The issue is that TFW Management have only been concerned about the transformation of the network since 2019. The focus has been on 2023 onwards with continual promises about how things will get better. There has been little focus on anything 2019-2022 and when things have gone wrong, there's been no contingency. They have been riding the waves since then having to battle with rubbish 769 and 230 reliability, not a great introduction of mk4's and an immense amount of training for those fleets, as well as throwing 197 and 231 training into the mix. Whoever thought trying to tackle all that in one short few years stint should come back down to reality. Even James Price himself said it should have been a 10+ year project rather than a 3-4 year project.
The issue now is they are too deep in it to go back on anything, and have to just continue to ride the waves and push the narrative that "Things will get better".
They still aren't out of the woods yet though. The 175's are hanging on by a thread, are still proving unreliable and should be gone by December. A fair chunk of the Valleys network has been closed for some time which will be reopening soon, so those 150's freed up will be required again.
There's a lot of 197's now in service, mainly being seen in the North which has boosted capacity on NWC routes. But once clearances in the South are complete (Cardiff - Swansea is imminent), those 197's will be shifted down South until more arrive. Therefore reducing capacity again in North Wales.
The remaining 3 170's will be going, further reducing capacity on Maesteg/Cheltenham and Ebbw Vale routes which will likely predominantly be 2 cars all day, as there doesn't seem to be any sign in the 231's cascading from Rhymney line to Maesteg/Ebbw Vale as intended. Overcrowding on Marches and North Wales routes has been horrendous again this summer but that is now behind us with Christmas demand looming ever closer.
