City’s public transport ‘not fit for purpose’

Ted Peskett Local Democracy Reporter

The state of public transport in Cardiff has been lamented by councillors as “embarrassing” and “not fit for purpose”.

The Liberal Democrats group at Cardiff Council proposed a motion at full council on Thursday, March 27, which criticised the state of bus services currently and called for a re-think on the council’s transport strategy.

Liberal Democrat councillors said that despite the construction of Cardiff Bus Station in 2024, passengers are still unable to catch direct services to a “significant portion of the city” and that passengers wanting to travel from one side to the other have to catch two buses.

One Liberal Democrat member, Cllr Jon Shimmin said during a debate over the motion, “it is just not a viable option”.

They also said that a number of people in their communities, particularly the elderly, don’t have access to a bus service at all anymore.

Criticism

Conservatives councillor, Cllr Joel Williams, said he was “embarrassed” by the state of bus services that residents in Cardiff “have to put with”.

He said residents are being priced out of using public transport and criticised the council over plans for a road user charge which it is still looking into.

No detailed plans have been published yet and a decision on what a Cardiff road user charge will look like hasn’t been made.

However, it is hoped that a road user charge would encourage people to use alternative modes of transport to get into the city.

Cllr Williams said the council would be expecting residents to “use public transport that simply doesn’t exist”.

“Work to do”

Another Conservative councillor, Cllr Emma Reid-Jones, said many people in her ward, Lisvane and Thornhill in North Cardiff, still rely on a car because the state of public transport.

Another element of the Liberal Democrats’ motion called on the council’s cabinet members to urge the Welsh Government to accelerate the planned roll-out of a franchised model of bus service provision in South East Wales.

A document showing their motion recognises that the Welsh Government has proposed legislation to switch to a franchised model, but adds: “However, despite having gained the power to legislate for a franchised model since 2011, repeated delays to taking this forward mean these plans are still not yet in place.”

The Welsh Government intends to start implement a franchised model in parts of Wales from 2027.

However, the reform won’t reach South East Wales until 2029.

Cardiff Council’s cabinet member for climate change, strategic planning and transport, Cllr Dan De’Ath said bus franchising will be a “major step forward” that will make sure decisions on transport are made “in the public interest”.

He also went on to talk about the challenges bus companies have faced in the last decade, including the effects of Covid-19, and the work Cardiff Council is already doing to try and improve bus transport in the city.

Cllr De’Ath said bus priority measures designed to improve the reliability of bus services are already being introduced in Cardiff.

The council’s Bus Priority Infrastructure Plan involves creating a number of bus corridors along key routes by introducing new bus lanes, making changes to junctions, relocating bus stops and stopping pavement parking.

Cllr De’Ath added: “[There] is still work to do, but the direction… is clear.”

Post-Covid world

One major issue that bus services have faced over the past few years is patronage, with companies referencing recovering passenger numbers in a post-Covid world when announcing overhauls of timetables.

Another Labour councillor, Cllr Garry Hunt, referenced this. He said it has been a “challenging decade” for bus companies like Cardiff Bus and that the Covid-19 pandemic had a particularly damaging effect.

However, Liberal Democrats argued that bus services faced difficulties long before the pandemic.

Liberal Democrats group leader, Cllr Rodney Berman said of the situation facing bus services: “It is a long standing problem that has got successively worse.”

Another Liberal Democrats councillor, Daniel Waldron, said bus services are not serving the needs of the elderly and that a road near his home in Cyncoed is “full of elderly people with no access to any bus service… they can walk to.”

He added: “It is not fair.”

Cllr Hunt said Cardiff Bus is “getting back on its feet”, passenger numbers are going up and customer feedback is more positive than it was.

He added that there is a “long way to go”, but “I think that franchising will give us an opportunity. Let’s take that opportunity.”

An amendment to the Liberal Democrats’ motion put forward by Labour included alternative proposals, including recognising the work Cardiff Council is already doing to improve public transport in the city.

As well as urging the Welsh Government to accelerate the franchised model of bus service provision, the amended motion calls for assurances that municipal bus companies are offered some form of security in the process of bidding for franchised contracts.

The amended motion was passed.