Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, wants to see more accountability from Transport for Wales.
Mr Rowlands, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport was commenting during a debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report, 'Report on Transport for Wales’ performance 2024-25'.
He said:
As we know, public transport in Wales must work for the people of Wales. It must be reliable, accountable and transparent, but, as the committee's report highlighted, too often some of these areas can be missed, and I will focus my remarks on just two key areas that I believe the committee report brings to light.
The first is around financial transparency and the second area is around service reliability. For me, these are two issues at the very heart of confidence, both in our public bodies, in terms of financial transparency, and confidence in our transport system from a reliability perspective.
On the financial transparency, the committee has repeatedly called for Transport for Wales to publish its full budget alongside the Welsh Government's own draft budget. This is not a radical ask, it's basic public accountability, especially when we're talking about budgets of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.
We heard from the chief executive of Transport for Wales, who admitted in his response to the committee that TfW still doesn't operate with a single consolidated budget. So, how can the public or this Senedd, as elected Members, properly scrutinise those spending decisions when there doesn't appear to be a clear, unified picture of how hundreds of millions of pounds of public funds are being used?
The second point, the issue that affects passengers most directly—service reliability. The committee's report rightly points out that performance levels are still far below public expectations. We've all heard the complaints, and some of us may have had to experience these directly ourselves: delayed trains, overcrowding, cancelled services and a lack of consistent communication.
This isn't just a nuisance for a few Senedd Members from time to time, but, for many people, it's the difference between them getting to work on time or not getting to work at all, impacting their livelihoods.
The committee recommended that TfW implement better systems for monitoring and reporting on service delivery, and I strongly support that. We need to see clear targets, monthly performance dashboards and public reporting that actually means something to passengers. I would add that we also need to see real accountability when those services fall short. It shouldn't take media coverage or pressure from elected officials to get answers when things go wrong.
Sam Rowlands AS yn tynnu sylw at bryderon am berfformiad Trafnidiaeth Cymru
Mae Sam Rowlands, Aelod o’r Senedd dros Ogledd Cymru, eisiau gweld mwy o atebolrwydd gan Drafnidiaeth Cymru.
Fe wnaeth Mr Rowlands, Ysgrifennydd Cabinet yr Wrthblaid dros Drafnidiaeth ei sylwadau yn ystod dadl ar Adroddiad y Pwyllgor Newid Hinsawdd, yr Amgylchedd a Seilwaith, 'Adroddiad ar berfformiad Trafnidiaeth Cymru 2024-25'.
Meddai:
Fel y gwyddom, rhaid i drafnidiaeth gyhoeddus yng Nghymru weithio i bobl Cymru. Rhaid iddo fod yn ddibynadwy, yn atebol ac yn dryloyw, ond fel y mae adroddiad y pwyllgor wedi nodi, yn rhy aml gellir methu rhai o'r meysydd hyn, ac nid wyf am ailadrodd geiriau Cadeirydd y pwyllgor, felly fe geisiaf ganolbwyntio fy sylwadau heddiw ar ddau faes allweddol y credaf fod adroddiad y pwyllgor yn eu hamlygu
Mae'r cyntaf yn ymwneud â thryloywder ariannol a'r ail faes yn ymwneud â dibynadwyedd gwasanaeth. I mi, mae'r rhain yn ddau fater sy'n greiddiol i hyder yn ein cyrff cyhoeddus, o safbwynt tryloywder ariannol, a hyder yn ein system drafnidiaeth o safbwynt dibynadwyedd.
Ar dryloywder ariannol, mae'r pwyllgor wedi galw dro ar ôl tro ar Trafnidiaeth Cymru i gyhoeddi ei gyllideb lawn ochr yn ochr â chyllideb ddrafft Llywodraeth Cymru ei hun. Nid yw hwn yn ofyniad radical, mae'n fater o atebolrwydd cyhoeddus sylfaenol, yn enwedig pan siaradwn am gyllidebau o gannoedd o filiynau o bunnoedd o arian trethdalwyr.
Clywsom gan brif weithredwr Trafnidiaeth Cymru, a gyfaddefodd yn ei ymateb i'r pwyllgor nad yw Trafnidiaeth Cymru yn gweithredu gydag un gyllideb wedi'i chydgrynhoi o hyd. Felly, sut y gall y cyhoedd neu'r Senedd hon, fel Aelodau etholedig, graffu'n briodol ar y penderfyniadau gwariant hynny pan nad yw'n ymddangos bod yna ddarlun clir, unedig o sut y mae cannoedd o filiynau o bunnoedd o arian cyhoeddus yn cael eu defnyddio?
Nawr, at yr ail bwynt, y mater sy'n effeithio ar deithwyr yn fwyaf uniongyrchol—dibynadwyedd y gwasanaeth. Mae adroddiad y pwyllgor yn nodi'n gywir fod lefelau perfformiad yn dal i fod yn llawer is na disgwyliadau'r cyhoedd. Rydym i gyd wedi clywed y cwynion, ac efallai fod rhai ohonom wedi gorfod profi rhai o'r rhain yn uniongyrchol ein hunain: trenau hwyr, gorlenwi, canslo gwasanaethau a diffyg cyfathrebu cyson.
Nid niwsans i ychydig o Aelodau'r Senedd o bryd i'w gilydd yw hyn, i lawer o bobl dyma'r gwahaniaeth rhwng cyrraedd eu gwaith mewn pryd neu beidio â chyrraedd y gwaith o gwbl, sy'n effeithio ar eu bywoliaeth.
Argymhellodd y pwyllgor fod Trafnidiaeth Cymru yn gweithredu systemau gwell ar gyfer monitro ac adrodd ar y modd y darparir gwasanaethau, ac rwy'n cefnogi hynny'n gryf; mae angen inni weld targedau clir, dangosfyrddau perfformiad misol ac adroddiadau cyhoeddus sy'n golygu rhywbeth i deithwyr. Rwyf am ychwanegu bod angen inni weld atebolrwydd go iawn hefyd pan fydd y gwasanaethau hynny'n methu. Ni ddylai gymryd sylw yn y cyfryngau na phwysau gan swyddogion etholedig i gael atebion pan fydd pethau'n mynd o'i le.
