Posts

Transport for Wales 2.0

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Speech to Transport for Wales senior management at Llys Cadwyn, TfW HQ, in Pontypridd on 6th February 2024 Diolch am y croeso a y cyfle. James Price and I meet regularly, and sometimes it feels like we’re in charge. But it really is a privilege to be in the same room as the people who actually do run transport in Wales. And it’s so nice to see people together. I’m still adjusting to meeting people in the flesh who I’m used to seeing online; I still can’t believe how short everyone is when I meet them! Apart from the ones I already knew were short, obviously (you know who you are). The worst thing about those mass Teams calls is that I can’t see people’s reactions to what I’m saying – to confirm that they are drifting off.  So at least I’ll know for sure today that I am boring you – the people in the room at least. It won’t stop me, but it gets rid of the uncertainty. I know we’ve priced-in that politicians' speeches will be insincere, but I really do mean what I say. And I

Teething troubles

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Claims that the 20mph had led to buses cutting services were raised in the Senedd. Here is my response There are lots of challenges facing the bus industry and it's too easy to blame it all on the new speed limit. Let me deal with a number of issues in-turn. First of all let’s remember why we decided to reduce the speed limit in built-up areas: it was to save lives and cut casualties. I set up an expert group to work with delivery partners to design an implementation plan that would work in practice. It did work with TfW which showed that impacts on journey times would be marginal. And they recommended we take the approach of a national default speed limit rather than the street-by-street approach that existed before and was seen to have failed to meet its objectives. It did work with TfW which showed that impacts on most journey times would be marginal. And they recommended we take the approach of a national default speed limit rather than the street-by-street approach that exi

A process that is a bit of an event

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  Speech to Clean Air Cymru Coalition Senedd reception, 9th January 2024 Well there’s not a great deal to celebrate at the moment but the passage of Bill, and the way in which it was done, is definitely a moment worth marking. In a few months we’ll be marking the 25th anniversary of the first meeting of the National Assembly for Wales. The Act which established devolution for Wales set in law a commitment to work with the voluntary sector, and a duty to promote sustainable development. And it promised a more consensual, inclusive, approach to decision-making. So I think it is fitting that in this anniversary year we have all succeeded in putting those principles into practice in shaping and passing this important legislation. Having spent a decade in the third sector before being elected here I don’t always have complimentary things to say about the ability of the voluntary sector to effectively lobby and mobilise. But hats off to the Healthy Air Cymru coalition for their campaigning

2023 - 5 big changes in transport in Wales

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Changing direction takes you to a different destination... We ask our transport system to do a lot of things, but we’ve not asked it to make its contribution to our shared challenge of reducing carbon emissions. Indeed, transport is the sector that has contributed the least to the legal duty to cut emissions. Unless that changes we will not meet our overall NetZero imperative . It is difficult for any incoming Transport Minister to change much in the short-term - road and rail projects take upwards of seven years to implement, and the ongoing pipeline of schemes means that significant spending has already been committed and political expectations raised by the time a new Minister takes office. Though the political spotlight is inevitably on short-term problems, significant change is a longer term project. Over and above the day-to-day activity of keeping a transport system on track I have tried to focus on how to ‘change the wiring’ to secure medium to long-term change. For all its ch

There is a way. But is there the will?

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Speech to the UK National Transport Awards, Westminster Park Plaza, 5th October 2023 Diolch yn fawr iawn / Thank you very much for inviting me here tonight to celebrate the achievements of those nominated at these 20th annual National Transport Awards. There’s a lot to say about current events, but I’ve decided not going to dwell on what’s been happening in Manchester this week. But I would like to make two points. Despite the slogan there is no longer a pretence that this Government are thinking about long-term decisions; there is no strategy, it is all tactics. And pretty grubby ones at that. The chaos over HS2 I think illustrates the point. As part of their political mitigation strategy, they have announced a 1 Billion pound initiative to electrify the north Wales rail mainline. They have clearly learnt nothing from HS2, or from the broken promise to electrify the mainline line to Swansea. Then, as now, there was no development work behind the announcement, no plan and no costin