1. What plans does the Welsh Government have in place to help the young people of Arfon with the costs of traveling on public transport? OQ59096

Diolch. One of the aims of 'Llwybr Newydd', the Wales transport strategy, is to reduce the cost of sustainable travel for everyone in Wales, including young people. We are working towards an accessible transport system across the nation and have a number of initiatives aimed at younger travellers.

It's good to hear that there are plans in the pipeline, and, of course, we need to extend them and to bring new plans forward too. But in rural parts of my constituency, it's not the cost of travelling on buses that's the only problem. There's a lack of bus services in the first instance, with some communities without a way to travel at all at times, because there are no trains, metro, appropriate cycling routes, nor are there bus services at some times of the day. Now, Yr Orsaf in Penygroes is developing a project to support residents, including young people, who face barriers because of a lack of public transport in dyffryn Nantlle, with the support of the dyffryn Nantlle community transport partnership. Is community transport an area that you as a Deputy Minister want to see developing in the future, and, if this is a priority for you, how much funding has been earmarked for encouraging this kind of transport in the Government's draft budget for the next financial year?

Thank you. A number of points there. I'm familiar with the work of Partneriaeth Ogwen and have visited some of their schemes—they're an outstanding organisation. I was particularly struck by the scheme we've been funding them for to retrofit bicycles, to add a battery to them, which, particularly in rural areas, particularly hilly areas, is a really practical thing that we can do to help people who don't have easy access to a car or to public transport. We know that, for generations, we've been favouring investment into road schemes, for those people who have cars, and, over time, have been neglecting public transport, and we've seen usage decline, we've seen routes shrink and we've seen fares go up. So, that is one of the reasons why we're bringing forward our bus Bill, to redesign the service, and it's one of the reasons why we'll be publishing the roads review next Tuesday, to, over time, shift resource from car-based schemes to schemes for everyone.

In the meantime, we do have some really difficult financial challenges, and we are seeing bus schemes being withdrawn, which illustrates the problem we have with the privatised system, because there is no strategic overview to this—it's being done randomly by bus companies. And then, we have the further problem, particularly in rural Wales, where bus companies are struggling to keep their business model going, and the cost of energy is really stopping them being able to run routes, and they're not tendering for fresh services. So, we have a range of challenges facing us, but the fundamental problem is the lack of investment that we have. Because we have prioritised other things, including as part of the co-operation agreement. We could have chosen to prioritise public transport; we chose other things, and we have to do the best we can with what we've got. But, clearly, as part of our modal shift and the net-zero targets, we need to shift resource far more into public transport.

I just want to echo the comments raised by the Member for Arfon, and recognise that this important focus is required on public transport, especially for rural areas, in areas like Arfon and across north Wales—the region I represent, of course. Deputy Minister, I'm sure you are an avid reader of the Welsh Conservative manifesto, especially the one for the 2021 Senedd elections. In that, we as Conservatives called for free bus travel and discounted rail travel for 16 to 24-year-olds, to help our young people access education, training and employment. This of course could embed that modal shift that you and I are so keen to see, whilst also supporting our environment, so importantly. So, in light of this, Minister, what consideration have you and the Welsh Government given to this type of idea, to see that free access to buses for our young people, so we can see that modal shift whilst also supporting our environment? Thank you very much.

Well, there's no doubt that, if we had lower prices, we'd have higher use. There are schemes right across the world, including free bus use in Normandy and elsewhere, and free bus schemes in Wales, in Cardiff and Swansea and Newport, for short periods, which have shown an uptake in usage. So, we know that, when fares drop, people are more likely to use it. There's no shortage of opportunities and ideas to increase usage and to reduce fares, and incentivise people to use public transport. The challenge always is the resource. So, I'm not sure how the Conservatives plan to fund that initiative that they had in their manifesto, but there are no easy options that I'm aware of to do just that.

We do have an offer on buses where people aged between 16 and 21 have a third off an adult bus ticket, and we've been doing a lot of work, as part of our commitment to a fairer fares regime, to model what we could achieve if we had much lower bus fares. And the figures are all very encouraging; the resource is the challenge.