\u00a0 \u00a0 TfW\u2019s future bus role is set out in a letter, published this month, from Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change, to Scott Waddington, chair of TfW. Waters says TfW will be \u201crequired to embed a multi-modal mindset\u201d and nurture a \u201cmulti-modal culture in Wales across the public, private and third sectors through its staff, procurement and engagements with partners\u201d.<\/p>\n Pontypridd-based TfW was initially set up to procure the Wales and Borders rail franchise. The government has already given it additional responsibilities, with more likely to follow. TfW\u2019s new remit, termed TfW 2.0, requires TfW to \u201cmaximise modal shift\u201d while reducing the costs of running public transport networks; to deliver a fully integrated transport system in close partnership with local and central government; to encourage and support people to adopt sustainable transport modes as their default; and enhance and develop greater commercial opportunities to maximise revenue, minimise costs, mitigate risks and exploit opportunities.<\/p>\n Roles and responsibilities across the bus system are currently fragmented, with no overall guiding mind, leading to a lack of consistency and standardisation<\/p>\n Explaining TfW\u2019s new bus remit, Waters wrote: \u201cRoles and responsibilities across the bus system are currently fragmented, with no overall guiding mind, leading to a lack of consistency and standardisation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Welsh Government, through the Bus Bill, is proposing to hold the statutory responsibility for bus services in Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n Waters acknowledged that bus operators and their staff are \u201ccrucial to the effective delivery of services to meet people\u2019s needs\u201d. Key stakeholders together would offer a guiding mind for the overall system. <\/p>\n \u201cLocal authorities will retain key responsibilities, including local intelligence and insight, local infrastructure and school transport while Transport for Wales, with ministers\u2019 agreement, will bring together these partners and provide technical advice to allow them to set a joint strategic direction for bus services in Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n If the final version of the Bill is agreed in the Senedd, TfW will: <\/p>\n lead on development and delivery of the system as a whole; Waters added: \u201cIn order to facilitate this, both the Welsh Government and local government will need to develop appropriate mechanisms to hold TfW to account in its role in delivering the bus franchising programme on behalf of our democratically-accountable public authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Bev Fowles, vice-chair of the Coach and Bus Association Cymru, said he had no idea how TfW would discharge its remit of managing bus services. \u201cThe best people to manage bus services are the bus operators in conjunction with the local authorities. The [service] registration is a local registration and therefore the people locally know best, not some people in the cathedral.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t even know who is in the cathedral in Pontypridd. We don\u2019t know what regions people come from to take the positions there. How is a guy in Pontypridd going to know what the people of Machynlleth [in rural Powys] need?<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t even know who is in the cathedral in Pontypridd. We don\u2019t know what regions people come from to take the positions there. How is a guy in Pontypridd going to know what the people of Machynlleth [in rural Powys] need?\u201d<\/p>\n The government could point to the required input from local and regional representative in answer to that. However, Fowles said local government had lost many of the transport officers who understood local areas and networks, and other experienced officers were close to retirement. Some expertise has gone from local authorities to TfW, including former Caerphilly officer Huw Morgan who is now TfW\u2019s head of integrated transport. <\/p>\n \u00a0 DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post \u2018TfW 2.0\u2019 will manage bus services in Wales<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Initially set up to procure the Wales and Borders rail franchise, Transport for Wales will be tasked with nurturing a \u2018multi-modal culture in Wales\u2019 \u00a0TfW headquarters in Pontypridd \u00a0 Transport for Wales has a new remit which will eventually include procuring and managing bus services. TfW\u2019s future bus role is set out in a letter, published this month, from Lee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
TfW headquarters in Pontypridd<\/em><\/p>\n
\nTransport for Wales has a new remit which will eventually include procuring and managing bus services.<\/p>\n
\nwork with local and regional representatives to develop and dynamically manage bus networks and priorities, \u201crecognising the significance and importance of local bus expertise, knowledge and relationships\u201d and local authorities\u2019 ongoing role in the transport system;
\nbe accountable for services and how they will run, including routes, vehicle standards, timetables, fares, branding, passenger information and ticketing;
\nprovide direction and consistency across Wales;
\nprocure and manage bus services;
\ndistribute funding to operators and manage revenue risk on behalf of Welsh Government within an agreed fiscal envelope.<\/p>\n
This article appears inside the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n