In 1901, the Newport Corporation took over the town's horse-drawn bus service, establishing a municipal bus operation. Motorbus services began in April 1924, although the corporation was prohibited from running services beyond
Rogerstone and
Langstone without the assent of local councils by the Newport Corporation Act 1925. This prohibition was removed in 1981, allowing then-Newport Borough Council to operate more extensive services. By 1985, the Borough Transport Department held responsibility for the town's bus services. Following passage of the
Transport Act 1985, which
deregulated the UK bus network and required local councils to transfer the functions of their bus operations to commercial entities, a stand-alone company
limited by shares was incorporated on 10 March 1986. It also operated
Renault 50 midibuses. They also introduced their 'Nipper' bus; it was a midibus fleet (smaller buses) operated by Newport Transport The ‘Nipper’ was a branding for the smaller Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 and Dennis Dart SLF vehicles. However, that branding is sadly no longer in use. These compact little buses were well-suited for narrow residential streets, estates, community feeders, and off-peak services. The first ‘Nipper’ bus service was introduced in 1987, and the service originally operated on routes 1A/C and 17A/C/X serving Rogerstone and Mount Pleasant. Late 1980s to 1990s. The ‘Nipper’ branding was in its full glory on midibuses, seen regularly around the town and on Route 30 specials. Early 2000s. There was a continued presence on Route 30 (especially Sunday/evening journeys) with Optare MetroRiders and Dennis Darts. By 2008–2010. As newer low-floor buses came in and Newport Bus unified its fleet livery (2009), the dedicated Nipper branding faded away. they were very useful for short journeys an ideal for going round the various estates in Newport. The bus operation was rebranded from Newport Transport to Newport Bus in 2011. at
Chepstow bus station in 2025 After receiving a £1 million grant from the
Office of Low Emission Vehicles in February 2019, the company placed an order for 15 fully-electric, zero-emission
Yutong E12 buses. The first demonstrator vehicle, funded by the grant, began operating in August 2019, with the remaining vehicles entering service in 2020, the first electric buses to operate in Wales. Following additional funding of £2.8 million from the UK
Department for Transport (DfT) and commercial partnerships, a further 16 Yutong vehicles were ordered in April 2021. Further deliveries of Yutong E12s as well as E10s between 2022 and 2023 would take Newport's total fleet of Yutong electric buses to 44 by May 2023. On 1 March 2020, the company introduced the
Ticketer contactless payment system on all its routes, a system used by
Cardiff Bus since 2018, enabling payment by card and
NFC-enabled devices, as well as recognition of
QR codes from paper day/week tickets. The company also aims to provide ticket sales and journey tracking though a mobile app in the first half of 2020, to be followed by real-time bus information. The scheme ended on 25 September 2022. == Services ==