Laughs, heartache and the winding road: life stories aboard a community bus in rural Wales

Dial-a-Ride is a UK community transport service assisting people – largely the elderly – when ordinary public transport is either unsuitable or unavailable. In this short documentary, the UK filmmakers George Cowie and Tom Huntingford spend two weeks on a Dial-a-Ride bus as it traverses rural South Wales, engaging with the driver and passengers about their perspectives on life and old age. While lively and frequently funny, the film quickly reveals itself to be about more than just the charm of those on board, as the passengers open up about past hardships, revealing how they’ve struggled and coped with trauma and loss. The result is a hearty and heartfelt – a genuinely unique road-trip film.