Confusion Reigns over who is responsible for Trawscymru bus service timetables

Copies Welsh MPs,Welsh Assembly Members, Ceredigion Council Members, Powys Council members, Gwynedd Council members, Carmarthenshire Council members, Aberystwyth Town Council members

Dear Editor,

Could you please consider this letter for inclusion in the Cambrian News .  In view of the subject matter covering Gwynedd, Powys, Ceredigion ,Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire it may be of interest to all readers in those Counties

Yours Sincerely

Dr John McTighe

Confusion Reigns over who is responsible for Trawscymru bus service timetables

Madam ,

The Welsh Government and Ceredigion Council have different views over who is responsible for Trawscymru bus service timetables.

I recently asked the Welsh Government and Ceredigion Council to consider a change to the departure time of the T1C (Aberystwyth to Cardiff coach service introduced in April 2018) from 9.30 to 9.25 and asked for more T1C services to be provided  . The change was requested in order to improve connectivity in Carmarthen of the T1C service from Aberystwyth with the T1S service to Swansea where there is currently only 3 minutes to connect and also to allow passengers from Gwynedd and Powys to use the T1C service.   Ceredigion Council manage the T1C contract.

On 30/05/2018 Ellen ap Gwynn, Leader of Ceredigion Council  said “”As this service is part of a strategic bus route and is the responsibility of Ken Skates AM, Cabinet Secretary for Economic Development and Transport, I suggest that you refer this matter to him directly.””.   This off-hand response of Ellen ap Gwynn is clearly wrong as Ceredigion Council have a responsibility to obtain the best services possible for residents and passengers travelling through Ceredigion and they manage the T1C contract.  Ellen ap Gwynn should be writing to Ken Skates.

On  05/06/2018 the Welsh Government said that “the operation and timetable of Trawscymru bus services are the responsibility of the contracting Local Authority”. The Welsh Government  response  appears to have changed since 2016,  when Ceredigion Council objected to a proposed change in departure time of the T1 service in Aberystwyth to improve connectivity between T2 and T1 services . They objected on the basis that Ceredigion Council  were partners in the T1 contract, which was managed by Carmarthenshire Council .  Now there appear to be no partners to Trawscymru contracts and the Welsh Government named the contracting Local Authority for service T1 as Carmarthenshire, T1C as Ceredigion ,T2 as Gwynedd,  T3 as Gwynedd,  T5 as Ceredigion.  If passengers have a problem with Trawscymru service timings on these routes then, according to the Welsh Government,  they should approach the relevant contracting Local Authority.

However this lack of clarity over responsibility means that changes to improve Trawscymru services cannot be progressed.  In the case of connecting services in Aberystwyth there are 2  contracting Local Authorities and responsibility is even more blurred.  This is something that needs to be addressed and I would suggest that Elin Jones, AM for Ceredigion and Llwyd in the Welsh Assembly whose job is to hold the Welsh Government to account should approach both Ken Skates and Ellen ap Gwynn and arrange for both to make a clear statement on who is responsible for connectivity of Trawscymru services in Aberystwyth.   In my view responsibility for connectivity of 2 Trawscymru services can only lie with the Welsh Government who make decisions on the Trawscymru network and who have employed a consultant since 2010 (Professor Stuart Cole) whose role includes chairman of the Welsh Transport Strategy Group and advising on Trawscymru operations and route development.  Passengers from Gwynedd and Powys cannot currently use the T1C coach service from Aberystwyth to Cardiff because the T2 service from Dolgellau arrives in Aberystwyth at 9.30 and the T1C departs at 9.30 and the 2 services are NOT connecting according to the Welsh Government.  Until the Welsh Government, Ceredigion Council , Gwynedd Council and Carmathenshire decide who is responsible for connectivity of T2/T1/T1C and T5 services in Aberystwyth, this ridiculous situation will continue,  as it will for all other non connecting Trawscymru services through Aberystwyth of which there are many.

The lack of Trawscymru connectivity in Aberystwyth is entirely due to the 15 minute delays being applied to the T2 services (Bangor to Aberystwyth)  in Dolgellau to wait for late T3 services from Wrexham.  The T3 Wrexham to Barmouth service is inefficient (the route unaltered for 53 years and 42 % of the route is diversions off the direct route). T3 Services are frequently late and the 15 minute delays to the T2 services in Dolgellau to wait for late T3 services are often pointless because the T3 from Wrexham does not arrive as it is  more than 15 minutes late.  The contracting Local Authority for both the T2 and T3 services is Gwynedd Council and Ceredigion Council and Carmarthenshire Council are the contracting Local Authorities who are suffering loss of connectivity to services in Aberystwyth as a result of the 15 minute T2 delays.  This emphasises to me that the Welsh Government should be addressing connectivity problems and not individual Councils, who wash their hands of any responsibility,  as Ceredigion Council have just done in relation to the T1C.

The Welsh Government also indicated on  05/06/2018 that they would consider funding for additional T1C bus services from Aberystwyth to Cardiff.  This may be another empty promise,  like the promise on 14/11/2017,  when Ken Skates, in a letter to Alun Williams, Ceredigion Councillor responsible for Transport, said that he would commission a review into a Trawscymru Aberystwyth to Wrexham service.  This review, which was first recommended in 2013,  has still not been carried out and both Ceredigion Council and Elin Jones have still refused to approach the Welsh Government to get it started.  No doubt Elin Jones will push for the additional funding for extra T1C coach services,  because Elin Jones uses that service , but I would hope that her efforts would also be channelled towards obtaining a Wrexham to Aberystwyth service . A T3 Wrexham to Aberystwyth service would provide a unique link between North East Wales and South and South West Wales,  with the T3 linking to the T5 to Cardiff in Newtown, the T1 to Carmarthen and the T5 to Cardigan/Haverfordwest/Fishguard in Aberystwyth.  Surely Ceredigion Council and Elin Jones must realise that unless they push the Welsh Government  for restoration of connecting services in Aberystwyth  , (which we had before the introduction of the T3 route from Wrexham to Barmouth),  and push for an Aberystwyth to Wrexham route (which was recommended instead of  the Wrexham to Barmouth route in 2013 by the Bevan Foundation Review) then Ken Skates will continue to pour money into his home region of North East Wales, continue to protect the unreliable Wrexham to Barmouth route (where the the whole of the 42% of diversions are for the benefit of his own constituents in South Clwyd)  and ignore Mid and West Wales..

Yours etc

John Mctighe , Llanrhystud