Madam,

Ceredigion council is not supporting a TrawsCymru route between Wrexham and Aberystwyth.

Your readers were recently made aware of two issues regarding TrawsCymru bus services through Aberystwyth.

The first issue was the Welsh Government neglect of connecting services in Aberystwyth on the T2/ T1 route which was designed as a north to south route linking Bangor with Carmarthen. This was compounded by recent changes to the T2 service introduced on 15 January 2018 which resulted in four instances of damage to connectivity of Trawscymru services in Aberystwyth.

The second issue was the Welsh Government not actioning a “high-level” review into the Bevan Foundation recommendation to route the T3 from Wrexham to Aberystwyth. The “high-level” review was said, by Ken Skates (the Transport Minister), to have been commissioned in a letter to Cllr Alun Williams of Ceredigion County Council on 14 November last year.

However it is now known that, six days later, the Welsh Government was leading a meeting with Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire and Wrexham councils to discuss a new Trawscymru route in north Wales between Chirk and Bangor via Wrexham.

A Freedom of Information Request was made to Ceredigion council on 23 January. The reply from ceredigion Council on 22 February said that “Ceredigion County Council are not partners in the T2 contract and the T2 timetable changes of 15/01/2018 were not subject to Ceredigion County Council’s agreement”.

A request was therefore made to Ceredigion council on 24 February to complain to the Welsh Government regarding the January T2 timetable changes. After a month of deliberation, Ceredigion council refused to complain to the Welsh Government.

The reason Ceredigion council could not complain was that they had been economical with the truth in their reply to the Freedom of Information request. This was revealed on 28 March when Gwynedd Council, who manage the T2 service contract on behalf of the Welsh Government, reported that: “Ceredigion council are partners in the T2 contract and Gwynedd Council were involved in consultations with Ceredigion council on the influence of the T2 changes on connections with the T1 and T5 services in Aberystwyth. Gwynedd Council were not made aware by Ceredigion council of the detrimental impact of the T2 timetable changes of 15/01/2018 on connections with T1 and T5 services in Aberystwyth and all parties agreed to the changes to the T2 timetable on 15/01/2018.”

In their reply of 21 March, Ceredigion council also said of the “high level” review to route the T3 from Wrexham to Aberystwyth instead of Barmouth that “this is not something we feel should be pursued at this time”. An astounding statement.

An efficient transport network is vital to an area’s economic prosperity.

Ceredigion council should explain all these decisions.

Yours etc,

Dr John McTighe, Llanrhystud.

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