Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. The climate emergency demands we change the way we travel. Seventeen per cent of Welsh carbon emissions are generated by transport, and as the UK Climate Change Committee makes clear, simply switching to electric cars will not meet the 2050 net zero target. We need to cut the number of journeys and get people to switch to more sustainable forms of transport too.

We fully recognise that this is not going to be easy. For some 70 years transport policy in the UK has favoured car travel over public transport, and as a result it is now easier for most people to hop in the car than it is to plan a journey using more sustainable forms of transport. That has to change. But for that to happen, we have to make the right thing to do the easiest thing to do.

Our Wales transport strategy sets out the steps we need to make to meet our target of 45 per cent of journeys by public transport or active travel by 2040. We are aiming to publish a new bus strategy around the end of this year, and a White Paper to follow, and a bus reform Bill this Senedd term.

Our active travel investment for short local trips is now the highest per head in the UK, and we are working with councils to identify safe local networks that will encourage people to leave the car at home and walk and cycle instead. Ten per cent of car journeys are under 1 mile in length, and many of those trips could be made on foot or by bike.

For medium and long-term journeys, rail has an important part to play. We need to see the £5 billion shortfall in rail investment from the UK Government made up in order to modernise our network. For our part, we have taken the Wales and borders franchise under public control and are working hard to stabilise it after the collapse in passenger numbers during COVID. As we plan the rail recovery, we must do it in tandem with the other sustainable modes, so that people can make their whole journey, door to door, by sustainable transport.

The Burns commission in south-east Wales has set a blueprint for how that can be done, and we want to scale that approach to other parts of Wales. In particular, I want to emulate the model where the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales have formed a single joint delivery unit with the local authorities, and an independent delivery board set up to drive performance and ensure progress. I’m pleased that Simon Gibson and Dr Lynn Sloman, both noted for their delivery focus, are serving as chair and vice-chair of the delivery board in south-east Wales.

Llywydd, I can announce that I have tasked my officials with creating a similar collaborative approach in north Wales too. We will create a north Wales metro delivery board, and I will be advertising for an independent chair and vice-chair to make sure we are being as ambitious as possible and to hold delivery partners to account, ourselves included. I would also like to see this model of partnership, co-design and shared leadership adopted by the four corporate joint committees across Wales as they take up their responsibility for regional transport planning over the course of this Senedd term.

The evidence from around the world suggests that if you want people to use public transport, it needs to be easy to use. In the parlance, it needs to 'turn up and go', and that's the design principle at the heart of our metro programme: frequent, seamless services connecting people with key destinations, and we've committed over £1 billion to our three metro programmes. Each is in different stages of development and we are today publishing updated maps showing the current ambition.

In the south-east, significant construction work is already under way, and in the next few years we'll increasingly see physical evidence of one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects to have taken place in Wales in modern times. A new bus station right next to the main train station is going up in Cardiff. Work has been going on over the summer on the core Valleys line to prepare it for the introduction of new tram trains. By 2024, there will be new tram trains offering fast turn-up-and-go services at around 50 stations on the Welsh Government's network, as well as new services being planned to double the frequency on the Ebbw Vale line through the Vale of Glamorgan, and to Maesteg.

In north Wales, we've put in place the foundations for a significantly improved rail and bus service and active travel through our £50 million of Welsh Government funding announcement. I recently saw for myself the plans at Wrexham General station to make it easier to change between rail and bus, helping connections between the north Wales coast and the more frequent Borderlands line services from next year at Shotton, alongside a new station at Deeside industrial park.

We've asked Transport for Wales to take on the development of the Swansea bay and west Wales metro to assist the local authorities in that area. This is at the earliest stage of development of the three metro key schemes, and I'm keen to increase the pace and the ambition for public transport in this part of Wales. Around £8 million has been allocated this year to deliver active travel and public transport schemes to support the Swansea bay metro programme. Preliminary work is being carried out to develop a potential hydrogen bus pilot in Swansea bay and Pembrokeshire, and new interchanges, including a new station at St Clears delivered by Transport for Wales, which will be in place by 2024, will offer real improvements to public transport in the area.

I've also recently commissioned work to develop a new programme for mid Wales to examine how our approach to the metros can be applied in this region and our more rural areas across the whole of Wales. We must learn from Germany and Switzerland that it's perfectly possible to have an effective public transport system in rural areas. It'll require a different approach to urban Wales, but it's absolutely doable with commitment. Car clubs and electric bikes will have a major role to play, as will demand-responsive transport, and in pilots across Wales, our Fflecsi service is offering access to public transport where previously there was none, opening up new opportunities for more people. We are now trialling Fflecsi in 11 areas, where we are seeing significant passenger growth and it has now been used for over 100,000 journeys. And we're committed to learn from it and to scale it.

Llywydd, delivering our metros is one of the most ambitious and complex programmes ever undertaken by the Welsh Government. The maps published today illustrate our emerging programmes. We have the capability, the expertise, the experience and the desire in Wales to progress at pace. In fact, we will not achieve our net zero ambitions if we don't. Diolch.