3. 3. Statement: Consultations on Concessionary Bus Travel

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:15 pm on 10 October 2017.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 3:15, 10 October 2017

Cabinet Secretary, I welcome the opportunity to ensure that we can deliver the important concessionary bus fare scheme, but I don’t welcome the suggestion from Plaid Cymru that we should keep the current system in aspic. I’m a discretionary bus pass holder, but it seems to me perfectly possible for 60-year-olds in work to not need a concessionary bus pass, whereas it seems completely wrong that children who are eligible for free school meals have to pay to get the bus to go to school. So, I’m very pleased about your commitment to drive up the numbers who are commuting to work and school, but in a place like Cardiff, it’s really, really difficult to get on the bus just when everybody’s wanting to get to school and work at the same time. I just wondered whether you’d consider limiting concessionary bus passes to, say, after 09:30 in areas where there’s more demand than there is provision.

In light of your mention of the well-being of future generations Act and air pollution, which we need to tackle, I wondered if you would consider incentives to make it more attractive for people to use the bus when they’re commuting, for example, making all-day parking in city centres a lot more punitive so that people choose to do the right thing and, equally, looking at it in relation to—. Free hospital parking for those who have a car, but no free bus passes for those who need to travel to hospital seems to be a little bit out of kilter. I feel we need to rethink that, as we’re rewarding people for doing something that we’re trying to persuade people, for environmental health reasons, to not do. So, I welcome the consultation and look forward to seeing the outcome.