Debate over Welsh bus and rail subsidies - Rhodri Clark reports on a debate over public transport subsidy in Wales, after a conference said that Welsh buses received 24 pence of subsidy per passenger journey while the equivalent for Arriva Trains Wales is £5.10 – more than 20 times greater.
Lord Bradshaw is reported as saying that any comparison of modes of public transport in Wales should be based on distance, and that comparing subsidy by journeys could be misleading. Per passenger kilometre, subsidy in Wales is 2.9p for buses and 13.7p for ATW; the gap is narrower but ATW still receives a greater amount.
“Buses don’t pay proportionately to the wear and tear, whereas the railway has to pay Network Rail” says Swansea-based transport consultant (and former Wales manager for the BR Provincial Sector John Davies.
But Professor Chris Nash says that “What matters is what value for money we get out of subsidising rail and subsidising bus”.
We read it in: Passenger Transport, Issue 110, page 6
