The Bus Emergency Scheme

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:15 pm on 15 February 2023.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:15, 15 February 2023

Well, if only it were that simple, Presiding Officer. We certainly do have a plan for legislation, and we've consulted on that. We're working through the design of that now, and we hope to introduce it in the Senedd later this year, and we are working, alongside that, with Transport for Wales and local authorities on designing optimum bus networks for their communities. So, we will have a strategic, planned integrated bus network with integrated ticketing between rail and bus. We'll have universal service standards. We'll have pay and conditions across the country. We'll have a significantly better framework in order to operate bus services.

But, in the absence of passenger revenue, and this is the problem here, the only way to keep those services running in the meantime is through direct public support, and our budgets have been cut and we have prioritised cost-of-living pressures, pay deals and free school meals and other things, rightly. I'm not resiling from that at all, but I'm just simply pointing out to Members that they've welcomed those announcements of where this money is going to go, and there are consequences financially to what resource is available. He says it's the job of Government to solve problems. I agree with him. I think we have managed to get ourselves some breathing space to work with the industry to see what we can do, and, if he has other suggestions that we haven't thought of, I'd be very grateful to hear them.