Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:10 pm on 28 November 2018.
I join the Member for Pontypridd in highlighting the Pontyclun station as a real pressure point, especially with developments that have gone on in recent years—but developments we know will be happening in the future. Over the last week, I have literally been bombarded by constituents in that area who have had a particularly poor experience of the service that's on offer to them, with trains overshooting the platform, an inability for conductors to collect fares on the train itself, and when they get to Cardiff Central station, only one hatch open to make payments to progress their journeys. Now, part of these faults don't depend on the weather; they just depend on good management, Cabinet Secretary. We've heard the reasoning behind some of the problems that have been affecting the network more generally, but what confidence can you give me as an elected Member to go back to my constituents and say that these very basic levels of staff being at stations to monitor the arrival and departure of trains, and, in particular, serviced areas within the stations to make payments, will be staffed fully, so that people can have that positive experience, not just in 2022 but here in 2018?