Green Light For £28.5 Million Sustainable Transport System For Cardiff

Free bike hire scheme, free city centre circular buses and a package of measures to tackle congestion will make Cardiff a beacon for sustainable travel in Wales thanks to a £28.5 million joint investment by the Welsh Assembly Government and Cardiff Council.

Minister for Economy and Transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones will today announce that the capital city had been chosen as the first area chosen for the Sustainable Travel Towns Initiative and will benefit from a multimillion pound investment in a range of sustainable transport measures.

If successful, this innovative concept could be rolled out to other areas across Wales.

The investment over the next two years will transform the way people travel to, and around Cardiff, and will include a free city centre shuttle service, a new park and ride facility at Pentwyn and improved cycling and walking routes.

It will also give the go-ahead for the Pont-y-Werin bridge, a new walking and cycle crossing of the Ely river between Penarth and the SportsVillage complex.

The initiative, funded by £14.5million from the Welsh Assembly Government and £14million from Cardiff Council, will initially be for two years but the council hope to include further phases after that.

"Cardiff has been chosen as the first region to benefit from this substantial investment to create a sustainable urban transport system." said Mr Jones.
 
"Commuter levels in and around Cardiff have increased significantly over the past few years.This is an exciting opportunity to develop and implement a range of innovative transport solutions which will benefit the 210,000 people who travel into the city on a daily basis. This scheme will also support our Physical Activity Action Plan, which is currently being developed.
 
"If successful, this innovative model could be rolled out across other towns and cities in Wales."

The plan includes a combination of infrastructure and service improvements which aim to cut congestion in the city and improve local and regional access.

The infrastructure improvements include developing better bus corridors, the future pedestrianisation of High Street / St Mary Street, and a free city centre bus with connections to the Bay. There will also be an enhanced city centre cycle network, and enhanced park and ride facilities.

This will run alongside a programme of improved services including sustainable travel incentives and promotion, journey sharing schemes, car clubs and free bike hire.

Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing said,

"We have become far too reliant on using the car and we need to consider alternative, greener ways to travel. Increased bus and cycle use is a win-win situation. It will mean fewer cars on the road and will lead to a healthier Wales. It will ease congestion, lower carbon emissions and will contribute to our fight against climate change."

Cardiff Council Executive Member for Transport Delme Bowen said: “Becoming Wales’ first sustainable travel city is testament to the very hard work of everyone involved at Cardiff Council. It displays the huge benefits available to the hundreds of thousands of people who make their way into our city every day and shows our commitment to making the city even more sustainable in the future”.

Sustrans Cymru Director Lee Waters said: "Sustrans fully supports the vision to make the Welsh capital a SustainableTravelCity. Thirty years ago Copenhagen had the same levels of cycling that Cardiff has today. Now over a third of all commuting journeys in the Danish capital are by bike. Cardiff has the potential to achieve the same. With a joined-up approach we can encourage people to use their cars less and chose to travel in ways which benefit their health and the environment."