Integrated Public and Community Transport

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 7 June 2022.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 2:18, 7 June 2022

And that funding has indeed helped but, even before the pandemic, we'd had a decade of austerity that had impacted on local authorities and had impacted on cuts in services, including subsidised bus services. We're looking forward to the reforms that will give control back to people, I have to say—local communities and regions—to take control of co-ordinated bus services and wider public transport within their areas. But my question is about the here and now. We look to excellent initiatives like the Fflecsi bus schemes—community transport are involved in some of those. But what we fail to see is that joined-up-ness right at this moment. So, I have a direct question and ask of the First Minister—and I notice his colleague here, the Minister, is sitting right next to me—and it's whether he and his Minister would be willing to sit down with me and officials from Bridgend as well to look at how we can pull the very best of what's currently available so we can join this up, so we don't have hilltops like Maesteg park, remote Valleys communities, such as Pont-y-rhyl and others, who are isolated because of the cuts we've seen over the last decade and more, where we can really make sure that everybody who wants to get to see their friends, wants to get to the shops, to the surgery and so on can do so. What can we do right now? Could you help us with that?