A series of cuts to bus services in Wales could have a devestating effect on some of the poorest and most vulnerable people who rely on these vital services. Mat Lee reports on the impact these cuts will have in rural Wales.
By Mat Lee. Cover image by Glyn Owen
The charity Age Cymru has warned that loneliness and isolation could increase among older people as bus services are cut across Wales, with its CEO, describing the impact as “profound”.
Recent weeks have seen a flurry of articles highlighting the loss of bus services in Wales and warning of further cuts in the pipeline. The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which represents bus companies, estimates 10% of routes have been slashed over the summer following the end of emergency Welsh Government funding implemented during the Covid pandemic. The CPT believes that, unless changes are made, up to a quarter of services could be lost over the next year.
Vulnerable groups
It is vulnerable groups such as benefits claimants, low paid workers, young people and older people who are most reliant on buses and so will bear the brunt of these cuts. Age Cymru points out that car ownership is not an option for many older people and so they rely on buses to get to the shops and appointments. CEO Victoria Lloyd has said the loss of bus services will make it more difficult for older people to join groups and attend social activities.
I spoke to Katie, a bus user and pass holder from rural Powys, who echoed these points. She describes bus services as a “lifeline, particularly to elderly people living in villages”. She told me about people she knows who live alone and how the bus journey is one of the few social interactions they will have in a day. For these people, buses are about much more than getting from A to B.
Katie told me that buses are particularly valued by those with mobility problems who would find it difficult to use the train. “The difference is they can catch a bus more or less outside their house and they can be dropped off with shopping outside their house, which means they don’t have far to carry the shopping”. She recounted how bus drivers will go above and beyond, sometimes helping passengers carry shopping to their front door.
In West Wales, the Fflecsi Bwcabus has been operating for the past 14 years. It provides a request service which enables those living in rural areas to make local journeys and connect to main transport routes. It was recently announced that the service will close at the end of October, leaving users stranded, and prompting some to speculate that they may need to move house.
Latest calamity
In many ways, these cuts are the latest in a series of calamities faced by passengers who are by now used to expensive fares and planning their lives around unreliable, irregular services. A report from Sustrans found that bus, rail and coach fares have increased by between 33% and 55.7% over the last decade whilst at the same time bus vehicle numbers have fallen by 17.8%. As a result, 12% of people in Wales have been left without any public transport links in their area.
A piece in Tribune magazine makes clear some of the consequences of these failings. It is believed 10% of missed hospital appointments in the UK are due to transportation problems, and that 19% of workers have turned down a job opportunity because of inadequate buses. Another article, published in the Guardian, told the story of one man who, unable to afford the £7.00 bus fare, regularly walked 24 miles to sign on at the nearest Job Centre.
Katie told me about the issues she faces getting to medical appointments in a rural area without a car. Recently she has been offered a number of appointments in the evening and at the weekend, presumably as the NHS tries to work through its backlog of patients. There are few or no buses at these times which means Katie has needed to stay overnight. “Sometimes I’m able to go and combine it with visiting the family and staying over with them,” she said. “It can take me literally the whole of a day and a night.”
For Katie, even a visit to the GP can be challenging as infrequent services result in a long wait in the cold for the bus back home. “Elderly people, what are they meant to do? They don’t like standing around waiting for too long because they often have health issues that make it difficult for them.”
Community transport
The dearth of public transport has left volunteers picking up the slack. I spoke to one community transport scheme operating in Mid Wales. It has a team of volunteer drivers who help members collect prescriptions and shopping free of charge.
In addition to these free services, the scheme also provides lifts to patients needing to travel to hospital appointments. Passengers using this service are charged only for mileage, which is far cheaper than booking a taxi, and those claiming certain benefits can claim back travel costs from the NHS. However, for those required to pay, the cost can be upwards of £30. Katie tells me that for some of her friends, this expense can be difficult to budget for.
Counterintuitive
The situation with regards to buses is clearly bad already, yet on the current trajectory it looks set to become worse still.
Katie repeatedly tells me that she cannot understand why the Welsh Government is cutting funding for public transport whilst seeking to reduce the number of journeys made by cars. Its transport strategy, published in 2021, aims for 45% of journeys to be made using sustainable modes and increasing bus usage is a key plank of this.
A recent white paper proposes the introduction of franchising across the bus network and allowing local authorities to set up municipal bus companies, something which was banned when services were deregulated in the 1980s by the Tories. Whilst these proposals rely on competitive tendering and stop short of bringing buses under public ownership, it was nonetheless seen as a welcome step by some campaigners.
In light of these ambitions, cuts to bus funding seem totally counterintuitive. Certainly they will do nothing to arrest the decline in passenger numbers, which currently stand at around half pre-pandemic levels.
What is the alternative?
If we are serious about making sure that public transport is available for those who need it, we need to be investing in our buses, not cutting funding.
Some have argued for local public transport to be made free for all. A report from the IPPR calls for this to be introduced by 2030 as part of a “people’s dividend” as we invest to tackle climate change. They point out that similar schemes have been set up in over a hundred towns and cities worldwide, and that free public transport is already available to groups such as older people. They believe this could be implemented across the whole of the UK for around £6 billion.
Closer to home, a paper from the Bevan Foundation calls for an overhaul of the current scheme of concessionary fares. It argues that money used for bus passes would be better spent on a system of low-cost standardised fares. This would mean those frozen out of the current schemes, such as low-paid workers, would have access to cheap travel.
The paper talks about how the concessionary fares system in Wales has led operators to focus their services when bus pass holders are most likely to travel (i.e. between 9am and 4pm). This means it is often difficult for those working office hours to make use of buses, let alone shift workers. The paper argues that by providing low cost travel at times when users actually need it, the Welsh Government is more likely to succeed in its goal of encouraging passengers onto buses.
The removal of concessionary fares is likely to be controversial, and when I mention the proposal to Katie, she tells me about an 80 year old gentleman who uses his bus pass every day to get out of the house and meet other people. She worries that, without a bus pass, he might lose this social contact.
Anger and dismay
Whatever the merits of these two arguments, it is blindingly obvious that our buses are in crisis. This will require swift intervention to prevent immediate collapse and wider change to guarantee the long-term sustainability of bus services.
Many are clearly outraged and this issue has shot up the news agenda. Katie tells me that it has been a frequent topic of conversation on her local bus route, with passengers fearful of losing their service and drivers worried for their jobs.
In response to the recent announcements, spokespersons from bus user groups have been invited onto prominent BBC radio slots and articles filled with quotes from dismayed passengers have appeared on news outlets. Could it be that the Welsh Government has underestimated the degree of anger simmering among long suffering bus users?
