Ambitious bus reform promised for Wales

Transport Action Network Cymru (TAN Cymru) [1] is welcoming today’s publication of a White Paper to re-regulate buses by the Welsh Government [2]. It offers an opportunity to provide cheaper, better coordinated services, better serving the needs of the many rural communities as well as larger towns and cities.  

In Wales, especially in rural areas, the bus is often the main alternative to the private car. Yet, bus services are notoriously unreliable, expensive, with impractical timetables, while competition between providers doesn’t work for passengers. 

Paula Renzel, Welsh roads and climate campaigner for Transport Action Network Cymru said:

“We strongly welcome today’s announcement. It’s a long overdue step to providing bus services that are fit for purpose. 80% of bus users do not own a car and are almost totally reliant on buses to get to work, see friends and lead fulfilling lives. Yet the bus network has been letting them down for far too long, leaving many people stranded.

“It’s good to see the Welsh Government being ambitious while learning from the complex systems set up in England and Scotland. This should hopefully allow them to deliver improvements more quickly than in England. There, 5 years after the legislation was passed no new franchising has yet taken place. 

“We look forward to the day when a reliable and accessible bus network will form the backbone of an affordable and sustainable transport network. This will be essential if we are going to put people before profit. We need to make it easy for everyone to do the right thing to reduce transport emissions quickly enough [3].

“This will require the Welsh Government to deliver these changes without delay. They also need to back them with the necessary funding to provide the services that are desperately needed”