Public Transport

Public transport should do what it says on the tin – but in our county, buses still operate for private profit, not the public good. Flintshire People’s Voice firmly backs the creation of a municipal bus company, owned by local people, to run a network that serves all of our communities.

When public transport works, everything else works a bit better too. A regular bus service improves health in local communities by enabling people to get to a GP, where otherwise they would be cut off and forced to ignore the problem until it becomes an emergency, needing an A&E visit instead. A reliable network enables workers, especially young people, to get to and from work, where the alternative is unemployment. Routes bringing residents into Flintshire’s towns boost the amount of money spent in local shops, strengthening our high streets, instead of that money being spent with online retailers who don’t pay their tax. Connecting communities helps prevent isolation and loneliness, addressing head on a growing problem.

Despite the obvious benefits, bus services have continued shrinking back all across Flintshire. Many villages have lost a regular service altogether, some only operate on certain days of the week, and plenty don’t run before 9am or after 5pm, making them useless for workers. In early budget proposals, the Labour administration considered abolishing all bus subsidies entirely – but were stopped by the hard lobbying of our councillors.

The solution is to change the way we look at bus organisation. Instead of private companies hoovering up popular services, and spiriting the profits away to overseas shareholders, a local, publicly owned bus company could use revenue from profitable routes to deliver services that connect local villages, but which may operate at a loss. The running costs, after income is taken into account, would be no more than the council currently spends on transport and transport planning, most of which is handed straight over to private companies.

This isn’t a radical proposal – it’s how buses used to operate here, and how they still operate in other parts of the UK. But the current council sees this as “too ambitious”. Flintshire People’s Voice believes that a lack of ambition is no excuse for not fixing the problems that affect the people of Flintshire.

We back the idea of a North Wales Metro, which has been promised, but not yet delivered, by Welsh Labour Governments for over a decade. We believe that this should include investment into light rail and trams where a business case can be made, and we would give serious consideration to a funding bid for a service connecting communities in this way. The three schemes we believe deserve further exploration, but that we support in principle and believe are achievable, are:

  1. Deeside tram (phase one between Kelsterton and Airbus, eventually expanded to Chester via Broughton and Saltney, and Flint);
  2. Reinstatement of the Chester – Mold line using light rail, connecting Broughton, Higher Kinnerton and Mold to the rail network, and restoring a Chester service to Penyffordd, and,
  3. A second tram service through Mold, Mynydd Isa, Buckley and Ewloe, connecting at Shotton with National Rail services and the Deeside tram, before crossing the river and terminating at the Deeside Industrial Park.

Developing these services would give a permanent service to those communities, much more difficult to withdraw than a bus route, more reliable, and causing less wear on roads. Evidence from elsewhere shows that improved public transport is one of the strongest drivers of sustainable economic and job growth. Such an outcome would benefit the whole of Flintshire, those who use the new service and those who don’t.