A bus is no solution for Wales’ ruinous north south connectivity

Stephen Price

Usually, thank the Welsh gods, the vast majority of my opinion pieces to date have landed well with Welsh audiences, with two notable exceptions – one daring to find fault with Wales’ chapels which were founded and paid for by Welsh communities being sold to escapees to the country to gain a new life as grand post-Brexit chateaus, and another where I called for an end to the use of north Wales and south Wales.

For one, I’m also a bit bored of the ‘south Wales Welsh’ ‘north Wales Welsh’ conversations too – it’s the same language with a spot of beautiful variation between different accents and dialects, in the same way any other language works, but I digress.

Reading the south Wales room only, I hadn’t counted on a very vocal contingent from the north who seemed very anti-the idea.

Perhaps missing the point, while shouting out about how Cardiff/the south gets everything and how north Wales is ‘better’, I got the message loud and clear – there is most certainly a divide, and there is most certainly resentment.

There was also much resentment from the ‘forgotten’ folk of mid-Wales – most of whom seem to reflect rural Wales’ population exchange, but I’m going off on a different tangent there again…

With a new Government at the helm, however, and with better representation from all corners of Wales in the Senedd than ever before (geographically that is), hot on the agenda is, naturally, better connectivity between the two worlds.

In an announcement to the press on 30 June, the prayers of a handful of folk I have yet to encounter were answered with the news that a new coach service linking (a very particular take on) north and south Wales will launch this autumn and is expected to cut journey times by more than an hour.

The long-distance coach will operate daily between Bangor and Carmarthen, linking communities along the west coast. The Welsh Government said the service would improve access to jobs, education, healthcare and tourism.

The service will stop at Bangor Rail Station, Caernarfon, Porthmadog Rail Station, Dolgellau (Eldon Square), Machynlleth, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth Bus Station, Aberaeron and Carmarthen Rail Station.

Notably, however, it’s not really doing what people want is it?

Cardiff.. Wrexham.. Swansea.. It’s another connection or two for those.

Deputy Transport Minister, Mark Hooper said: “We promised in our 100-day plan that we would prepare to launch a new coach service linking the north of Wales with the south of Wales and I’m delighted to confirm that plans are well underway to introduce this service in the autumn.

“For decades, many rural communities have been ill-served by public transport, but this new coach service is the first step in improving connectivity between the north and the south of Wales.

“The service will connect key regional centres, running alongside and enhancing existing services, including TrawsCymru, the rural bus network, and Fflecsi to deliver an integrated, multi-modal transport network across Wales.”

As well as improving connectivity the service will also open-up sustainable tourism to destinations, including Eryri National Park, the Llŷn Peninsula and Cardigan Bay, while providing a low-carbon alternative to the car.

A £2m investment has been confirmed in the Supplementary Budget which will cover the cost of running the service for one year, developing an online booking system and promotion around the service.

Eight coaches have already been purchased to run the service.

Transport for Wales will use the coming months to develop the service in line with the wider ‘T Network’ – an integrated transport network for Wales.

Lee Robinson, Executive Director for Regional Transport & Integration, said: “This new coach service is the result of a huge amount of work by teams across Transport for Wales, working closely with partners and drawing on insight from our Network North Wales programme to design a service that truly meets the needs of communities.

“By linking key towns and communities along the west coast, we’re creating faster, more reliable connections for work, education and leisure.

“The new service is a key step in building the T Network, Welsh Government’s vision for a fully integrated public transport system for Wales, strengthening the TrawsCymru network, helping to deliver a more joined-up, multi-modal offer and making it easier for people to travel sustainably with seamless connections to rail and local bus services.”

Funding for this service was announced in the First Supplementary Budget last week, alongside £8m for extending the £1 bus fare for all young people aged 5-21 years.

This funding will extend the scheme for a further seven months allowing more younger people to access cheaper bus fares until 31 March 2027.

‘Bus what, you say?’

Back to reality, most of us aren’t using the bus. We haven’t generally wanted to use the bus since our school days (but judging by queues of cars outside schools nowadays, even the kids are done), and little can be done to change that.

I’m slightly too old to have caught The Inbetweeners when it first aired, but even I know their affectionate term for those who ride the bus.

Looking back to my post-school days of part time retail jobs while at university, I’ve blocked out memories of circulars taking the long route to drop Mrs Jones off at the top of the estate, or sitting next to someone’s Turin shroud style hair grease imprint next to me on the window.

A recent trip to Sheffield to see a friend saw me back on the bus again, though – in the pouring rain, crowded out with school kids, pensioners and *how shall I put this* – those with a penchant for an early drink of a morn’.

Thick wet air, condensation, dripping brollies, phone notifications, music on speakerphones and a distinct feeling that this is not exactly aspirational.

For those who need to use the bus, this new west Walian service is perhaps perfect – but I can’t help but wonder who will be taking the full journey ‘on the reg’.

Beyond the headlines, it’s not even a sticking plaster for those of us who want to see better connectivity and community between Wales’ north, south, east and west.

So what do we need?

Road and rail

As penalised as we might feel every time we get in the car, for most of us in rural Wales it’s the only option. For now.

I’ve driven ‘up north’ in Wales plenty of times, but my favourite journey by far was when taking a holiday in sunny Llandudno via the train – enjoying the spoils of the line all the way across to Ynys Môn.

Compared to the arduous drive through Builth, Rhayader and beyond, it was quick, convenient and not too pricey all in all.

It did, however, involve a detour into England – make of that what you will.

Looking at the map of Wales’ railway lines in the good ol’ days before Beeching’s cuts, one can only wonder at how easy, and how beautiful even, a commute to work or play might be today if things had been done differently, and with our nation not another in mind.

Compare and contrast how things look today.

With an ageing population, shamefully inadequate services for both bus and trains for anyone who doesn’t live in a major hub, and reliability that simply wouldn’t wash anywhere else but here, what are we to do?

We drive.

Simply looking at my own square mile on the outskirts of Abergavenny, where NHS services have been decimated and we’ve now got an out-of-town hospital near Cwmbran instead – a bus isn’t an option in a life or death situation or, for anyone with sense or finances, any situation.

A train? Of course not. The car is here to stay.

And if I’d like to hop on the train to Aberystwyth at present? A ‘little’ detour to Shrewsbury it is.

The likelihood of road improvements north to south is slim at present (we might need independence for that), and also isn’t going to go down well either, so what are we left with?

We’re left with having to make the case to reinstate a non-extractive railway system that benefits Wales as it stands today – a wider approach than the admirable years-long campaign from Traws Link Cymru and others.

In September 2025, Plaid Cymru renewed calls to devolve rail infrastructure to Wales, in line with Scotland and northern Ireland, following the release of statistics showing that Wales has the highest train cancellation rates of all UK nations.

A Plaid Cymru MS attributed our nation’s high rate of cancellation to the historic underinvestment of Welsh railways, over ‘decades of consecutive UK Governments, both red and blue’.

Several different sources, including the Welsh and UK Government, have admitted an underinvestment of several billion pounds into Welsh railway enhancements.

Plaid Cymru’s transport spokesperson, Peredur Owen Griffiths said that Wales had been underinvested in ‘for decades, without even mentioning the £4billion from HS2’.

Mr Owen Griffiths went on to say that Welsh railways would never operate as effectively as the people of Wales deserve, until powers over rail infrastructure were devolved to Wales.

Plaid Cymru transport spokesperson, Peredur Owen Griffiths MS, said: “These statistics will come as a disappointment, but not as a surprise to the thousands of people in Wales that rely on our trains here in Wales. Too many of them have stories of cancelled trains and days ruined.

“The UK Government should hang their heads in shame about the dire state of Welsh railways. The connection between the billions of pounds of historic underinvestment, of the lack of electrified railways, and the sky-high cancellation rate is as clear as day.

“Despite the obvious impact the UK Government’s snubbing of Welsh infrastructure has on our railway services, they continue to deny us of the £4billion we’re owed from HS2, and won’t even start to undo the damage of underinvestment in decades gone by.

“The powers over rail infrastructure must be devolved to Wales – the UK Government has shown itself incapable of investing adequately in Wales, and it’s time we were allowed to do it ourselves.

“Both Tory and Labour Governments have kept this scandal going, proving that all the Westminster parties don’t care about Wales. Only Plaid Cymru are serious about investing in Welsh communities to improve the services available to the people of Wales.”

“We could revolutionise our railway and transport systems”

As part of their manifesto, Plaid Cymru wrote: “We believe that rail infrastructure should be devolved to Wales, as it is in Scotland and Northern Ireland, allowing rail infrastructure planning for Wales to be decided in Wales.

“Only 1% of UK Government capital spend is on railways in Wales, reflecting both current and historical underspend. While London and major cities in Scotland were connected by electrified railway more than fifty years ago, it is only in the past decade that Wales has even had a single mile of electrified track.

“With that £4,000,000,000 additional funding, we could revolutionise our railway and transport systems, including properly connecting north and south Wales for the first time within Wales, reopening major railway lines closed under Beeching, electrifying the North Wales Main Line, improving existing railway services, and increasing and improving services west of Swansea.

“To do that, Wales needs an ambitious travel plan that also considers public transport connections in the south Wales Valleys and other areas of Wales which do not have existing rail connections – including by use of trams or light rail.”

Before their seats at the Senedd were even warm, Plaid made in-roads with Starmer to call for a better, fairer deal for Wales, but with Westminster in yet another self-induced chaotic phase, they’ll have to wait before they can make another call to beg for the basics from Andy Burnham.

Thankfully, Plaid Cymru themselves know that a ride ‘ar y bws’ isn’t where things end – or for most of us, even where it begins.

Dr Beeching’s story might not be over yet.

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