After looking at some of the blunders and missed opportunities when it comes to transport, it’s time for the “good news” – strategies and policies that the Welsh and UK governments have successfully pursued over the years.
There’ll be a break of a few weeks before the next part, so you can go through the previous pieces to catch up here:
Three regional “metro” networks have been proposed: South Wales, Swansea Bay and North Wales. While work is already underway on the South Wales Metro, the other two are in development with provisional plans being drawn up until 2029.
As a cynical person, it’s easy to consider the Swansea and North Wales proposals to be “danglers”: something politicians and governments dangle in front of you, and do enough work on to convince you that something is happening behind the scenes, but keep it in development hell for eternity.
Another somewhat pedantic (but important) point, is that none of the three will be a “metro system” in the truest definition of the word – which to most people means a very high frequency mass transit service on a segregated system (i.e. underground). The tram train element of the South Wales Metro is what German-speaking countries call an “S-Bahn”.
Cynicism and scepticism to one side, it’s the first serious attempt in Wales at developing fully integrated regional transport networks; and most transport movements in Wales often happen within a region, not cross country and – northeast aside – not usually cross-border either.
Until now, most public transport projects in Wales have been developed in isolation from each other, usually to fix a localised problem. So you’ll have a bus lane built in one area to deal with a junction with little consideration given to the routes the buses take. Similarly, a new railway station will be built with no consideration for how it links to other forms of public transport or active travel.
While that’s fine in most cases, the metros – as proposed – do at least try to consider all forms of public transport (and active travel) at the same time with a view to them being joined-up. That’s something Londoners, Scousers, Geordies and Mancs currently take for granted. While bus services are still not fully at the heart of this in the way that they should be (Part III), it’s a big step forward.
There’ll be a long wait for many – and a hell of a lot of inconvenience along the way -but just give it some time. I just hope they don’t fumble things for Swansea Bay and the north.
