Transport User Voice – What’s happening in Wales?
19 December 2017
Bus Strategy in Wales
Transport Focus is ensuring the passenger voice is playing a central role in informing the bus strategy in Wales. We are doing this in a number of ways:
- Engaging with the Bus Summit Workshops in Aberystwyth and Llandudno. These brought together participants from across the industry, with discussions around partnership and collaboration, unblocking congestion, and access and funding – particularly ensuring provision in rural areas and affordability. Outcomes are being fed into action plans and a further industry-wide summit next year.
- Providing key input from the Bus Passenger Survey – measuring passenger satisfaction and experience of services across Wales, for the first time alongside England and Scotland. This provides additional benchmarking opportunities and comparison of services within Wales, as well as across Great Britain. Survey work has just been completed and the results will be published in the New Year.
- Working in partnership with others to discuss issues from a passenger perspective at a strategic level and provide policy recommendations. A key channel is the Welsh Government’s Public Transport Users’ Advisory Panel.
Bringing track and train together
A number of Route Supervisory Boards have been formed, bringing together the interests of track, train and passengers. In Wales and Borders, this draws together Network Rail, Arriva Trains Wales and Transport for Wales, with Transport Focus to provide a strategic focus on current performance and future plans. Monthly meetings are ensuring scrutiny of up-to-date issues, with a single approach to action plans. The most recent discussions in December included analysis of our recently published Rail passengers’ priorities for improvement, which highlighted differing priorities for passengers in Wales and Borders.