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Question 1 –
how would you
describe the current condition of the bus and community transport
sectors in Wales?
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The North Pembrokeshire Transport Forum’s response relates to
conditions in the North Pembrokeshire region.
·
The operators of bus and community transport services and the Local
Authority passenger transport officers continue to struggle to
provide services that meet the needs of passengers. Their
task is made ever more difficult due to changes in funding
arrangements, changes to concessionary fare reimbursement levels,
reductions in the revenue settlement grant and reduced levels of
subsidy from the Welsh Government.
·
The community transport sector finds it extremely hard to meet
growing demand because of funding issues, a shortage of volunteers,
problems connected to procurement and commissioning, concessionary
travel and community transport regulation.
·
Bus and community transport services provide an effective part of
the transport mix and should integrate seamlessly with rail
services. This is proving to be more and more difficult to
achieve, due to the withdrawal of evening services, and the lack of
Sunday and Bank Holiday services.
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Question 2 –
why do you think
the number of bus services and the number of bus passengers is
declining in Wales?
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In North
Pembrokeshire, the reasons include (in no particular
order):
·
Poor
integration between bus and train services
·
Withdrawal of
evening services
·
Lack of
services on Sundays and Bank Holidays
·
The growing
number of older people with serious health conditions unable to
travel by bus and relying on more personalised community transport
instead
·
Services not
reaching the more remote areas
·
Growth of the
use of digital media for online shopping, etc. from home
·
Inadequate
information and lack of marketing about bus services
In its
Inquiry response CTA Wales notes that:
·
Demand for
most community transport services is growing not declining (except
for group hire services)
·
Resources and
funding is a limiting factor in responding to growing
demand.
The response
from the Older Persons Commissioner for Wales notes
that:
·
The reduction
in Welsh Government funding for concessionary bus travel for older
and disabled people has had a detrimental impact that is affecting
the lives of older people across Wales.
·
Maintaining
free concessionary travel on local bus services for older people
must remain a Welsh Government commitment.
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Question 3 –
what do you think is the social, economic and environmental impact
of recent changes in bus and community transport service
levels?
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In a rural area such as North Pembrokeshire, a large part of which
is characterised by very small isolated communities with few
amenities, ill thought out changes in the provision of bus and CT
service levels make it more difficult to:
·
Ensure people can access medical, shopping, leisure and social
facilities/activities (negative health and social
impacts)
·
Support access to jobs and training and allow people access local
services and facilities (negative economic impacts)
·
Lack of adequate or appropriate bus and CT service provision leads
to continued use of the car instead of public transport (negative
environmental impact)
In its response Bus Users Cymru notes that ‘there have also
been cases of hardship particularly for disabled people where
services have changed suddenly without
consultation’.
In its response CTA Wales notes that ‘community transport
supports the more marginalised and disadvantaged in society.
Reductions in commercial services often leads to increasing demands
on community transport. Cuts to community transport therefore
has a significantly greater socio-economic
impact’.
The Older Persons Commissioner for Wales states emphatically that
‘the Welsh Government must address the social, economic and
environmental impact of reducing bus and community transport levels
in Wales in order to address the objectives set out in the Strategy
for Older People 2013-2023 as well as the seven national wellbeing
goals within the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales)
Act’.
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Question 4 –
what do you think
the Welsh Government should do to support bus and community
transport in Wales?
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To meet the needs of North Pembrokeshire passengers, the Welsh
Government needs to:
·
Create and maintain stable, long-term, effectively
integrated bus and community transport systems with sustained
and consistent levels of investment
·
Develop integrated ticketing
·
Improve information provision and marketing of transport systems
and services
The Forum supports the call by Bus Users Cymru to:
·
Re-establish separate body(ies) focusing on public transport to
enable organisational stability
As well as the call by CTA Wales for:
·
Development of a National Community Transport strategy
·
Review of the concessionary fare reimbursement rates for community
transport
·
Review of the BSSG and a move towards a more stable, longer term
funding arrangement
·
Put transport planning at the centre of all major developments and
ensure that community transport is considered early on as part of
an integrated transport provision.
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Question 5 –
what do you think Welsh local authorities should do to support bus
and community transport services?
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·
The North Pembrokeshire Transport Forum has worked closely with
Pembrokeshire County Council transport officers since the Forum was
set up in 2000 and continues to observe their high level of
professionalism and determination to meet the transport needs of
passengers (and potential passengers) throughout the
county.
·
We wish to put on record our gratitude for the tremendous efforts
they continue to make to keep as many bus and community transport
services as possible operating in spite of changes to and/or
reduction in funding support.
·
In its Inquiry response Bus Users Cymru notes that ‘the
current financial environment makes it extremely difficult for
local authorities to dramatically improve
performance’.
·
In its response the Regional Transport Forum for South West Wales
notes that ‘rural areas will require greater levels of
financial support due to the challenges of topography and
population dispersal if public and community transport is to grow
in these areas’.
·
The North Pembrokeshire Transport Forum gives its full support to
these statements.
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Question 6 –
what do you think about proposals to devolve bus registration
powers to Wales? How should these be used?
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In their Inquiry responses, the Regional Transport Forum for South
West Wales and Traveline Cymru make convincing arguments in favour
of the devolution of bus registration powers to Wales and Traveline
Wales. To quote Traveline Cymru, in order to:
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Speed up the time taken to process registrations - with benefits to
bus users and operators
·
Offer a bi-lingual service to operators
·
Reduce duplication of effort, i.e. two different organisations
handling the same information, saving overall cost
·
Keep the fees paid by operators in Wales (£60 per
registration)
·
Ensure the very best level of accuracy and up to date information
is available to bus passengers in Wales
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Question 7
– please tell us whether you think further powers to regulate
the bus industry in Wales are required and why?
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The Regional
Transport Forum for South West Wales does not feel that Wales needs
more or better regulation to manage an increase (not a decline) in
bus patronage. Points made in support of this view
include:
·
Stability and
a consistent and long term approach to improving the bus
‘offer’ is needed
·
Although
Wales already has the ability to establish Quality Partnerships or
Contracts that provide more regulation than the existing free
market conditions do, most Local Authorities are reluctant to enter
into either agreement without longer term certainty that any
financial commitments (whether for new structures or maintenance)
can be met beyond the current financial year
·
The key point
should be to avoid over complicating or changing radically a
funding mechanism which has changed every year for the last four
years, which flies against the main call for long term planning and
stability.
·
The Forum
supports these points.
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Question
8 – what other action can
be taken to ensure that bus and community transport services meet
the needs of people in Wales?
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The North Pembrokeshire Transport Forum endorses calls
for:
·
Long term (3-5 year) spending streams for bus and community
transport services
·
Specific funding pots to encourage vehicle replacement/greening of
fleets and innovative transport projects
·
Clarification of the role/status of groups such as the Bus Policy
Advisory Group/Bus Users Cymru/Community Transport
Association/Public Transport Users Group
·
Multi journey/operator ticketing.
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Concluding
remarks
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The North
Pembrokeshire Transport Forum is an independent voluntary group
that works for the provision of an effective integrated transport
system to, from and within North Pembrokeshire, promotes the
benefits of public transport and works towards the greater use of
public transport systems.
The Forum
supports strategic
objectives that:
·
Provide for
greater integration and smooth interchange between different modes
of transport
·
Put in place
transport services that meet the needs of individuals and
communities, and
·
Promote
economic development and social inclusion
(making services available to all members of the public) through
the further development of an affordable, accessible
transport system which meets user needs
and works to remove access and mobility barriers for all
transport users.
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