New Concessionary Bus Pass has all the hallmarks of a disaster.

For my sins  I volunteer in Beddau and Tynant Community  Library , which due to inspirational leaderships reopened after it was closed by Rhondda Cynon Taf council.

The need for such a facility has become clear in the last weeks,  as we have attempted to deal with enquiries over the change in concessionary bus passes in Wales.

Large numbers of people applying for new free bus passes have crashed part of a government website.

About 730,000 over-65s use concessionary cards in Wales and have until 31 December to sign up for new electronic ones.

Applications opened on Wednesday and Transport for Wales (TfW) reported "high volumes" of traffic to its website.

It told users not to panic as old cards are valid until the end of the year.

TfW, which took over running public transport in Wales last year, wants users to switch to new-style cards, which are recognised on electronic readers so they will "work as part of an integrated travel network in the future".

A statement on its website said: 

"We're experiencing an exceptionally high volume of hits to our new concessionary travel card site."
It added it planned to take down the new website in a bid to "boost the capacity to better manage" the traffic.
The  l www.tfw.wales/travelcards is currently unavailable. We’ve been extensively testing the site and upgrades are now in place. Before we relaunch the site, we’re working with Age Cymru to carry out further user testing and we expect to reopen the online portal early next week (w/c 23 September 2019). 

Given that many people over sixty do not have direct access to the portal anyway , we in the library anticipate helping many to use our computers and this will be repeated throughout Libraries throughout Wales.

TfW here's  may well state that ther eis plenty of time to apply: Your current pass is still valid and will continue to be accepted for travel until 31 December 2019.

A paper application form is available here to download below for you to print at home.  

This week we in Library have handed out about  50 application forms to local residents at acost by us of 20p to cover the cost of printing and paper ( I doubt you will find it cheaper.

Guidance on how to complete the paper application form is also available here. 

Once you’ve completed your application, please double check all the details are correct and post it to: 

Concessionary Travel Card
PO Box 55
Penrhyndeudraeth
LL49 0AY

If this is repeated throughout Wales then I wonder if a PO Box will be able to cope.

It does seem that those running the system have not sufficiently prepared  and may not have enough staff.