Transport for Wales

[dandywarhol]

Re: Transport for Wales

I'm sure if there was a market for a regular service between Abertillery and Cwm Stagecoach would have considered it. As for the X3, I'm not surprised. Before Covid I caught that at various times between Cardiff and Cwmbran and it was always virtually empty.

It's Abertillery to Cwm then Ebbw Vale.There's a six form college in Ebbw Vale.Students face a detour to Brynmawr change for Ebbw Vale.
The bus services are crap because of the wages stagecoach pay.Many have retrained as HGV one drivers.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Re: Transport for Wales

For the second time in as many weeks, the now only hourly Cardiff Bay service is cancelled at the last minute..as is the one after it. Dozens stranded, women walking into town in the dark, no announcements whatsoever...

It's unbelievable how bad it is.

Why do we put up with this shit in Wales?

The Arriva 'trains' are actually converted, second hand trams. They're an embarrassment.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Transport for Wales

It's Abertillery to Cwm then Ebbw Vale.There's a six form college in Ebbw Vale.Students face a detour to Brynmawr change for Ebbw Vale.
The bus services are crap because of the wages stagecoach pay.Many have retrained as HGV one drivers.

Indeed. It's another problem facing the bus industry. Stagecoach wages are certainly on a par with the rest of the industry and are better than some, so it's not just a Stagecoach problem. The HGV crisis that has developed as a result of Brexit has meant a shift this way. It does need to be noted that HGV drivers, to earn good money, need to work antisocial hours and be prepared to spend days away sleeping in their cab. That's where the good money is, according to a friend of mine who is a manager of a haulage company.

If there is enough demand, the college should approach Stagecoach, or the council to put it out for tender, for a service.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Transport for Wales

The Arriva 'trains' are actually converted, second hand trams. They're an embarrassment.

Which ones are these? It was talked about 5-6 years ago but I haven't heard anything since.

[xsnaggle]

Re: Transport for Wales

Public transport is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. People want frequent, regular, cheap services. Operators will provide them if they are well used. If they don't get used, frequencies get cut. Once services get cut, less people use them. It can be a vicious circle. I'm surprised trains to the bay are only hourly but that can only be because of patronage. People would complain if we had a bay train every 10 minutes that was nearly empty all the time.

This is what Cardiff council in the city and the Welsh government county-wide are telling people that they should use instead of their cars, and they are actively trying to make it more and more onerous to drive in order to make people use public transport (Not just buses)but, and it's a big but, they are failing to make any attempt to provide the standard of service they tell people they should be using. It is abysmal. And as quoted here a while ago by a member, they say people should reasonable expect to have to walk up to a mile to get to a bus service and to get from a bus to their destination. Besides adding up to 1 1/2hrs to every journey imagine a lady on her own getting off a bus in some areas of the city with the prospect of having to walk a mile home alone in the dark? It's bordering on criminal.
A prime example of this lack of effort to provide the alternative to cars that they espouse is the Burns Report which said the speed restrictions on the M4 should be an integral part of a comprehensive upgrading of public transport including the tram system and building new stations from the bridge to Cardiff. The government pounced on the chance to justify the speed limit and to take money off people for breaking it but have made no serious effort to enact anything else the report called for. The prospect of a railway station somewhere near Rumney/St Mellons in 2 years time doesn't really cut it does it?

[Wozza16]

Re: Transport for Wales

Just imagine what 5 billion of Welsh taxpayers money, would do to welsh rail. Oh well our London friends can get to Birmingham a little faster now thanks to us, greatest union in the world this!

[Hilts]

Re: Transport for Wales

It's Abertillery to Cwm then Ebbw Vale.There's a six form college in Ebbw Vale.Students face a detour to Brynmawr change for Ebbw Vale.
The bus services are crap because of the wages stagecoach pay.Many have retrained as HGV one drivers.

The lack of HGV drivers has had a big effect.

Pay for bus drivers is sh!t and they are retraining as HGV drivers.

Result the bus services have deteriorated.

[WJ99mobile]

Re: Transport for Wales

Just imagine what 5 billion of Welsh taxpayers money, would do to welsh rail. Oh well our London friends can get to Birmingham a little faster now thanks to us, greatest union in the world this!

They'd put on a new route that no one ever uses like Blaina to Blaenavon all day every day.

Whilst we are shafted, there's no doubt that the WA wastes money on projects

[Trigger]

Re: Transport for Wales

Just imagine what 5 billion of Welsh taxpayers money, would do to welsh rail. Oh well our London friends can get to Birmingham a little faster now thanks to us, greatest union in the world this!

We already get back more than we put in.

Some places in the UK barely have an adequate bus service.

[chrisp_1927]

Re: Transport for Wales

Our rail network is mainly as a result of underinvestment. I find your comment that ATW cared about customers to be laughable. It's also worth noting that it's only relatively recently that our trains left the hands of Keolis/Amey after they realised how much money they'd lose over the course of the franchise.

Our airport was run into the ground by its previous owners and hadn't the WG stepped in, we might not have kept our airport. Some might say there's not much point in it given its location and given that Bristol airport has far better fares and destinations.

I agree about the bus station - Cardiff council should hang their heads in shame over it.

I spent 10 years using public transport to get around (I didn't need a car when I lived in Canton and got used to not having one when I moved to the valleys). I've been on a customer panel with a major bus operator as Fingers on here would testify (he was on the same panel). Privatisation of public transport has been a balls up. Train operators get government money if they make losses but keep any profits. Bus operators operate where they can make money rather than where some services are needed. Council run services plug some gaps. Traws Cymru operate a reasonable long distance bus network where these services wouldn't have existed.

Public transport is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. People want frequent, regular, cheap services. Operators will provide them if they are well used. If they don't get used, frequencies get cut. Once services get cut, less people use them. It can be a vicious circle. I'm surprised trains to the bay are only hourly but that can only be because of patronage. People would complain if we had a bay train every 10 minutes that was nearly empty all the time.

Thats not quite how the rail franchising system worked. It was a bit of a balls up , but it certainly wasnt a case of government pays all losses and companies take any profit.
Rail franchising doesn't exist in the same form anymore either, they're all on management contracts rather than franchises now.

[chrisp_1927]

Re: Transport for Wales

Just imagine what 5 billion of Welsh taxpayers money, would do to welsh rail. Oh well our London friends can get to Birmingham a little faster now thanks to us, greatest union in the world this!

In terms of subsidy recieved per passenger mile, the Welsh franchise is consistently 1st or 2nd. Our transport is heavily subsidised

[chrisp_1927]

Re: Transport for Wales

The Arriva 'trains' are actually converted, second hand trams. They're an embarrassment.

Where do these myths come from? This seems to be a combination of several myths. There are no 'converted second hand trams ' . The old pacer trains that were retired last year were based on a bus body , they weren't actually old buses though. They were bloody rubbish mind !!

The new Valley line trains to form the metro are light rail, so basically trams rather than trains. They are brand new and being built at present.

[blue matt]

Re: Transport for Wales

In terms of subsidy recieved per passenger mile, the Welsh franchise is consistently 1st or 2nd. Our transport is heavily subsidised

yea but its Boris, so its his fault the franchise is not always 1st on the list

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Re: Transport for Wales

Which ones are these? It was talked about 5-6 years ago but I haven't heard anything since.

The ones - for example - that run from Ninian Park to the suburbs, etc. They weren't built as locos, but are actually trams around 30 years old bought second hand from somewhere in Europe, then converted. That's why they make that sound when they're starting up. They're wrecks !

[chrisp_1927]

Re: Transport for Wales

The ones - for example - that run from Ninian Park to the suburbs, etc. They weren't built as locos, but are actually trams around 30 years old bought second hand from somewhere in Europe, then converted. That's why they make that sound when they're starting up. They're wrecks !

I'm guessing you mean the 769's. Electric trains that used to work in London, that have have had diesel generators fitted. They are meant to be a stopgap until the new trains arrive sometime over the next couple of years. They make up a very small percentage of tfw's stock, and will only be seen on the Rhymney to Penarth route. Won't see a huge amount out because they haven't worked very well.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but converted trams from somewhere in Europe are not running the rails of cardiff or the rest of Wales.

The trains on the rest of the valleys network are either 150's or single car 153's, british built and trains since the day they were born 🤣