All aboard for Britain's best bus

Nick Parry
BBC Wales News website

The Gower Explorer was launched in 2004 with a £575,500 grant

Its beaches have long been recognised as some of the best in the UK.

It is fitting, then, that Gower now also has an award-winning bus service to reach them.

It may not quite have the glamour of an Oscar or Grammy, but Swansea Council is celebrating the honour handed out by The Guardian newspaper in the transport section of its annual public service awards.

So is this plaudit deserved? I hopped on a Gower Explorer to find out what makes this trip along the peninsula so special.

Despite its narrow lanes and sometimes remote beauty spots public transport, it seems, is becoming a popular option both for locals and tourists.

However, on a cold and windy December afternoon the latter were always likely to be in short supply.

But among the Christmas shoppers, pensioners and students on board the 116 from Swansea city centre to Penclawdd, there was general agreement that new timetables, greater frequency and improved reliability had brought improvements.

It's a lifeline Mairwen Grove

More than £500,000 has been invested in the Gower Explorer service in the last two years.

It has seen a 16% increase in passengers at a time when other rural routes are being cut due to a lack of numbers.

Mairwen Grove, aged 80, making her twice weekly trip from Crofty on the north Gower coast, said she had no option but to catch the bus.

"We've got a shop in the village but you do need to go into town for lots things so it's very important to have a good bus service," she said.

"When I caught the bus in at 9.30am this morning it was pretty busy - it is most days."

Marketing campaign

The service was launched thanks to a £575,500 transport grant from the Welsh Assembly Government, which the council used to buy a fleet of six buses - four larger ones for the main routes and two small ones for the peninsula's narrow lanes.

It has been backed by a high-profile marketing campaign using the logo "Escape to a special place without a car" and an effort to make the timetables simpler and more relevant to users.

The service is pretty much fine David Bennett

Phillip Johnson, 23, of Penclawdd said: "The buses are every hour now - which is not bad at all.

"Who you have on them depends on the time of year. In the summer you have loads of people going down the Gower, people camping, surfers and families.

"I don't know if it's taken people out of their cars but there are more buses now on Gower."

The buses travel to well-known tourist spots including Mumbles and villages near the more remote beaches including Southgate, Port Eynon and Llangennith.

David Bennett, a student from Penclawdd in his first year at university, said he caught the bus five times a week and sometimes on the weekend as well but was not sure if he would if he had a car.

"The service is pretty much fine - most of the times are good but you sometimes you have to wait an hour - depending what time you finish."