The Cardiff Capital Region Corporate Joint Committee has launched a public consultation on its draft Regional Transport Plan.
The Regional Transport Plan will set out the city region’s transport priorities across the 10 local authorities which make up the Cardiff Capital Region.
In the future, this plan could be used to franchise bus services/routes, plan for and deliver road improvements, expand the South Wales Metro and potentially lead to a regional policy on home-school transport.
Region-wide Priorities & Strategy
- Upgrades to the South Wales mainline and increased services between Bristol Temple Meads and Swansea.
- Drafting a “strategic bus network” for the region to improve capacity, frequency and speed of bus services; this is tied to a new law being proposed in the Senedd.
- Focusing development at places where people can use public transport or can walk/cycle. This includes potentially moving existing rail stations to locations that could serve larger populations or attract development (this is being considered at Pyle).
- Integrated ticketing – such as smart cards or contactless payments – that can be used on all forms of public transport in the region (this has already been rolled out to an extent).
- Switching the bus fleet to electricity/battery power or hydrogen.
- Increasing the number of park-and-ride facilities at rail and Metro stations.
- Improving cycling facilities at rail stations – such as lockers.
Specific to Bridgend
- Prioritise a walking and cycling route between Bridgend and Porthcawl via Laleston.
- Unspecified improvements to “Bridgend Bus Interchange” (I think this means the proposed interchange at Bridgend railway station).
- Continue to progress a park-and-ride facility at the Ewenny Road regeneration site in Maesteg.
- Addressing capacity issues on the Maesteg line so more trains can run; there’s a long-standing desire to build a passing loop near Tondu and this might refer to that.
You can give your views on the proposals here.
