Wales’ Public Transport Priorities All Wrong, Expert Says
The title of this post, is the same as that if this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The Welsh government has got its priorities wrong over public transport, an expert has said.
These five paragraphs outline the story.
Ministers should have improved bus and train services before reducing speeds from 30mph to 20mph on many Welsh roads, said Stuart Cole, Emeritus Professor at University of South Wales.
He said public transport facilities should have been “put in before any other anti-motorist legislation”.
The Welsh government said current arrangements were complex across Wales.
But Prof Cole said the Welsh government had “gone about it the wrong way round” although “what they’ve done is not in itself a bad idea”.
He said he wanted to see Wales emulate the Netherlands, where there’s been massive investment in trains and buses to entice motorists out of their cars.
I agree with Professor Cole and I feel that the Welsh Government’s approach has been all stick and no carrot!
He also criticises the lack of a Welsh travel card.
The article gives a classic example of bad transport planning.
Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire, which happens to be Transport Minister Lee Waters’ constituency, is a good example of how buses and trains are not integrated.
The bus station is a mile away from the train station, and there are no buses linking the two.
In fact there are no buses at all from the railway station.
There must be other examples like this all over the country.
Perhaps we need a UK-wide complaints department for idiocies like this.
The Anonymous Widower 
You forgot to include the link 🙂 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67606584
Denmark too has an integrated bus and train system; the country is divided into zones, and a ticket includes both rail and bus. There is a curious difference with NL though; you can buy a ticket on buses, but in NL only with card not cash, and in DK only with cash not card.
However, both NL and DK are much more urbanised than Wales, and in both the central government is committed to integrated public transport. As stated elsewhere in the article, transport in Wales is only partly devolved, and the Welsh gov doesn’t have the funding to organise an integrated network. I can’t see this improving until either funding is fully devolved, or the UK government is as committed to an integrated system as in most other European countries.
Comment by Peter Robins | December 4, 2023 |
Transport experts and town planners have been on about the lack of integration for decades and its made even worse that the seat of power actually has an integrated transport system which they deny to all other parts of the UK.
Comment by nickrl | December 4, 2023 |
London’s bus maps and information has gone downhill since Peter Hendy left to Chair Network Rail.
Comment by AnonW | December 4, 2023 |
Frankly I dislike the use of Spider Maps alone that TfL first adopted in 2002 in place of the geographical ones they replaced. Yes they have their place but there’s no substitute for having a map that gives you perspective especially if you want to use the London bus services over a longer distance. A printed map is often far more versatile than the use of a smartphone. I also find it regrettable that TfL believe their “all powerful” Route Finder should be regarded as infallible; it’s not.
Comment by fammorris | December 5, 2023
Here in Manchester some tram stops and train stations are near bus stops – others not – often for historic reasons.
OTOH in Edinburgh, apart from Haymarket (tram, train and bus interchange) the bus stops are in between the tram stops, even on Princes Street.
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | December 4, 2023 |
Manchester Piccadilly must be the station in a major city in Europe with the worst bus connections and information.
I arrived once and wanted to get to Oldham’s football ground. No-one had a clue and in the end an Oldham supporter said, it would be two buses, starting at Piccadilly Gardens.
Every major station should have an information kiosk, which knows about buses, trams and hotels, like they do in countries like Germany.
Comment by AnonW | December 4, 2023 |
Oldham AFC can be got to from Piccadilly on one bus and a bit of walking in around an hour (Google maps). The trams can cut some of the walking, but the ground is on the outskirts of a suburban satellite town of Manchester and is poorly served by public transport. Match days aside not much demand.
Founder members of the Premier League Oldham AFC were relegated out of the football league last year after administration, a transfer embargo and HMRC troubles. Not much to see there!
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | December 4, 2023
Most people now get travel information from websites. For the (increasingly smaller) minority that can’t or won’t, it may not always be the best use of limited resources to man information kiosks.
Comment by JohnC | December 4, 2023