Buses
We would give local authorities the power to establish their own municipal bus companies. Transport for Wales would establish a publicly owned bus operator, ready to step in at any location where commercial operators do not offer good-value contracts.
We would accelerate the development of Regional Transport Authorities, clearly setting out their purpose, governance, and financial arrangements as well as their relationship with Transport for Wales, local authorities, and Welsh Government. To facilitate greater coordination of services we would bring all bus, taxi and coach commissioning together, pooling the budgets for school transport, the Bus Services Support Grant and concessionary fares.
We support the re-regulation of bus services and we will explore options to introduce the legislation required to allow a system of bus franchising to be developed in Wales.
In addition, we would:
- Extend the TrawsCymru service as a national bus service that serves major towns across the country, prioritising those communities without regular rail connections.
- Introduce a more integrated information service for passengers with disabilities.
- Establish a National Bus Stations Improvement Programme to mirror the investment pipeline for rail.