I’d like to thank the Member for his questions. I would agree that we need something of a revolution rather than an evolution in the way that bus services are provided in Wales, now that we have the powers available to us to make the significant changes that are required in order to ensure that bus operators meet the expectations of passengers. For that reason, the consultation that will be launched next week will provide opportunities for the industry, for Members, for the public and for passengers to be able to provide ideas and opinions on how we can radically reshape the bus services that people value so deeply.

I do believe that community transport is an essential component of the mix that we have across Wales. Indeed, this is demonstrated by the significant increase in the number of passenger journeys that have been taken through community transport, in contrast to the steady decline in the number of journeys that have been taken on commercial bus routes. I believe firmly that there should be an expansion of community transport, and for that reason we make available resources to community transport initiatives through the bus services support grant. In addition to this, expert advice is available through the Business Wales network.

It’s essential that appropriate vehicles are used for all routes and the Member is correct in that, on occasions, sometimes on regular occasions, improper vehicles, vehicles that are too large, are used on routes. This is one of the challenges that we have sought to address through the construction of a quality partnership regime based on a voluntary agreement between local authorities and bus operators. However, given the requirement for bus operators and for local authorities to invest in respect of infrastructure that they are responsible for, we’ve not seen as many quality partnerships agreed as we would wish. For that reason, the two co-ordinators in the metro areas in the north-east and the south-east will be tasked primarily, in the first instance, to establish quality partnerships to ensure that the infrastructure that is available for passengers, in terms of proper, functioning information, in terms of decent quality, clean, safe bus stops is rolled out more regularly, and so that bus operators themselves provide more appropriate-sized vehicles.