Bus firm warned over punctuality
A BUS company has received a formal warning after punctuality problems on routes between Cardiff and Caerphilly.
The Traffic Commissioner for Wales Nick Jones has issued the warning to Stagecoach in Wales after a public inquiry was held in January.
Mr Jones received reports that the service on two bus routes – Cardiff to Graig y Rhacca and Cardiff to Senghenydd – was “wholly inadequate”.
The report said Stagecoach changed routes 181 and 182 to avoid congestion on North Road and at the University Hospital of Wales, but punctuality complaints were received by Caerphilly council and Bus Users Cymru.
Over a monitoring period of five days, between December 5 and December 15, there was an overall punctuality rate of 47.19%.
Stagecoach said that traffic had increased in the pre-Christmas period and “suggested that the monitoring exercise did not give a true picture of service”.
A second monitoring exercise, between January 16 and 27, revealed a 76.09% punctuality rate, with a third phase of monitoring taking place over 17 days, from June 7 to July 18, with a 74.38% compliance rate.
The report found that after the service “experienced major traffic delays at the University Hospital of Wales” the routes were revised to improve punctuality.
It read: “The well-intended road management changes at the hospital simply increased the volume of traffic elsewhere on the route; negating any improvement in punctuality at the hospital that the revision of the route had intended to achieve.”
Illegal on-road parking, major roundabout works, staff misconduct and a bus lane being too narrow were also contributing factors, the report added.
However Mr Jones noted that successive monitoring of the route had resulted in a clear improvement.
Punctuality monitoring prior to a June hearing saw a 93.27% punctuality rate.
In a written decision issued after two hearings, Mr Jones said: “I am satisfied that this is an operator that has sought to address the problems identified, some of which were relatively unusual. I remind myself that the operator has had a large number of registered services in the area, most are not to my knowledge the cause of any significant complaint.”
A spokesman for Stagecoach in Wales said: “We regret that our customers were inconvenienced by punctuality issues affecting our services connecting Cardiff and Caerphilly in 2016-17 and we accept our performance was not at the level we want to see. It is very important that passengers are able to have confidence in the published timetable and we are pleased that punctuality has dramatically improved.”