8. What measures are being taken to support public transport in Wales during the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55448

We've put in place significant packages of financial support for bus and rail operators, as well as funding local authorities to introduce measures to improve safety and conditions for sustainable and active modes.

Deputy Minister, as I understand it, since the ending of the bus hardship fund, the bus emergency scheme is giving a revenue source to bus operators who obviously are dealing with vastly reduced passenger numbers at the moment, both because of the safety requirements, but also the lack of demand for bus services at the moment. But they are vital services for the long-term health of the economy and also for more active forms of travel and less congestion. So, what is the longer term plan to sustain our bus networks?

I think David Melding rightly identifies the difficulty we face here. The amount of public funding going into bus operators has not reduced. What obviously has reduced, as passengers have stayed away from public transport, is the so-called farebox element of their business model, and that model has come under an immense strain in the face of the coronavirus. Now, we have worked very closely with them and provided significant investment and support in order to keep a core range of services going for key workers, and now we're in the difficult stage where we want to ramp up services, but the social distancing rules restrict the amount of people able to be carried, and obviously there is also suppressed demand because people—and we're seeing this around the world—are more reluctant to use public transport.

We have, as you know, announced flexibility on the number of passengers buses are now allowed to carry, with face masks being recommended and required in order to facilitate that, and we are developing, on a staged basis, our bus emergency scheme with the operators, and we're working with them in exchange for a range of conditions to make sure that we get good value for the money we're putting in and we're able to get some control over the services that are offered and have guarantees around fares and routes. And we look to work with them to flex services, as we see what additional funding we can release.