Rural transport initiative celebrating its 10th year
THIS month a revolutionary rural public transport idea created in Wales celebrates 10 years of successful operation and growth.
Called Bwcabus – a name which reflects its service style – passengers book the demand-responsive bus in advance through the Traveline Cymru bilingual call centre in Porthmadog.
The name also reflects its original area of operation in north Carmarthenshire and south Ceredigion, where the two main towns are Aberteifi (Cardigan) and Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen).
Making use of “w” being a vowel in Welsh, so creating “bwca” (“book a”), the name also stands for “Bysiau Wledig Caerfyrddin Aberteifi” (in English – “rural buses for Carmarthen Cardigan”), operating in a Welsh-speaking heartland.
In 2007 government had grave concerns on how the escalating costs of subsidising bus passenger travel in rural Wales could be sustained financially.
That led to me being asked by the Welsh Government transport division to “create a high-quality bus service for rural areas where bus services are in decline”.
Out of this came Bwcabus on August 24, 2009, followed by TrawsCymru in 2012.
Originally operating along either side of the A484, it was integrated with the (now) TrawsCymru Connect route 460 between Carmarthen, Newcastle Emlyn and Aberteifi (Cardigan), enabling reduced journey times on that route by eliminating
diversions.
Subsequently, Bwcabus services have extended to the Aberaeron/Tregaron areas of Ceredigion and more recently to the Letterston area of Pembrokeshire, linking with the T5 service (Haverfordwest – Aberteifi – Aberaeron – Aberystwyth) and the TrawsCymru T1 route (Carmarthen – Lampeter – Aberaeron – Aberystwyth).
This blending of bus timings and the Bwcabus logo on TrawsCymru buses gives inter-network identity and has contributed to the growth in passenger numbers on both Bwcabus and TrawsCymru.
Timetable integration has been key to passenger growth here, compared with a decline in passenger demand elsewhere in rural Britain and most western European countries
No surprise, then, that a journey can be made from, for example, Pentre-Cwrt, a rural Carmarthenshire village, to central Paris entirely by public transport.
Travelling comfortably and easily to Carmarthen (on Bwcabus/TrawsCymru T1, 460 services); to London St Pancras (on TfW Rail Services, GWR diesel – electric, London Underground); to Paris Nord (on Eurostar) to the final destination (on RATP Paris Metro), entirely without use of the car, is an outcome many people and most governments seek.
Less exciting perhaps but equally important are local journeys between villages in the Bwcabus operating area. The benefits have included local residents continuing to have access to employment, education and healthcare, particularly in small isolated rural communities. For many residents, it is their lifeline to other areas and helps provide an independent lifestyle.
Wales has a unique tourism base which forms a key part of our economy.
We cannot pretend to have the Mediterranean weather pattern so we depend on our natural beauty, our history and our culture.
These idylls are often to be found in isolated locations and the more discerning, environmentally concerned and often significant fiscal contributor may wish to avoid using their car with its associated downsides, not least for many, a large numbers of parked cars spoiling the very unspoilt scenery they have come to enjoy.
Passenger growth over the past 10 years has resulted in Bwcabus also having one of the lowest recent subsidy rates in terms of subsidy cost per passenger trip for rural bus services of £1.25p for the integrated rural network.
Bwcabus is based on a complex computer system developed by the University of South Wales, operated by the university, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire county councils and the bus operator Brodyr Richards.
Although the “back-office” system funded by the Welsh Government and the European Commission is highly sophisticated, using Bwcabus is easy for the traveller – booking by telephone at present but also due to move online to provide a 24-hour reservation service.
To achieve the best returns, this investment should now be exploited to the full through the Government’s plan to roll it out over Wales.
Team members have been invited to speak at international conferences, showing the world that our ideas put Wales into the forefront of the international transport arena.
Consequent inquiries have come from transport authorities in places as widely spread as Poland and Brittany to ask how Wales has achieved this success in reversing the downward trend in rural bus use.
Bwcabus has been successful through the right investment, working with communities and having a flexible operational model – and serving parts of Wales which by now would have had no bus service has fully justified the Government’s confidence in this service.
■ Professor Stuart Cole CBE is Emeritus Professor of Transport (Economics and Policy), University of South Wales.