Swansea bids for millions of pounds to improve transport

Swansea will become one of the most advanced cities in the UK for integrated transport if it secures nearly £17 million of funding.

Cabinet Members in Swansea Council are set to approve a report highlighting bids for £16.6m of transport grant money from the Welsh Assembly.

If successful, the money will be used to fund a number of schemes which would significantly boost public transport services in the city. The money will help improve schemes such as, Park and Ride, the Quadrant Bus Station redevelopment, Hafod Transport Feasability Study as well as helping develop better accessibility for rural bus services.

Anthony O'Sullivan, Head of Transportation and Engineering said, "The Council has recently been successful in obtaining nearly £6 million in transport grant funding.

"This will be used to develop vital infrastructure to run an efficient passenger transport service in Swansea.

"The latest bids will ensure we can continue with these important schemes and help Swansea become a leading city for passenger transport."

One of the schemes which will benefit from the funding will be the futuristic Streetcar initiative. Streecar is a road-based passenger transport concept that has been designed to help ease traffic congestion in city centres.

The Streetcar was unveiled quite recently by Swansea Council and First Cymru. First Transport Group has developed the new vehicle and is hoping to have the vehicles on roads in Britain during the next couple of years.

Councillor John Hague, Swansea Council Cabinet Member for the Environment said, "I'm thrilled that First Cymru have chosen Swansea to launch the Streetcar in Wales.

"This new concept in public transport will be very welcome in Swansea. We are committed to improving public transport and the Streetcar will fit in well with our long term plans for a fully integrated transport system in the city."

Assembly Minister for Transport, Andrew Davies attended the launch and was very enthusiastic about the scheme. He also complimented Swansea Council on its work so far to provide effective public transport services and described Swansea as an 'exemplar' for the rest of Wales.

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