4. What plans does the Welsh Government have to provide better public transport around Wales? OAQ52799

Well, delivering our ambitious vision for public transport is at an exciting stage, as we proceed to reshape rail services via the new Wales and borders franchise, the south Wales metro, of course, the north Wales metro as well, and our plans for active travel, local bus services and investments in the strategic road network.

I thank the First Minister for that response. Yesterday, it was reported that the number of local bus journeys made in Britain had reached a 12-year low, and during the same period Wales bus passenger journeys have dropped by 5 million a year. The bus is such a hugely important form of transport for so many people, so what more can the Welsh Government do to encourage people to take the bus and improve the environment and improve things generally?

Well, I believe this will take legislation, because we know—and many of us will have had constituents come to us complaining about a bus service being cut, but of course there's nothing we can do about it because it's a privately run service, it's not subsidised, there is no leverage. So, in the next few years, the Government will be looking at introducing legislation to ensure greater consistency of supply in services, to ensure we don't see a situation where services suddenly stop because an operator has gone bankrupt or decided not to run the service any more. And I think creating that certainty for passengers will create better numbers for the buses, because people won't be thinking, 'Well, I might take the bus, but will it turn up? Will the service still be there next year?' It's absolutely crucial, because in most parts of Wales we have what's, in effect, a private monopoly. There is no real competition along most routes. This is not what bus privatisation, even if you agreed with it in the 1980s, was meant to do, so we must now look at a new model that looks upon bus services as just that, services rather than something delivered entirely through competition that doesn't really exist.

First Minister, I'd like to focus on disabled access to public transport, and specifically the ongoing lack of access at Abergavenny station. You mentioned the rail network and the importance of that and the new franchise. We didn't get very far under the old Arriva south Wales border franchise in dealing with problems of the lack of disabled access, much to the frustration of local people in my constituency, including prominent disabled access campaigner Dan Biddle. I wonder if you can give us an assurance that, under the new Transport for Wales structure and under the new franchise, as we move forward, the necessary improvements will now be made so that rail passengers across Wales will be able to benefit from unfettered access, whether or not they're able-bodied or disabled.

Yes, £15 million has been allocated for that purpose. Abergavenny station is one of the stations that will be upgraded to ensure—well, 'upgraded' is the wrong word, really. It will ensure that what should be normal, i.e. disabled access, will be there. There are other stations as well. I was at  Cathays station yesterday. It's not possible for people to cross to the other side of the tracks in Cathays—there's a bridge, but there's no other way of doing it; that will need to be resolved as well. But I can assure him that Abergavenny, as an important station, will see that work done.

The Welsh transport appraisal guidance report that proposes the closure of junction 41 westbound states there is a goal to try to ease congestion in that particular area, and they're trying to say that people need to get out of their cars, something that I would agree with. But in that particular area, we've seen downgrading of bus times through the Afan valley, and a new Transport for Wales franchise does not benefit the south-west of Wales as we would like it to. We are seeing huge proposals in finances to be put into a stretch of the M4 that we disagree with. So, how are you going to realise the intentions of that report when community transport is far from perfect here in Wales, and that's the record of your Government? 

First of all, what she's talking about is a capital project, the M4, and what will be revenue funding with regard to bus services; they're two different pots to begin with. But it's not right to say that south-west Wales will not benefit, because the metro is not just about trains, it's not just about light rail, it's also about bus services. Now, of course, bus services have recently been devolved to this institution; there's an opportunity now for us to make sure that bus services are properly integrated into the train services. But, of necessity, because we have control of the train services now, that will be taken forward over the next five years and beyond, and then, of course, subject to the legislation, bus services, including those in the Afan valley, will be brought into a proper metro network.