New Integrated Bus/Rail tickets removes £10 day return Trawscymru Bus Travel to Swansea.

Dear Editor,

Transport for Wales (Tfw) have announced an integrated train/bus ticket between Aberystwyth and Swansea (See https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/traws)

The publicity states “”you can travel from Aberystwyth to destinations in South Wales with just one ticket. If you’re travelling on our rail service from destinations in South Wales you’ll need to get off at Carmarthen and then swap onto a TrawsCymru T1 service to continue your journey. By travelling on both modes, you can save time and money. A journey from Swansea to Aberystwyth with our integrated ticket saves you £59.20 and it’s 2 hrs 11 mins quicker. “” The claim that the integrated ticket saves money and saves more than 2 hours of journey time is complete nonsense when compared to the all TrawsCymru bus route (T1/T1C/T1S) which existed before the Covid pandemic .

Before the Covid pandemic travel between Swansea and Aberystwyth was provided by the Trawscymru T1S (Swansea to Carmarthen along the M4) linking with the T1 or T1C. The T1S took 52 minutes to travel between Swansea and Carmarthen and linked with either the T1 or T1C (journey time of 2 hours between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth). The total travel time on TrawsCymru buses between Swansea and Aberystwyth was approx 3 hours and the cost was £10 for a Trawscymru day ticket, which covered return travel on all 3 services. Transport for Wales claim that, (by using an integrated train/bus ticket), a £59.20 saving and a journey time 2 hrs 11 mins quicker than the T1/T1C/T1S bus route when the bus route cost was £10 and the journey time was only 3 hours.

The T1S was withdrawn from service on 29/03/2020 due to “the Covid pandemic” and is obviously not returning as the integrated train/bus ticket is being touted as its replacement.

The Tfw publicity also quotes an integrated ticket between Newport (15 miles beyond Cardiff) and Aberystwyth. It will be just a matter of time before Tfw announce the withdrawal of the T1C Aberystwyth to Cardiff service (£10 return) and replace it with an expensive integrated rail/bus ticket .

The T1C/T1 combined with the T1S services were vital to provide a cheap transport link between Aberystwyth and Cardiff/Swansea. Amongst other reasons, the T1S was used by families visiting patients with serious health conditions transferred from West Wales to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

I have written to the MS for Ceredigion to ask that the T1S service is reinstated by the Welsh Government so that passengers from Aberystwyth can still have return travel to Swansea on a £10 day ticket. I have also asked that that the T1C service is protected so that passengers from Aberystwyth can still have return travel to Cardiff on a £10 day ticket.

I would urge Cambrian News readers to write to their own Senedd member and request that the Welsh Government funded T1C and T1S services are retained to serve the residents of West Wales .

Dr John McTighe,

Llanrhystud