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
Short answer: probably not, but “BRT-lite” might work.
What is Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)?
A bus that runs like a tram or metro.
The Institution for Transport and Policy Development (ITPD) uses five criteria to determine what counts as BRT:
- A dedicated right of way: the BRT system is separate from other traffic, running on segregated lanes for the entire route.
- Busway alignment: the BRT route is kept away from the curbside and parked vehicles, so runs in the middle of the road. Overtaking lanes should be provided for express services at BRT stations too.
- Off-board fare collection: tickets are bought at BRT stations, or there’s some kind of ticket gate system.
- Junction priority: other traffic isn’t allowed to turn across a BRT route at a junction.
- Level boarding: BRT platforms are level with the bus doors.
BRT systems have been successfully introduced in several city regions around the world and often carry similar passenger numbers as light rail or underground/metro systems. BRT is particularly popular in the Americas but has also been introduced in cities such as Istanbul, Guangzhao, Brisbane and Adelaide.
There’s only one “true BRT” system (meeting all of the ITPD’s criteria) in the UK: the Cambridgeshire guided busway.
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Why BRT might be unsuitable in Wales
Countries and cities that introduced BRT have either built dedicated/segregated busways or have cities designed with very wide thoroughfares (sometimes called “stroads” – a combination of a main road and a street) that could accommodate BRT infrastructure down the middle.
There are only a few places in Wales where you could realistically picture a full BRT system (fully segregated, stations with ticket gates etc.):
- Newport Road in Cardiff.
- Some of the dual carriageways in and around Newport.
- Fabian Way/Oystermouth Road/Mumbles Road in Swansea.
- The A55 between Llandudno Junction and Abergele.
There was an experiment with “BRT lite” (a limited stop bus service) in Swansea.
Between 2009-2015, FirstCymru ran the FTRmetro bus service between Morriston and Singleton hospitals. Dedicated bus lanes were provided along part of the route – served by purple “bendy buses” running every 15 minutes – calling at upgraded bus stops.
There were complaints about roadworks and street alterations and – more seriously – the unfamiliar road layout caused fatal accidents in the city centre. So it never really caught on and was abandoned to little fanfare.
An almost identical system in Belfast – called Glider, running cross-city from east to west – launched in 2018 and has been described as one of the more successful systems of its kind in the UK. Given that it faced some of the same problems as Swansea’s FTR (i.e. changes to road layouts), how come it’s apparently worked out in Belfast?
For one, there was a conscious decision to create a “strong brand” from the start – this wasn’t “just another bus”. Also, Glider stops have far better off-bus ticketing facilities than the FTR, meaning dwell times are shorter than they were in Swansea and it runs even more like a tram. The services are also more frequent, with buses arriving roughly 8 minutes apart on the core routes.
Also, Bristol has its Metrobus network of five “lines” using double-decker buses rather than articulated buses. Sections are on guided busways or dedicated bus lanes – but the buses also run on standard streets. Views on whether the £230million programme works or not are mixed. So it’s not just a Swansea thing.
“BRT lite”: Could it work in Wales now?
BRT routes have been included as part of plans for the three regional metro projects. Rail focuses attention (Part III) so the bus element hasn’t been explored in any great detail yet.
What I’d expect to happen is these won’t be full BRT systems with segregated lanes, platform-level stations and ticket gates. They’ll more likely be Metro-branded limited-stop bus services/”BRT lite”.
There are disadvantages to “BRT lite”. For one, while it would cost far less to provide than full BRT, the buses will get caught in traffic. They still need priority measures and even dedicated lanes for the length of a route – and that’s not cheap and not always popular.
A very high-quality bus stop/shelter – possibly with toilets, fully enclosed, touch screens, CCTV etc. – might cost anything up to £500,000 by itself too and would always be at risk of vandalism.
BRT lite may be a good option where:
- There’s a noticeable gap in public transport along a given route (Part V) and the local rail network lacks density of stops and services.
- Roads along the route are of a high enough standard to accommodate high-quality bus stops and either double-decker or bendy buses.
- A rail service or tram can’t realistically be (re)introduced (or would be a low priority) but the population along the route would be theoretically high enough to support one.
- There are big trip generators (i.e. hospitals, medical centres, business parks) that are poorly served by public transport, poorly connected to each other and largely inaccessible by rail, but would suit a limited-stop regional bus service.
- Limited-stop bus services would complement, rather than directly compete with, existing rail services and local bus routes. They would be aimed at passengers travelling longer distances to places they would otherwise drive to (in the absence of a rail service).
- There are good connections with major transport hubs (i.e. bus-rail interchanges, major park and rides) enabling seamless transfer between different modes of public transport.
So before I get the inevitable moaning about the missing bit in the middle on the map below (where TrawsCymru would be best placed to fill the gaps given the long distances and low population densities) – re-read the above bullet points.
And yes, there are probably other routes that could’ve been added in (Wrexham to Deeside and northern Flintshire, or a cross-border service to Chester).
This isn’t an exhaustive list:
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Assuming the long-distance TrawsCymru network continues as is, then at a local and regional level we could end up with different buses running along the same routes but not calling at the same stops:
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