Putting community at the heart of transport development – the future of Welsh transport belongs to all of us

It was a real pleasure to be alongside a really engaged and enthusiastic group of delegates at the Transport Smart Class for Wales & the West in Cardiff on 5th December. The attendees, keynote speakers and innovation sponsors were all focused on how to take the latest innovative practice and embed it to make our transport networks more effective, integrated, accessible, and sustainable.

For my presentation, I chose to focus on the importance of community in reshaping the Welsh transport network – with so many people and parts of Wales currently excluded from the mainstream transport network, it’s essential that we all have an equitable opportunity to be part of the key decisions that are coming. 

With a new Bus Bill due to come before the Senedd/Welsh Parliament in Spring 2025, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to develop and implement a transport network that delivers on the aspirations set out in Llwybr Newydd, the Welsh Government’s Transport Strategy published in 2021.

Colleagues in Local Authorities across Wales, and in the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales, are working tirelessly to redesign the transport network in a way that puts people before profit and creates more opportunities for people to make sustainable transport choices. It’s essential as we scrutinise this new Bill and as bus reform is implemented, that we maintain a laser focus on the needs of the whole community, not just those who are currently bus users.

We believe there’s a huge opportunity to directly engage with communities and the third sector organisations who work alongside them everyday – including CTA members – to think beyond a basic ‘copy and paste’ approach which will just get us a slightly tweaked version of the bus network we already have. As Henry Ford famously said – ‘if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’. 

We want everyone across the country to see the bus and community transport network as something that works for them, and to see the right options put into the right places. To do this, we need transport planners, consultants, elected officials and their advisors seizing the opportunity to not just consult with communities, but to take the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act to heart and coproduce our future transport networks with the people who are going to be using them.