It's a pleasure to support this motion tabled by my friend the Member for Ogmore today. As I was doing some preparation for this debate, I found a figure on StatsWales that shocked me and underscored the importance of today's debate, and that's the passenger journeys on local bus services by country per head of population in 2019-20. For England, this was 72.3, for Scotland 67, and for Wales the figure was just 28.2, and that's before we factor in the impact of COVID.

In the context of the pandemic, though, it's only fair to start by recognising the considerable support that the Welsh Government provided—support such as the multimillion pound bus emergency scheme. It's not an understatement to say that the bus industry would not be standing without that support. But that, in itself, poses questions, as the second part of the motion suggests—questions as to the sustainability of the current model, as to whether services meet local demand, and how we are mapping and determining routes in our communities. We need a radical rethink as to what we want from bus provision and what we think is good bus provision.

Firstly, we must provide bus services our communities want, and I'll illustrate this by an example from my constituency. From the village of Cwmbach to a local supermarket is under 1 mile. Lots of older people live in the village, car ownership rates are low, and since that supermarket was built over 20 years ago, there had always been a direct bus service. Recently, however, the bus operator decided to remove it, and now people need to take two or three buses to get to that supermarket, which can be up to 5 miles each way—a 10-mile journey for a journey that should take under 2 miles. Obviously, this can be a real challenge with heavy shopping bags. How will we encourage people to get on buses if this is the kind of service that is being provided? I really support point 6 of the motion for meaningful conversation with communities. Local people need and deserve a direct voice in the determining of provision that meets their needs.

Secondly, we must offer different ways of responding to those needs. Like all Members, I receive regular communication from constituents about the services they want or need, and I receive the same responses from bus operators when I raise these concerns in turn. 'Those routes are not economically viable', they say, 'There aren't the passenger numbers to justify them'. I think demand-responsive travel could be the means to cut through that impasse that never allows us to explore whether new bus service routes are actually viable and would be used. It may not be feasible to have big, empty buses rattling around, but smaller vehicles operating in a smarter way may be the solution. A Fflecsi scheme was trialled in the Senedd last term, including in parts of RCT, and under that scheme, people could request a demand-responsive bus picked them up from home, work, or the shops. I'd be really keen to see much more of this. It must operate alongside the work of community transport providers so that their work is complemented.

Thirdly, bus routes must link up. This is a particular challenge around longer routes, for example from my constituency to Swansea—a popular shopping destination and employment area, yet there is no direct public transport service. A direct bus service was replaced several years ago by two connecting services, Aberdare to Glyn Neath and Glyn Neath to Swansea. Initially, there was a 15-minute wait between buses, but then that changed to an hour as different companies provided either leg of the journey, and weren't prepared to compromise or work together for a joined-up service. Such a wait is not realistic; how can we encourage more people onto public transport with such impractical arrangements? Similarly, there is no direct bus route to Cardiff from my constituency. Okay, we have the trains, but even when the metro is at full capacity, rail will only carry 25 per cent of current Valley commuter traffic into Cardiff. So, there needs to be a big push on bus service provision if we want to get people out of their cars, and this question of the metro is key for my constituency. At its inception, the metro concept was not just about a train service, but also a comprehensive feeder bus service offering a fully joined-up transport service. This is key for communities such as those I represent where people can live some distance from a train station in comparative isolation. I've been encouraged by recent discussions on the metro which talk about buses as a bigger part of the scheme in its next phases. Similarly, the Deputy Minister's comments in his statement yesterday around integration of services was welcome.

To close, I'd just like to say a few words of appreciation to our bus drivers. During the pandemic, they've been essential workers who have kept those services operating. Key to any future provision is ensuring the highest employment standards and that staff have a say in the future of their industry. Diolch.