The second part of our report covers the broader issue, as I was saying, of bus and rail recovery after the COVID pandemic. On behalf of the committee I would particularly like to thank the members of the public who fed into the committee's work through the various focus groups and interviews held across Wales on this issue. The pandemic had a massive impact on the numbers using public transport. Many people were scared to get on the bus or the train. There were reductions in services, and those in the poorest areas, by the way, were the hardest hit in that regard. But many of the fundamental changes we saw during the pandemic, such as online shopping and the increasing prevalence of working from home, were becoming far more common in our society pre pandemic. But of course it’s become far more usual now for people, as I say, to work from home and so on.

Bus and rail services are critical not only in order for us to meet our climate change targets in Wales, but also to create a society where people can easily access the services, education and work they need for a full life. So, the question for us as a committee was, of course: what needs to be done to encourage more people to use public transport? Our report, as you would expect, considers many of these issues.

Achieving modal shift must be at the core of this work. First, we need to understand what kind of public transport people want and how they want to use it. How permanent are the changes we saw during the pandemic and since, and what will future patterns look like? I’m pleased that the Deputy Minister has accepted all of our recommendations in this area. I was also pleased to see that the Deputy Minister referred to a national travel survey for Wales in his response. I would be grateful if he could tell us more, perhaps, about the survey and how it will be used to influence future policy and budget decisions, when he responds to this debate.

Secondly, we need to base policies on suitable targets. The Welsh Government's transport strategy and net-zero plan set modal shift targets. For example, 7 per cent of trips should be made by public transport by 2030, and that should increase to 13 per cent by 2040. These are stretching targets, and I’m certainly not going to criticise the Deputy Minister for showing ambition in this area, but too many of our stakeholders questioned whether the current public transport offer is good enough to put us on the right trajectory to reach the 2030 target.

We need to make it easy, and easier, for people to leave the car at home and take the bus or the train instead. We know from our work with stakeholders that cost, convenience and access to services are the three priority areas for users. We can discuss the intricacies of behaviour change as much as we like, but addressing those three points would certainly be a good start.

I had the pleasure earlier today of speaking at the launch of the Confederation of Passenger Transport Cymru’s report about encouraging car users to switch to bus and coach. It is notable, by the way, that very similar issues are raised in our report and the report published this afternoon.

On the cost of public transport, transport poverty was a particular concern for us as a committee. Transport poverty affects some demographic groups disproportionately, including disabled people, older people and women. One of our recommendations was that the Welsh Government should provide subsidised fare pricing and other aspects of financial support. I would like to hear more from the Deputy Minister on the latest position on these proposals.

Delivering an integrated transport network that people can easily access when they need to, and which is affordable, will not be easy. For a start, we know that it will take substantial investment. Members will all be aware of the historical underfunding of rail infrastructure in Wales. How can we develop an integrated transport system if we don’t have proper investment in rail infrastructure? And I’m pleased that the Deputy Minister recognises the case for the full devolution of responsibility for rail, and for ensuring that the UK Government does allocate fair funding. In the face of decisions like those we saw in the context of HS2 and the fact that the UK Government has apparently refused to even consider an appropriate funding solution for Wales, it's difficult to disagree with the case for devolution.

On funding for buses, the current Welsh Government policy is for 50 per cent of the most polluting service buses to be replaced by a zero-tailpipe-emission bus fleet by 2028, and for all taxis and private-hire vehicles to be zero emission by 2028—the same year. Now, the cost of decarbonising the bus sector will be high, and the sector will need financial support to deliver that. The Deputy Minister has said that delivery plans are being prepared to meet the targets set out in Net Zero Wales, and I'd be grateful if he could tell us more about that in his response.

Dirprwy Lywydd, as I said at the outset, this is a wide-ranging report, and I have not been able to cover all issues in my contribution. It's possible that other Members will have an opportunity to focus on some of those. But I want to conclude by saying that the next few years will be exciting for bus and rail. The bus reform Bill offers a significant opportunity to improve bus services in Wales and, most importantly, to ensure that they are more customer focused. There is also progress on metro schemes, and there's a major piece of work for us to do as a committee in keeping an eye on developments in that area. But although progress is being made, we do need to ask that same old question: is that progress happening swiftly enough? The broader financial context has made it more difficult to reach the Government's net-zero transport targets, but all I will say in concluding the first contribution to this debate is that, as a committee, we will certainly continue to assess progress and to report back to the Senedd on it. Thank you.