The previous piece looked at roads and independence. This time, it’s buses (including community transport).
The current situation (though arguably it’s deteriorated since then) was overviewed in a bit more detail here:
Hammered by the pandemic and cuts, much-maligned and seeming unfashionable – are buses being unfairly overlooked in discussions around transport...
How Wales Works: Bus Services – Funding & Future
There’ve been several Senedd inquiries over the years, plus reports from organisations representing bus operators and bus passengers.
- Deregulation and privatisation of bus services in the 1980s hasn’t increased competition. Instead, legacy companies from the pre-privatisation era inherited a monopoly on certain local bus routes. Unprofitable routes – usually serving isolated communities – are often withdrawn.
- Service stops, routes and frequencies have declined by up to 22% between 2019-2022, with less well-off areas being disproportionately affected1.
- Sustained passenger number declines both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Passenger numbers in 2021-22 were around 50% lower than they were in 2008-092. There’s been a very slow post-pandemic recovery.
- Funding gaps: bus services were sustained through the pandemic by emergency grants, but these are being gradually withdrawn and aren’t being replaced by increased fare income due to falls in passenger numbers.
- Cuts to local government funding for bus services placed additional pressure on voluntary community transport groups to fill the gap with little accompanying support. There’s a similar issue around funding for home-school transport and concerns about whether the legal minimum distances to provide a free service (2 miles for primary schools, 3 miles for secondary schools) are fair to parents and students.
- A high proportion – nearly a majority (around 47% in 20193) – of bus journeys in Wales are concessionary fares (i.e. free bus passes), compared to under 35% in Great Britain outside London. Reimbursement income often doesn’t cover the cost of a journey.
- There was a 13% fall in average bus speeds between 1995-2015 due largely to traffic congestion. This results in a “circle of decline” (pictured above) where congestion lowers the attractiveness and demand for bus services leading more people to drive4.
- An acute shortage of qualified bus & coach drivers began to emerge immediately following the peak of Covid-19 pandemic.
1. Senedd Cymru (7th April 2022). “Access all areas or missing the bus? Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on Welsh bus services”. Available here: https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/access-all-areas-or-missing-the-bus-monitoring-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-welsh-bus-services/
2. Welsh Government (4th May 2023). “Public service vehicles: April 2021 to March 2022”. Available here: https://www.gov.wales/public-service-vehicles-buses-and-taxis-april-2021-march-2022-html
3. BBC Wales (11th September 2019). “Free Wales bus passes: Users crash website ahead of card changes”. Available at:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49668039
4. Senedd Cymru (July 2017). ” Taming the traffic: The Impact of Congestion on Bus Services”. Available at: https://senedd.wales/laid%20documents/cr-ld11145/cr-ld11145-e.pdf
