Welsh Bus Issues

Written by Kirsty Williams AM and published in Mid Wales Journal on Friday 30th May 2008 on Fri 30th May 2008

Recent weeks have seen some rare good news for long suffering public transport users: In England OAPs and disabled people have joyously accepted their new concessionary passes for free bus travel; and in parts of Wales, including the Cambrian coast, free rail travel for pass holders has been expanded. Great news! But, and there is a big but for those living in rural mid wales there has also been a flip side to the coin.

With England finally following in Wales' and Scotland's footsteps to roll out free travel for pass holders it would seem common sense that the passes could at last be used throughout the UK. But whilst all three Governments now offer concessionary bus passes within their respective nations, the passes do not allow for free cross-border travel; with Welsh passes being valid only in Wales, English passes only in England and Scottish passes only in Scotland. The lack of a unified scheme is particularly difficult for residents in the marches where they may be closer to shops and health services in England but unable to access them by the free public transport they would be entitled to if they were to travel longer distances to Welsh alternatives. So we are in the crazy situation where those living in Presteigne, can travel 117 miles to Bangor for free but must pay for the 17miles to Leominster! With better planning and sufficient funding free bus travel for disabled and elderly passengers could have been introduced across the whole of England and Wales but the Secretary of State for Transport revealed that there had been no discussions between the Welsh Assembly Government and Westminster over the extension of free cross-border bus travel. This is yet another example of the Government's Daffodil Curtain on cross border partnerships with England, and a Government putting Nationalistic ideology before individuals' needs and environmental concerns. Bus passes are recognised between Northern and Southern Ireland and I see no reason why the same cannot happen here.

With the huge success of last years pilot to use concessionary bus passes on the Heart of Wales Line it would not have been foolish to expect the continuation of the scheme. That is unless you are the Minister for Economy and Transport and see this very success as the main drive behind scrapping the scheme over the summer months. Passes, which provide free travel for OAPs and disabled people, will no longer be valid on the line between May and September; instead they will be applicable only during the winter months. The Government has outrageously sited overuse and overcrowding of trains on the line as the reason for the reduction of the scheme. Interest groups have called again and again for the Welsh Assembly Government to invest in additional rolling stock and an extra carriage for the HOWL and yet rather than making such a sound long-term investment for the benefit of OAPs in rural areas they have instead chosen to reduce the free service. Such penalising of the financially vulnerable in rural areas also comes at time when rising fuel prices are making the financial pinch even tighter. Despite paying lip service to the green agenda the government continues to refuse to invest substantially in public transport and in making it accessible to those most in need.