1. Will the Minister make a statement on supporting rural public transport in Carmarthenshire? OAQ53813

Yes, of course. We're moving forward with our ambitious vision to reshape public transport infrastructure and services across the whole of Wales, including, of course, local bus services, rail services, active travel and the various metro projects, which will act as a blueprint for integrated transport right across the whole of Wales.

I thank the Minister for his response. Constituents are saying to me that they thought there was a lot of emphasis on connectivity in urban contexts, and particularly in the Valleys, and, obviously, that is very important. But can the Minister say a little bit more about what he's doing, particularly in the context of the west of Wales, to ensure that that connectivity is prioritised for rural communities too? There are real issues at the moment about connectivity between trains and buses in Carmarthenshire, and there are also issues about frequency of services. For example, we have many more trains going through the station at Kidwelly than actually stop there. So, can the Minister say a little more about what he's doing to ensure that connectivity can be brought into being, and what recent discussions he's had, and particularly perhaps in the context of the Swansea city region deal, where, of course, there is again talk about connectivity and public transport, but there's a lack of clarity from my perspective about how that affects the more rural areas—Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire—as well as the core centre of Swansea city itself?

Can I thank the Member for what is an incredibly important question? For many people, bus services, and transport as a whole, is the number one challenge that they face in accessing services, in accessing leisure opportunities and, most significantly of all in many areas, in accessing work. And I've said in this Chamber before that there are some parts of Wales where as many as 20 per cent of people cannot afford or secure a means of getting to their job interviews, never mind getting to work. They are essentially locked out of the workplace. And, therefore, the radical reforms that we are proposing to local bus services are absolutely vital. We've published the White Paper. I know that there has been an excellent response to the consultation, which ended on 27 March. And I would agree entirely with the Member that the focus cannot solely be on urban areas where the mass of population lives, and must equally be on solutions for more rural areas. And I'm pleased that we recently announced four pilot schemes, including one in west Wales, to examine the potential for the deployment of demand-responsive transport—as some have put it, the 'uberisation' of bus services, albeit with an injection of soul. And I think what's going to be important in those pilots is that we're going to be able to test a new means of meeting passenger demand, but a means that is as affordable, potentially even less expensive to the taxpayer in terms of subsidies than conventional forms of bus services and scheduled bus services.

Now, whilst this pilot in the west of Wales and the other three pilots are taking place, we are, of course, operating a series of TrawsCymru services, and I was pleased that, just yesterday, we commenced a new TrawsCymru route in west Wales, linking Fishguard with St David's, Haverfordwest, on the T11 route. But I'm keen to make sure that, through reforms, through better using the public subsidy, we see more bus services respond to passenger demands across all communities—urban and rural.