“Making Connections: The Socio-Economic Impacts of an All-Wales Integrated
Transport System” - Abstract

The findings: Wales displays relatively high levels of urban and rural deprivation and low economic development in comparison with other European countries. Across a range of socio-economic indicators Wales performs less well than other parts of Europe. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2016) estimated that 20% of public services expenditure was related to poverty.

The thesis research question asked: "Is there evidence from other small European countries (the Netherlands, Switzerland, Catalonia, Ireland and Scotland) that an integrated transport system could assist in addressing Wales’ intractable levels of poverty and deprivation and problems of economic development? If so, what would such a transport system look like and how would it operate?”

Evidence indicated that integrated transport systems can address issues of economic performance. The four countries with high and medium levels of transport integration, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Catalonia and Ireland, all had better levels of economic performance than Scotland and Wales. Consequently, more resources were available for other sectors of the economy, including poverty and deprivation reduction. It is suggested that transport integration facilitates economic agglomeration effects by providing faster, more reliable physical links between markets and nodes of production.

Three models for a Welsh integrated transport system were examined. The Dutch national scheme, the Swiss regional transport unions, and the Catalan metropolitan transport authorities. It was recommended that a version of the Dutch system be adopted, this combines a high level of inter-modal service integration with a national public transport smart card that charges passengers per kilometre travelled.

No hard evidence supported a positive answer to the research objective question: “Does transport investment free government expenditure for other sectors of the economy?” However, as noted above, economic activity was higher in those jurisdictions with high and medium integration.

There was evidence that expenditure on integrated systems was effective in achieving planning, social, economic development and environmental objectives. These were not possible to capture in a deregulated transport environment because of ownership issues and lack of service stability.

However, there were no direct positive indications to the question: “Are integrated public transport systems an effective way of minimising capital and revenue expenditure on transport?”

The question: “What would an integrated public transport system look like and how would it be organised?” provoked a clear view from questionnaire and interview responses that the ‘one size fits all’ approach to public transport provision is not effective. Not only strategic and regional services were needed but also tertiary level services connecting villages with each other and local towns, and at times when conventional services did not operate. Consequently, an integrated network would incorporate demand responsive services.

Contribution to Academic Knowledge: The integration of Wales within the legal jurisdiction of ‘England and Wales’ results in most transport studies and data being at an ‘England and Wales’ level. This is inadequate given the different cultural, geographical and socio-economic conditions in the two countries. Whilst there is a body of historical work available, particularly on development of the railway system, transport in Wales, and its relevance to economic development, poverty and deprivation reduction, is a relatively unstudied area from an academic point of view. This study provides seeks to provide a foundation for further research.

Also, by using transport and socio-economic statistics from five other European countries to achieve international comparisons with Wales, and the use of government reports and other sources, this study provides a new strategic and comparative overview of the situation in Wales.

Finally, by analysing questionnaire and interview data the work formulates thirteen recommendations for policy makers and stakeholders to consider in the areas of transport policy, poverty and deprivation and economic development.