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No, it's a legitimate question. "Significant" is completely ambiguous.
If I was still working in Cardiff, I would challenge you to travel with me from Ebbw Vale to Cardiff and back. Not only was I adding 2 hours to the day travel time, but I was also adding around 90 minutes sitting around waiting for trains, or for work to start at 9am.
I would have to get to Ebbw Vale station at 7:15. Train at 7:37. Arrive in Cardiff 8:35. Get to work at 9am. Leave work at 5pm. Train at 5:40. Into Ebbw Vale at 6:40. Home at 7. on a good day. 12 hours for a 7.5 hour working day.
So, what does significant mean, and how do you see it changing the trip above?
Right, so how do you get to Pontypridd to use these regular buses from, say, Tredegar?
The X4 goes via Pontypridd, so all these regular buses are not going to make the blindest bit of difference because we're hardly going to jump off the X4 to get on the 132 (or whatever number it was).
It’s a start but this isn’t enough to make a significant difference. Costs nearly £8 return on the train from Caerphilly. Most people won’t bat an eyelid at paying a congestion charge as the alternatives are dire and expensive.
I currently work at Bridgend industrial estate, to get there for an 08.00 start on public transport is not impossible, but by using my car I Leave my house around 06.45, at the desk approx. 07.15 gives time for a cuppa and a read of the news, leave at 17.30, the amount of time to a day for me would be not for consideration using public transport, but would use it if reasonable, I detest driving.
If they are going to introduce the charge any investment should be made in transport options that benefit those outside of the city otherwise it's just a stick and no carrot for commuters.
I live near Aberdare. I've spent the last decade using public transport. The first thing I appreciate with public transport is that it will sometimes take longer and isn't usually as convenient. My wife works near Cathays station. More often than not in the last 6 months she's not been able to get home on the train she wants because of overcrowding. Better than navigating the A470? Probably.
Before I moved up here I lived in Canton for 18 months. Didn't need a car. Public transport was so regular. If I missed a bus, I was 5 minutes walk away from avoiding a 10 minute wait. Things go wrong with public transport. It annoys people, but often it cannot be helped.
If your desire is to spend as little time as possible then driving is probably the only solution for you. Personally, I'm happy to trade spending more time travelling on public transport rather than driving. I can have a nap. I can do some work.
Suppose your route was every half an hour. It would make no difference in the morning. A train at 5.10pm might be too early for you to make. What do you want, every 5 minutes so you don't have to hang around?
I think it’s a decent idea, they might aswell get on with implementing electric trolley buses too.
Do any buses go around there nowadays? Would have thought that estate to be a nightmare if you didn't have a car.
The vicious circle is that, as more people use cars, less use public transport, which then makes less money, less routes, routes being axed. Somewhere like that industrial estate would be difficult to serve with buses.
I’ll put my hands up. I do not care what so ever about the environment or climate change. However I am a big fan of public transport in general.
Wales’ transport network is so fragmented. So many different operators running different services. There should be an easy but more importantly cheap way for going on buses and trains without duplicating fares.