The Bus Emergency Scheme

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 15 February 2023.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:24, 15 February 2023

Thank you for that. I think that we do have the right long-term plans, both from the roads review to reallocate funding in the medium to long term, and the re-regulation of the bus industry. Our problem is a short-term one, and the Member rightly points out that the Government in England has not extended by three months its support, as we have, and so the cliff edge is faced there now. And because of the nature of the commercial set-up, it's simply up to operators to surrender their routes in a completely random and uncoordinated way. What we’re trying to do is to have some kind of order and some stability so we can have a rational discussion about what routes might be salvageable if the fare book doesn’t recover, and we’re still hopeful that it might. But, in the absence of additional funding, then our options are very limited. But we’re going to try and do what we can in the time we’ve got and with the money we’ve got to get the best possible outcome, while crossing our fingers that there might be a UK-wide funding settlement that allows us to do more.