Heathrow’s closure due to a fire in a substation makes the headlines for days. Bus passengers who face delays, cancellations, missed connections on an ongoing basis hardly ever make the news. BBC Radio Wales has half-hourly updates on traffic. Buses never get a mention.

Since the end of the pandemic many bus-dependent people have campaigned for better bus services. Hence I was delighted to receive three bus consultations, all in March.

Number one was regarding the Mid Wales Regional Transport Plan. That consultation wasn’t written with most people in mind. It was largely incomprehensible except to those of us who’ve dealt with public transport for years. It was cobbled together and had many policies in it that I recognised from my days on the Public Transport Users’ Committee in 2010.

There was no passenger representation among the stakeholders. Do any of them even catch a bus? They complain about the “limited reach of rail and bus network.” Tell us something new; we’ve been losing services right, left and centre. They even mentioned TRACC, a regional transport body which I and other long-term campaigners thought had died a death more than a decade ago.

Still, refreshingly, their conclusions are that we need more buses.

Well, hallelujah! They didn’t have to pay anyone to tell us, the bus passengers.

The second consultation was on franchising.

This one came from Transport for Wales (TfW). You have to register with them on-line before you can complete it. So not for those who can’t use computers, still remarkably common in the older generation, many of whom are bus users.

Franchising isn’t planned to happen in Mid Wales until 2030 but it was nice to be asked to comment. Having spoken to a number of campaigners who are intelligent and understand how our bus services can improve, they told me that they don’t know how franchising will work and therefore can’t complete the consultation.

My view on franchising is clear. Unless the whole county or region falls under one franchise with lesser used routes part of it, nothing will change, except more bureaucracy, meaning less money for buses and drivers where it’s needed.

The third consultation, another TfW one, was accompanied by three face-to-face meetings with passengers.

It’s regarding the grand plan, likely politically motivated, to create a North-South limited stop coach service from Bangor to Carmarthen, eight services a day no less. I went along to the Aberystwyth event and asked some questions. None could be answered by the TfW staff.

In fairness, one gave me her email address and promised to get the answers. I asked what research has been carried out that shows a need for this service seeming none of the regular passengers I’ve spoken to thinks there is.

I asked which budget the service would be paid from, the current bus budget, train budget, or from new money. We desperately need money spent on upgrading our current services, making many of them hourly, including the train, bringing back scheduled services that are now demand responsive or community run. Just ask the people of Corris.

This coach will only take four hours and 45 minutes for the full journey from Bangor to Carmarthen. How many would undertake such a journey?

Those who wish to travel from Bangor to Cardiff would use the train via Shrewsbury, four hours and 45 minutes, not coach to Carmarthen plus roughly two hours train to Cardiff. Passengers from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen, or Machynlleth to Aberystwyth would likely use this service.

How will that affect the current T1 and T2 services? I asked that too and much more. I hope I get the answers soon.