Thirty Years On ... (or, Moving Forwards, Going Backwards)

It only occurred to me a few days ago that October 2016 marks thirty years of bus 'deregulation' (i.e. privatisation) across most of the UK.

You won't have heard anything about this momentous occasion on the TV or radio news, of course. Nor will you have read anti-nostalgic articles about 'the bad old days' in the national press. That's because bus service were only deregulated outside Greater London – and, of course, as far as the Westminster Bubble of politicians, journalists, newspaper columnists and business lobbyists are concerned, that's pretty much the extent of the Observable Universe.

As for the rest of us, as I've pointed out on several occasions, deregulation panned out exactly as the prophets of doom (myself included) said it would. The results included wonderful spin-offs of the capitalist system: cheaper fares initially, which quickly shot back up after cut-throat competition forced smaller operators off the road; fewer services running on fewer routes; an increased focus on town centres and population centres at the extent of outlying areas; vast fleets of small buses saturating the arterial roads throughout the day, and then vanishing as soon as people needed to travel home from work again; entire communities being isolated except for rates-supported services which run a couple of times a week at best.

I remember when it was possible to get a direct bus from Cardiff via Aberdare to Penderyn, at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. On most journeys it would continue to Brecon. Thirty years later you have to change buses twice – in Pontypridd and Aberdare – to get from Cardiff to Penderyn. And if you aren't in Aberdare by 1730, when the last Penderyn bus pulls out, you're screwed! You can still get to Hirwaun, but you'll need to walk the last couple of miles. It's a lovely bit of exercise when the sun is out and the weather is mild. You wouldn't want to do it in the middle of a Welsh winter, or even in the middle of the average Welsh summer, for that matter.

As for Brecon: well, as long as you can be in Merthyr Tydfil by 0730, you can catch the T4 service, which runs direct from Cardiff to Newtown. But if you finish work in Brecon after 1725, you can forget all about getting home the same day. You can (in theory) stay on the return T4 as far as Pontypridd and catch a bus or train back to Aberdare from there, of course. You're getting back into town at 2000 or so. Ten hours or so later, the whole cycle starts again.

As I've pointed out on several occasion, you used to be able to get a 'direct' bus from Aberdare to Swansea. It took all bloody day, weaving its way through tiny villages like Blaengwrach and Tonna before it even arrived at Neath about an hour and a half later; but you eventually reached Swansea. It was absolutely no use to anyone who was living in Aberdare and working or studying in Wales's second city, but at least people could go shopping.

Now you have to change at Hirwaun and (possibly) in Neath as well, simply to do a twenty-mile journey. It's still no use to anyone working or studying there, but senior citizens can still go shopping. They've got their concessionary passes, so they don't have to worry about the money. Everyone else has to fork out the best part of fifteen quid for two non-interchangeable tickets. I haven't been to Swansea for years. If I do go down before Xmas, it will work out about as expensive to catch the train – and it'll be a whole lot quicker, even after changing trains at Cardiff Central.

You could catch long distance services from Aberdare, as well. I used to take the coach direct to London when I was a student, and for a couple of years after that. It picked up at Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Newport, and dropped off at Heathrow on the way to town. Over time the route was trimmed back, so that you had to travel from Pontypridd (adding another forty minutes by train each way).

Now, some thirty years after I first made that epic journey alone and without a leader, you have to travel from Cardiff – so that's at least an extra hour on top of the coach journey time each way. And it doesn't even leave from the centre of Cardiff. The redevelopment of Central Square has forced National Express services out to Sophia Gardens, at least a quarter of an hour's walk from the main rail terminus.

So, boys and girls, next time you hear old people like me reminiscing about the bygone century when you could travel directly to Monmouth from Aberdare, or from Cardiff to Gloucester on the same ticket and without changing buses once, I don't blame you for not believing us.