Ceredigion Council and Plaid Cymru neglect long distance bus services in West Wales

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Ceredigion Council and Plaid Cymru neglect long distance bus services in West Wales

Madam,

 

I read with interest the article published on 26th April titled “”Aberystwyth to Cardiff bus service extended and improved”” in which Ken Skates is quoted as saying “in 2016 we took on the running of this route and intended to strengthen it” . The article also mentions that a T1S link will be maintained between Aberystwyth , Lampeter , Carmarthen and Swansea.

 

Trawscymru now operate 3 T1 routes , the original T1 from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen , the T1C from Aberystwyth to Cardiff and the T1S which does not depart from Aberystwyth and operates only between Carmarthen and Swansea.  In order for Aberystwyth or Lampeter passengers to use the T1S they need to use the T1 from Aberystwyth and change buses to the T1S in Carmarthen.

 

Far from being “strengthened” the Aberystwyth to Cardiff T1C bus service has been reduced from the original 2 services per day in each direction to 1 service per day. This means passengers from Aberystwyth can visit Cardiff and return on the same day, but passengers from Cardiff only have the option of travelling to Aberystwyth in the evening and returning the following morning.  Clearly Ken Skates believes passengers from Cardiff do not wish to visit Aberystwyth.  Contrast the single Trawscymru service per day from Aberystwyth to Cardiff with the 8 services per day on the Trawscymru T3 service from Wrexham to Barmouth , which is largely for the benefit of Ken Skates constituents in South Clwyd.  The 8 T3 services per day are on a route through South Clwyd, which was considered by the Bevan Foundation review of the Trawscymru network as “non strategic” and that review recommended that the T3 route should run from Wrexham to Aberystwyth and not to Barmouth..

 

The timing of the single Aberystwyth T1C departure at 9.30 also illustrates the Welsh Government’s total disregard for connectivity of the Trawscymru T2/T1 Bangor to Carmarthen services through Aberystwyth.

Following 2 years of complaining regarding the last T2/T1 services of the day not connecting in Aberystwyth, (where the T2 arrived at 18.40 and the T1 departed to Carmarthen at the same time of 18.40) , the Welsh Government solved the problem in January 2018 by changing the T2 from Bangor arrival time in Aberystwyth to 18.50, making it impossible to connect with the 18.40 T1 departure from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen.

The new T1C Aberystwyth to Cardiff service departs at 9.30 and the T2 from Dolgellau arrives in Aberystwyth at 9.30.  This is exactly the same situation as the 18.40 T2/T1 scenario and it is a complete disgrace that connectivity between the T2 and T1C has not been built into this new T1C service.  Passengers from North of Aberystwyth will not be able to use the T2 service to connect with the T1C to Cardiff in Aberystwyth.  The

T2/T1 Bangor to Carmarthen route through Aberystwyth is featured in both the Welsh Government Transport strategy and the independent Bevan Foundation review of the Trawscymru network as requiring improvement in reliability and journey times, yet the route is totally ignored by the Welsh Government.

 

Ceredigion County Council should be actively campaigning for better connectivity of the T2/T1 Bangor to Carmarthen services through Aberystwyth as they are partners to the T1 contract which is managed by Carmarthenshire Council and they are also partners to the T2 contract which is managed by Gwynedd Council.  The fact that they are partners in the contracts has been denied by Ceredigion Council , despite confirmation that they are partners from Gwynedd, Powys and Carmarthenshire Councils . Ceredigion County Council  have also refused to release emails relating to the T2 service changes of January 2018, which were detrimental to T2/T1 connectivity in Aberystwyth .

Ceredigion County Council  have also refused to follow up the commissioning on 14th November 2017, by Ken Skates, of a “high level” review into a Trawscymru T3 service between Wrexham and Aberystwyth, which was covered in a letter from Ken Skates to Councillor Alun Williams .  Ceredigion County Council  have also refused to release emails on the “high level” review into a Trawscymru T3 service between Wrexham and Aberystwyth.

 

Whilst Elin Jones has managed to achieve her objective of a single T1C bus per day with more comfortable seats and an onboard toilet, perhaps now her efforts can be directed to obtaining better service coverage ie a return to two T1C services per day to Cardiff,  improved connectivity on the T2/T1 route through Aberystwyth , and a Trawscymru route from Aberystwyth to Wrexham.  When Ken Skates makes his imminent announcement of his new Trawscymru service in North Wales from Chirk to Bangor via his own constituency of South Clwyd and Wrexham , Elin Jones will be highly embarrassed regarding achieving her single T1C bus objective.

 

It is worth noting that Ceredigion Council are Plaid Cymru led, Elin Jones AM is a member of Plaid Cymru and Elin Jones was asked to raise these issues at the Spring Plaid Cymru Conference.  To date Elin Jones and Plaid Cymru have made no comment  and are following the example of Ceredigion County Council in refusing to take action on these issues, which are hugely important for bus passengers and the economy in West Wales.  Plaid Cymru appear to have adopted the same policy as the Welsh Labour Government to neglect long distance bus services in West Wales.

 

Yours etc, Dr John McTighe, Llanrhystud.


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