Written Statement: Bridge to Franchising – moving towards Bus Reform

Bus reform will make a positive difference to communities across Wales. Linking people to amenities, places of work and leisure can support economic growth and reduce social disadvantage, which are key to creating a fairer and more equal Wales. 

Securing the benefits from bus reform will take time. We intend to implement reform in South West Wales in 2027, North Wales in 2028, South East Wales in 2029 and Mid Wales in 2030, as detailed in the Roadmap to bus reform: Update to franchise areas, published November 2024. 

Local knowledge and expertise are key to producing a bus network that works for communities. I have instructed Transport for Wales to work closely with local authorities and Corporate Joint Committees in all of the regions to identify and agree what a good network will look like. This work has already begun. 

I know that parts of Mid Wales are not well served by public transport. The current deregulated system is skewed toward commercially profitable routes, which are not prevalent in the rural areas of Ceredigion and Powys. Currently, local authorities are required to secure services that they deem to be socially necessary - in Mid Wales most of the existing network is tendered by local authorities. 

This is a similar model to bus franchising, so has provided an opportunity for us to test our plans and help boost bus provision in the region. The “Bridge to Franchising”, led collaboratively by Transport for Wales, the Mid-Wales local authorities and the Corporate Joint Committee, has begun with a view to awarding contracts this year. The Bridge network in Mid Wales will seek to build on recent investments in core TrawsCymru services and seek to provide better connected bus and rail services across the region.

Whilst existing legislation doesn’t allow for everything, we need to implement effective bus reform across Wales, the Bridge to Franchising gives us scope to trial very similar conditions to those we may choose to use under franchising. This includes: 

• Minimum standards of vehicles which will be stipulated as part of contracts ensuring that low emission and younger vehicles are used.
• Affordable fares, with a view to making bus journeys more attractive than choosing to use the car.
• Maintaining healthy competition in the market by seeking to attract SME and community transport operators, as well as multi-national operators to bid.
• Improved reliability of services, maintained high levels of health and safety, and excellent customer service delivery.
• Taking the ‘whole product’ approach, as outlined in the Roadmap to Bus Reform. This includes consideration as to how learner travel can be integrated to minimise the requirement for closed school services. 

Although Mid Wales will be the final region to be fully franchised, it will benefit much earlier from many of the improvements we will see when franchising is introduced. This is a good opportunity for the industry to prepare for the changes franchising will bring. Passengers are of most importance – the people of Mid Wales are already benefiting from new routes and timetables, and they will see further improvements in the years to come.