Initially, the local councils let interim contracts to maintain bus services in the area. One of these, a subsidised version of service 40, was jointly operated by First Cymru and Lewis Coaches. Service 50 was replaced by a new service titled X50 operated by Richards Brothers, also funded by the council. Both these interim services commenced operation on 23 December 2013. These interim contracts did not include any Sunday services, meaning that as of Sunday 15 December there were no Sunday bus services operating in Ceredigion (a single round trip between Aberystwyth and Cardiff is provided by the 701 service, but that is a coach not a bus). Neither of these contracts were for TrawsCymru services, but as interim services they were intended to run for approximately six months, until the Summer of 2014, whilst the Wales Government looked at options for the longer term future of nationally strategic transport services.