Ceredigion Penfro Green Party candidate questions Wales Bus Bill -15/10/25
The Welsh Government is putting a Bus Bill through the Senedd. Residents have been asked to comment on the plans which would see franchising of services. This is what the Minister says about it. “Bus franchising means that decisions about bus services in Wales, including routes, timetables, fares, hours of operation and service quality standards, will be made by Welsh Government and Transport for Wales (TfW), working in partnership with local authorities and Corporate Joint Committees.” That appears to be a top-down centralised approach, with undoubtedly an expensive bureaucracy to run it.Amy Nicholass, number one candidate for the Green Party in Ceredigion Penfro is reliant on the bus network. She says, “I use buses in rural west Wales, the T5, T3, 381, 460 and 430. My journeys often take over an hour. I am not sure that franchising is going to help make our buses more reliable and I worry that the unprofitable ones will disappear altogether.”
Franchising model undermines bus services
Unprofitable services are also called socially necessary services. The Bus Bill does not explain what is meant by socially necessary routes, although it’s clear that the preference is for such services to be demand responsive or run as community transport, largely by volunteers. Amy continues; “Rural buses are lifelines for people to access shops, to see friends and get to work. People build communities on buses and it’s lovely to hear people greet each other on their regular routes.”
Buses in rural communities cannot be compared with city services. The franchising model just about covers services in urban areas such as Newport and Cardiff, however, even then there have been problems; Powys has already been forced to spend extra money on statutory services like school buses because Transport for Wales is not being cooperative with the transport department in Powys. This very same problem is now likely to be faced in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. Amy says, “I see buses as a vital part of the community, and their services should be designed for efficiency, reliability and care for community need, not profit or centralised control from Cardiff.”
A Green with a vision
Amy was one of the organisers of the Ceredigion Bus Action Day in September 2023 and co-author of the subsequent report. Four main topics were discussed on the day, one of which was Vision of Bus Transport in 5 Years. Here is a highlight from the report: “Investment in bus services is key to sorting out many problems. Higher patronage means lower car use, means it’s good for the climate. People being able to move around, get to places, take part in activities, stay independent, all these things affect their health positively, which means less spending needed on the NHS and on Social Services.” This is Amy’s Green vision for Ceredigion Penfro.