The first ever Welsh National Travel Survey has shown lower than planned modal shift while revealing the public’s priorities. Rhodri Clark reports

 
Better information would encourage more people to use Welsh buses. This bus stop pole, with no timetable case, is in the centre of Hawarden, Flintshire

 
The first ever Welsh National Travel Survey has indicated that better integration of buses with other modes would not encourage people to use buses more, but better information about bus services would do so.

The survey also confirms that the previous Labour Welsh Government failed to meet the first of the modal shift targets it set in 2021. The Net Zero Wales Carbon Budget 2 said: “Our aim is to reduce the number of car miles travelled per person by 10% by 2030 and to increase the proportion of trips by sustainable travel mode (public transport and active travel) to 35% by 2025 and 39% by 2030.”

The initial WNTS indicates that 25.2% of journeys in 2025 were by public transport and active travel, almost 10 percentage points lower than the target for 2025. Almost three-quarters (73.6%) of journeys were made by car, 3.7% by bus and 1.9% by rail.

The Welsh Government withdrew from what had been the National Travel Survey for England and Wales in 2013 to save money. A decade later, it did not have data to monitor progress towards the 2025 and 2030 targets. English NTS data was sometimes used a proxy when the Welsh Government and local government formulated plans and policies.

Transport for Wales developed the WNTS and has released preliminary data from the first six months of survey work. Finalised 12-month data for March 2025 to March 2026 will be published in the autumn.

The least persuasive option for bus users was ‘improve integration with other transport modes

The preliminary data comes from over 3,000 respondents, 1,525 of whom had used buses in the period covered. The survey asked what would encourage people to travel by bus. Each respondent could choose up to three options from a list of 14.

The least persuasive option for bus users was “improve integration with other transport modes”, with 97.8% saying it would not encourage them to use buses more.

The most persuasive option, chosen by 42.0% of bus users, was “better route, bus stop and timing information”. Programmes of improving bus stops ended in 2014 when the Welsh Government abolished the local government Regional Transport Consortiums. Many stops now have derelict real-time information screens and empty timetable display cases or misleading pre-pandemic timetables. Faded flags commonly display outdated route numbers.

“More frequent services, including at quieter times of day” would persuade 34.4% of bus-user respondents to use buses more, followed closely by “cheaper, simpler tickets” and “improved reliability and/or punctuality”.

The options most commonly chosen by non-bus users were “none of these” (29.5%) and the better information option (28.6%).

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

DON’T MISS OUT – GET YOUR COPY! – click here to subscribe!