Cardiff Council has announced a £1bn plan to overhaul the Welsh capital’s transport system to prevent it from ‘grinding to a halt’.
The plan includes Cardiff Cross Rail, a new light rail/tram line from east to west connecting major population centres and new suburbs in the west with Cardiff Central.
It also includes Cardiff Circle Line, a light rail/tram line linking large residential areas to the transport network, and a new park and ride.
‘Cardiff's transport network needs to change,’ Cllr Huw Thomas told delegates at a Welsh Government Conference on Active Travel.
‘It was originally designed for a city with a population of 200,000, but today our population is closer to 400,000 and there are another 80,000 commuters travelling into the city by car every day.’
‘It's clear to everyone that this situation is unsustainable.’
‘That is why I am setting out a vision today for a greener, more sustainable city a vision which could transform the way people move around our city by 2030,’ he continued.
The transport plan includes a Rapid Bus Transport Network using green and electric vehicles and safe cycleways and walking routes linked to bus, rail and tram networks.
There will also be an integrated ticketing system and Cardiff will become a 20mph city.
Cllr Caro Wild, the cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, commented: ‘Get transport right and it's a game changer. It adds real impetus to a city's economic development agenda. It helps tackle inequality by better connecting people with opportunity. It improves quality of life and provides a visible pointer to the city's environmental credentials.
‘Get it wrong and it signals the inevitable erosion of your economic competitiveness and a slow decay in quality of life. It's therefore hardly surprising that transport is consistently the single most important issues for residents.
‘We now look forward to continuing to work with Welsh Government and other partners to make this game-changing investment in the city region's transport network a reality.’?
