A Bus Bill to commence planned reform of service delivery in Wales will be introduced as expected under the Welsh Government’s legislative programme for the upcoming Senedd term, First Minister Mark Drakeford has confirmed.
It is one of five bills for the coming year contained in an announcement Mr Drakeford made to the Senedd on 27 June. Public policy for buses in Wales is tied to franchising. The First Minister says that the Bus Bill will “reform the failed system of deregulation to enable all levels of government to work together to design the network of bus services our communities need… That is the guiding principle of the bill.”
Upon questioning about the Bus Bill, Mr Drakeford says that it “will make public interest the key test in the way in which bus services are provided in the future,” nothing that it will also “put people before profit.”
He adds: “It will mean that local authorities [and] Transport for Wales (TfW) will have the powers that are needed to ensure that the very significant public investment that is made on behalf of the public in sustaining that public transport system is put properly to work.”
Concerns had been raised by members of the industry in Wales that TfW is not equipped to facilitate the delivery of franchising. However, in March the Welsh Government engaged former Urban Transport Group Director Jonathan Bray to chair “a panel of experts” that will advise and support TfW and policymakers on the transition to a regulated environment.
In announcing that the Bus Bill will move forward over the coming year, Mr Drakeford has acknowledged the primary constraint around ambition for the sector in Wales. “Funding will always be an issue,” he says. “We simply do not have the money to do all the things that we would like to do.”
