5. Statement by the Minister for Economy and Transport: Concessionary Travel

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:57 pm on 8 October 2019.

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Photo of Mike Hedges Mike Hedges Labour 4:57, 8 October 2019

Sorry, I've got a problem with geography now because I always thought that Liverpool was in England, but, yes. Also, Liverpool is a city and cities are different. Cardiff is different to Swansea, and Swansea is different to the south Wales Valleys, as I'm sure people will say later.

If costs have to be cut, and we know that the Welsh Government have got a 2.3 per cent real-terms increase coming—. But, if they do, then other things can be cut: free Traws Cymru weekend travel; the Cardiff to Anglesey subsidised plane. These could be looked at, far more than taking away free bus travel from those who are expecting it. Yes, that will upset some people, I have no doubt about that, but you are upsetting tens of thousands of people with this one decision.

On the renewal of bus passes—and I'm sure we're not going to agree on this either—why could people not have been asked to inform Transport for Wales of a change to their address by December? All passes could then have been automatically produced and distributed using any changes of address that had taken place. That would have done it much quicker, much easier and, dare I say it, much cheaper. I'm sure that Transport for Wales have got lots of reasons. They told me that it was because of GDPR. I always know when people are trying to get around something because they either say it is for legal reasons or data protection reasons.