Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 4 December 2019.
I can assure people of the Rhondda that we are doing all we can to address capacity issues on the rail network. Importantly, though, we can't view rail service in isolation from other public transport services. I think it's absolutely right that people should expect an integrated bus and rail service, and that's why next year we'll be introducing legislation to this Chamber concerning the planning and delivery of local bus services, so that we can reintroduce franchising, so that we can allow municipal bus companies to be formed, so that we can integrate ticketing and timetabling and so that we do have that sort of integrated service that existed. I think it was the Rhondda Fach rail and bus link service that I think people in the Rhondda valued. We wish to see more of those type of integrated public transport services rolled out across Wales.
In terms of the extendability of the metro, this is one of the most exciting pieces of work that has been undertaken at the moment—the future phases of the metro—the framework is being completed by Welsh Government. We're already delivering five new stations under the franchise agreement with the operator and development partner. And in the future, as part of the south Wales metro vision, we will see more stations opened, more old railway lines reopened, and new railway lines introduced.