4. How does the Welsh Government intend to improve the public transport network of Wales? (OAQ51161)

We are moving forward with our ambitious vision to reshape public transport infrastructure and services across Wales, including local bus services, rail services through the next Wales and borders franchise, active travel, investments in our strategic road network and the south-east Wales metro project, which will act as a catalyst for integrated transport across Wales.

The Rhondda Fach in my constituency is an area that has been poorly served in terms of transport links. It’s got a bypass that stops halfway up the valley and no rail links. People, particularly those living in the northern-most communities, feel cut off and let down. That’s a sentiment that has been exacerbated by a recent bombshell that they could lose the Rhondda Fach Sports Centre as a result of council cuts. Following Plaid Cymru’s budget negotiations with your Labour Government, you now have an opportunity to start to right these wrongs. We insisted that an extension of the south Wales metro into the Fach would be explored. University College London, in a study called, ‘Transport and Poverty’, suggested that improved public transport can have a positive impact on GDP levels. Boosting the local economy of the Rhondda, I’m sure you will agree, is something that is very much needed, so will you give us an undertaking to look seriously into this matter with a view to delivering, for the people of the Rhondda Fach, a transport system that is worthy of the twenty-first century?

Our vision for the metro in south-east Wales is better connected communities right across the region. The metro must be designed in a way that meets the needs of Valleys communities first and foremost, that brings better jobs closer to people’s homes. I will commit to looking at the particular issue that the Member raises. The design of the metro and the procurement of the franchise are such that we should be able to allow for extendable services, and I look forward to being able to offer new, more reliable services to Valleys communities as we roll out not just the franchise, but specifically, an enhanced metro service. I would also like to offer any support that the Member may wish to seek regarding the future of the sports centre that was mentioned. I do, in my own constituency, have a very good example of a social enterprise that took over a community centre and leisure centre that was at risk from closure, and I’d be happy to share information and contacts with her particular leisure centre.

During my meeting—[Inaudible.]—with community transport providers in Flintshire, they told me that, after they resisted pressure to take on some commercial routes, the council had commissioned some pilot schemes from commercial providers that they felt would not be viable once the pilots ended. They also told me that the Welsh Government had set up transport for health groups in each region of Wales, but the north Wales transport for health group hadn’t met since May 2016, to look at all transport-to-healthcare provision in the region, and that the Welsh Government had not reconvened the meetings at that point. What action are you taking to address these concerns?

I’ll happily reconvene the transport for health group as soon as possible, as soon as members are able to meet. I think it’s absolutely essential that we consult with as many stakeholders as possible as we design the next franchise, and make sure that communities across Wales are better connected. So, I give my undertaking to reconvene that particular group on behalf of the Member and with the Member.

Can I talk about integrated public transport systems? In far too many areas, we have buses and we have trains, but the bus comes in at a different time to the train going out, and also we have a situation where buses park some distance away from the train. In my own constituency of Swansea East, for example, we’ve got Llansamlet station, but the bus stops a couple of hundred yards away around the corner on another road. What can be done to improve the rail-bus interchanges so that people can use public transport for the whole of their journey, rather than put them in a car first? And, when you put them in a car first, there’s a real danger that, once they’ve driven a certain distance, they just keep on going.

Well, there are three things that need to be done: (1) we need to make sure that interchanges are planned in the right way, and already we are committing work in certain areas of Wales that will see enhanced interchanges. For example, I announced recently work that is afoot in Llanwern. In Wrexham and in Deeside, and right across the metro Valleys regions, we’re looking at where interchanges can offer seamless travel between one mode of transport and another. But the other work that needs to be done concerns integrated ticketing, and through-ticketing. That can be achieved through Transport for Wales leading on the procurement of the next franchise and potentially taking on more functions in the future. The third area of work that needs to be addressed concerns the schedules of bus and rail operators, making sure that you don’t have to wait around for too long before you move from one mode of transport to the next.

Now, I do think that, in the City and County of Swansea, a good degree of work is already being undertaken with regard to integrated transport. We provided £1.1 million for the Morfa distributor road, £453,000 for the business case work for infrastructure enhancements along Fabian Way, £115,000, as I know the Member has warmly welcomed, to develop the outline concept for the south-west Wales metro, and, of course, £65,000 for the Kingsbridge link scheme. This is in addition to the considerable funding that we’ve made available through the local transport network fund, which aims to ensure that there are better integrated and better quality public transport services in Swansea and in the wider region.

Question 5 [(OAQ51140)] was withdrawn. Question 6, Rhun ap Iorwerth.