Bus Services

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 15 February 2023.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:38, 15 February 2023

I would refer the Member to the joint statement on the bus emergency scheme that was issued by the Welsh Government, the Welsh Local Government Association, the Confederation of Passenger Transport and the Coach and Bus Association Cymru last week, which set out that there is now an initial extension of three months, which gives the industry some short-term stability, which it needs while we continue to work with the industry together on planning bus networks that better suit the new travel patterns that we've seen since the end of the pandemic.

Then, I refer back to the point that I made in terms of the bus Bill being the most far-reaching plan across the UK and an absolutely vital step in terms of reversing the damage that we've seen in terms of the deregulation of the bus industry. We want to make sure that people have a service that they can rely on, which is easy to use and which puts people before profit, and that absolutely will be at the heart of our work, going forward. But, of course, legislation doesn't happen overnight, so, in the meantime, we are working, as I say, with the industry to explore what quick improvements can be made to bus passengers' experiences of our buses, and, of course, we have published the Bws Cymru bus plan, which sets out some of these immediate steps.