Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:38 pm on 29 June 2021.
Thank you very much for that important supplementary question, and indeed for pointing to the millions of pounds that have had to be invested, not simply to keep the train system safe, but to keep the train system running at all. If during the last 15 months, the train system had had to rely simply on the fare box, as it's called—the amount of money that it raises from the travelling public—then there wouldn't have been a train running anywhere in Wales. And yet we know how vital public transport is to so many of our fellow citizens. So that, I think it's £177 million that was made available last year to keep the railways working, and the Member is right that there is another £70 million set out in the first supplementary budget that we will provide to go on supporting the system, through until the autumn. And it is exactly as the Member said. Of course, it supports all those safety measures that are taken every day, but it also supports a simple revenue base of the system, while passenger numbers are still suppressed because of the public health emergency.
I think the Member is right as well, Llywydd, that beyond the autumn we are likely to have to provide further assistance to our public transport system—trains and buses—to allow them to expand the number of passengers they are able to carry safely and to go on operating under the continued restrictions that coronavirus will bring. We'll work on that together with the industry, and we'll bring forward further proposals later during the year. In the meantime, the system does have the confidence that comes with knowing that additional funding has been identified that will help them to continue to operate from now right through until the autumn.