Wales’ Deputy Minister for Climate Change believes the new 20mph default speed limit being introduced in Wales from Sunday 17 September is unlikely to significantly affect buses.
Talking in the Welsh Parliament this week, Lee Waters also said his government had asked bus operators for data to support their concerns and promised to monitor the effect of the radical change.
Most urban roads where 30mph is the current limit will now a 20mph maximum enforced, although councils have been able to impose exemptions.
“I know claims have been made about the impact on bus journeys, for example, and we’ve asked bus companies to provide us with data on that,” he says, responding to a question from his own party’s Mike Hedges.
“I note that the average speed, for example, of a Cardiff bus is 8mph. So, it seems unlikely to me this is going to have a significant impact, but if it turns out to be the case, then we want to look at that and we want to review and reflect on how we can make those changes. I think this can all be dealt with in a very sensible, grown-up, measured way, and the benefits, as Mike Hedges said, are very clear.”
The Managing Director of Adventure Travel, which operates services in the South Wales cities and further afield, told routeone he believed service frequency could be affected.
He says: “We can’t just keep piling in resource, drivers and buses to maintain the same schedule with increased running time.
“Inevitably, if you can’t do that, you have to reduce the frequency of the service. This change will potentially push some routes over the edge.”
In August, Cardiff Bus and Newport Transport announced timetable overhauls, with the 20mph limit cited among reasons.
