Will the Minister give an assurance that the Transport for Wales delay repay scheme website and online forms do not treat Welsh less favourably than English and comply with the requirements of Welsh language standards?
Transport for Wales have informed me that it is not possible to calculate how many passengers are eligible to receive delay repay compensation who then do not claim for this compensation. Only a small percentage of tickets are sold for dedicated trains with the majority sold on an ‘open’ basis. Therefore data isn’t held on which specific train a passenger has travelled on, whether they are then eligible for compensation, and the value of that compensation.
Transport for Wales have identified the following issues as the primary causes for delays in 2022 and 2023:
· Reliability issues with legacy fleet
· Severe weather impacts on infrastructure
· Infrastructure reliability
· Traincrew availability
· Industrial action impacting Network Rail and English based Train Operating Companies
· Engineering work overruns
Transport for Wales has worked to improve its Welsh language services to customers over the past years. Its website and app are bilingual and all new train fleets have systems that provide information to customers bilingually. However there remains more to be done. The bilingual Delay Repay portal is hosted by a third party developer and is currently undergoing a full audit by Transport for Wales colleagues to ensure that it provides an excellent user experience in both languages and is fully compliant with the requirements of the Welsh Language Standards.