and difficult decisions facing his council and others across Wales

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“I HOPE that the public don’t think that we either relish making these tough choices or that we are happy with them.”

That’s the message from the leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Council leader Councillor Andrew Morgan OBE about the recent controversial changes to free school transport in the county borough.

From September 2025, only secondary school and college students who live three or more miles from their school or college qualify for free home to school transport with many parents raising concerns about the safety of children having to walk long distances to school, overcrowded public transport and traffic congestion.

Cllr Morgan said changes to home to school transport was a decision they'd resisted for many years.

He said they consulted about six or seven years ago about making changes but in the end they were able to go back on it before the changes came in.

‘And he said although they've been able to reduce the budget by about £2.5m, they are still bussing thousands more children to school every day than they are expected to or funded for and are spending about £4m a year more on home to school transport than they are funded for or expected to.

Cllr Morgan said there are only two councils in Wales who still do the two-mile distance for secondary but lots of councils have gone down to 1.5 miles for primary and RCT has maintained the two mile distance.

He said: “We treat Welsh and faith exactly the same, we have a generous and robust ALN policy, we still bus people to college and we still bus people for secondary school”

He also mentioned a £100,000 hardship fund they've given to secondary schools for families are struggling for bus money or if they need to buy a second coat or pair of shoes.

Cllr Morgan also mentioned the fact that they've used Shared Prosperity Fund money to bring forward the Welsh Government scheme of £1 bus fare caps for young people aged five to 21.